In this solo video, Dr. Jameca Cooper, part of her "30 Days of Radical Healing" series, explains adult attention‑deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and why it is increasingly being recognized, especially among people of color who were historically under‑diagnosed. She outlines both common and less‑obvious signs of adult ADHD, including chronic procrastination, impulsive interrupting, difficulty sustaining attention in passive settings (being a spectator), and the paradoxical phenomenon of hyperfocus. Dr. Cooper connects each symptom to underlying challenges with time management, impulse control, and the brain’s “focus switch.” She emphasizes that these patterns can impair daily productivity and relationships, urging viewers to observe these behaviors in themselves or others, consider assessment, and engage in discussion. The video ends with a call to like, comment, and subscribe.
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Hi, I'm Dr. Jameca Cooper, and we are still in the midst of our 30 Days of Radical Healing series. Hopefully you've been paying attention to these videos, getting more information that can make your life better. Today we are talking about radical healing from adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. I will shorten it and just call it adult ADHD. Make sure you like the video and subscribe to the channel. So it's important to talk about adult ADHD because it really has been on the rise for the past 10 years. I see a good deal of adult patients that are suffering with adult ADHD, and why it's called adult ADHD is because they were never diagnosed as children. So what we know about the trends in mental health in this country is that 20 years ago likely, probably only white children were getting diagnosed with ADHD in schools or at school ages. Little black kids were not getting diagnosed. So I'm seeing more and more people of color, African Americans, that are noticing that they have symptoms of ADHD, and now they're trying to figure out how they can make it all work as an adult. It can be challenging. It has lots of symptoms and signs that occur with it that could make productivity and just going through everyday life rather difficult. So today what I want to talk to you about is what it might look like. What does adult ADD look like? What are some of the signs? What are some of the symptoms? And I want to talk to you about some of those signs and symptoms that are not quite the ones you always hear about. So let's dig right in. One of the first things you can notice about an adult who might be suffering with ADHD is procrastination. So When we think about kids having ADHD, sometimes we think about them fidgeting around, getting out of their seat, not being able to pay attention, but we don't think about the indirect aspects of that. So procrastination is important because it's a direct relationship to time management. And what I found in my patients who suffer from ADD is that sometimes they put off things, they put off work, they put off projects, not because they can't do it, but because it's such a big chore to do it, and they realize it's going to make them have to really, really sit down and focus in order to do that project or meet that deadline at work, so they just put it off, put it off, put it off, and so by the time they end up doing it, it usually is a lot bigger than it should have been. So it really has to do with then two things, right? Time management and just the ability to focus on something for a sustained period of time. So that's one of the things you can look for. One of the other things you can look for is a person that always interrupts other people in conversation, right? You're saying something, they're jumping in, they're finishing your words, they're finishing your sentences. They might even finish your sentence and kind of roll into their own story. Um, so yeah, that's a little bit rude, right? But what it is, that interrupting is more about impulsiveness. So it's about, um, individuals who suffer from ADHD that are just not able to turn off those impulses. They have more of what we call impulse control. So when they feel themselves about to jump in and finish your sentence, maybe they feel as though you're taking too long to tell the story or tell the joke. So they're going to help you out by jumping in and finishing, because waiting and being patient is something that is very difficult for individuals with ADHD. So that's another thing you might notice if you're looking around. Probably you're not going to— now you're going to be looking around at people wondering, like, is this it? Is this it? Sometimes interrupting is just interrupting and is rude. But if you see maybe this whole, um, conglomerate of all of these things I'm talking about, plus some other things, then yes, it could be ADHD. So another thing you could be looking for in adults who might show symptoms of ADHD is they have a difficult time being a spectator. So what does that mean? Maybe going to sporting events— it could be a little different because that's rather active— but going to meetings, conferences, seminars, presentations, church services, anything that is long and that requires them to have sustained attention for a good deal of time. And by a good deal of time, I mean like an hour, an hour or something would be hard. It could be difficult for someone with ADHD because it's making them have to sit still and it's making them have to focus, um, or at least appear to focus for a long period of time. And for adults with ADHD, that can be very, very difficult. One of the other things I want to talk about is something that I see a lot of in my patients, and I know that it exists, but it can be confusing for why this would even fit with ADHD. So because you think ADHD means, okay, can't focus, right? But one of the things you can look for for adults with ADHD is this whole idea of hyperfocus. So instead of not being able to sit down and focus, like it does really exist and does occur with individuals with ADHD, also hyperfocused, meaning that they're so focused on one thing, one activity, one event, that they cannot break their concentration. So this could be someone playing a video game, someone listening to music, someone that's just in the midst of working and doing a project, and they just can't stop. Um, and that has more to do with focus and being able to turn off that switch in us that allows us to say, okay, I'm done focusing now. So that switch doesn't always work well with individuals with ADHD, whereas normal individuals Individuals can turn it on, they can, okay, I'm focused now, okay, I can stop focusing. That switch just, it's a little bit dysfunctional with individuals with ADHD. So these are some of the things you can look for when you're thinking about, wondering about, mm, I wonder if I suffer from adult ADHD, or if someone you know might think they're suffering from adult ADHD. It is on the rise, like I said, it's especially on the rise more among people of color because for many, many years and generations, people of color were not being diagnosed with many of these mental illnesses and mental diagnoses. So this is one of them. Be on the lookout. Hopefully you enjoyed some of the things I'm saying. Pay attention to the people around you. Drop some ideas in the comments about some of the things you've seen in adults with ADHD. I'm Dr. Jameca Cooper Cooper. Please like the video. Thanks for joining me, and make sure you subscribe to this channel.
