# It's Not Attention Deficit Disorder, It's...? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 7, 2010, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-not-attention-deficit-disorder-its/552929 "2010-09-07T15:54:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2010, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-not-attention-deficit-disorder-its/552929/21 "2010-09-08T06:32:49Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > OCD is nowhere near an opposite of ADHD, nor are the two disorders remotely the same. OCD is about having UNWANTED THOUGHTS that cause you discomfort, and feeling compelled to do UNWANTED BEHAVIORS to stop them. > > Hyperfocusing is a symptom of OCD (just like it can be of ADHD), not the disorder. If your wife does not have extreme anxiety while being hyperfocused, nor reports it at other times, then she is not experiencing an OCD symptom. OCD is an anxiety disorder. Thank you for that. It is unfortunate that many people try to place completely unrelated disorders along a single spectrum as a means for comparison. As mentioned above, hyperfocus is one of the possible symptoms of ADHD; that is, an extreme focus on a particular task or action to the exclusion of the rest of the environment. Hyperfocus can manifest itself in a hyperactive manner–like a child running in circles–or in a very calm manner–reading a book in the middle of a noisy, crowded room. ADD and ADHD (which, regardless of how you classify them, are really two different names for the same root disorder) is an inability of the subject to adequately control attentional focus on outside events. OCD, on the other hand, is a purely internal conflict in which a compulsive (usually rhythmic or counting) behavior is used to satisfy an obsessive thought chain. It is entirely possible to display distinct symptoms of both ADHD and OCD simultaneously, though it may be difficult for anyone but a professional psychiatric diagnostician to distinguish them. As for the o.p., or rather, his wife, it may be that she has ADHD. It may also be that she just has a lack of perception or comprehension of the relative significance of her actions and environment, which is more functional Asperger’s-type behavior. Or she might just be related to Lucile Ball. I don’t think anyone can offer a credible diagnosis based upon the slight information provided by the o.p. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2010, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-not-attention-deficit-disorder-its/552929/22 "2010-09-08T15:37:18Z")
[quote=“Stranger\_On\_A\_Train, post:21, topic:552929”] > [@BigT](#): > > As for the o.p., or rather, his wife, it may be that she has ADHD. It may also be that she just has a lack of perception or comprehension of the relative significance of her actions and environment, which is more functional Asperger’s-type behavior. Stranger Well I’ve long suspected that she has Asperger’s, so in this case I think we have a winner. Thanks, **Stranger**. I never knew that her perception/comprehension difficulties were related to Asperger’s. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2010, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-not-attention-deficit-disorder-its/552929/23 "2010-09-08T23:47:38Z")
I have ADD and OCD. It’s certainly possible. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-not-attention-deficit-disorder-its/552929/24 "2010-09-09T14:15:04Z")
> [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#): > > It very well could be. ADD very often _IS_ its opposite. [Hyperfocus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperfocus) states are not unknown. It’s one reason so many people refuse to believe ADD exists. I was thinking much the same. My daughter literally ignored the smell of smoke because it was Her Turn On The Sacred Box (the computer). A pot of turkey carcass parts etc., left to simmer overnight on the stove after Thanksgiving (something we do every year) had gone dry due to a certain husband leaving the burner too high. The contents were beginning to scorch and fill the kitchen with smoke. My daughter smelled it… but the computer was far more interesting. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-not-attention-deficit-disorder-its/552929.md?page=1)