So today I'm going to talk a bit more about self-esteem and ADHD. In a previous recording, I talked a bit more extensively about how having ADHD can heighten the self-criticism and the negative self-appraisal about ourselves and others in the world around us in those key sort of formative years, in adolescence where those negative beliefs really tend to get set in stone for us.

That in turn influences the way we think, and the way we feel about certain situations. And how we seek to defend strong emotion either through sort of entrenched, unhelpful defences by perfectionism and procrastination, just as an example. There's some evidence to suggest as well, that the earlier one is diagnosed, there's an improved impact on self-esteem, which of course, makes sense, doesn't it? Because if you go undiagnosed, there are more years of negative self-appraisal without fully understanding the whys behind you know, the struggles that we face with having ADHD.

I think it's also important to say that, you know, it's not exclusive to people with ADHD. And there are many people with ADHD who are perfectly healthy and have positive self-esteem. But there is a higher likelihood if you have ADHD, you're going to have some struggles with self-esteem. We often see commonly, along with some of the core beliefs I mentioned, like "not good enough", and "people will judge me people will reject me", you'll often see beliefs such as I'm stupid, or I'm useless, which of course, makes sense, doesn't it? If we're trying to apply our neurodiverse brains to a neurotypical world, you are going to come up against brick walls from time to time, and human nature is generally that we would appraise ourselves negatively.

Now, this is where for me diagnosis comes in. For many of our subscribers, you're going to have been diagnosed in adulthood. And that, for me, presents an interesting sort of conundrum, really, we'll talk more in different recordings and podcasts maybe around what diagnosis means to you, and how it impacted on you. But, you know, essentially, it boils down to a choice, doesn't it? We can either see that as a really negative thing. And it's just another thing in a long list of things not going right for us. Or we can use it as a platform, as a framework of understanding our struggles.

I know I certainly did that, I feel that it really changed things for me, really positively changed things for me, I was able to sort of suddenly understand all of these things that I'd struggled with at school, at work, structure in my life, etc. And essentially, just sort of let myself off the hook for them. And I found that very liberating. I'd encourage others to do the same if they can.