ADHD causes memory problems
I remember essentially nothing from before 2-3 years ago.
I don’t remember my parent’s birthday or wedding anniversary (my dad’s was last week it seems, and I didn’t know till my mom called me yesterday, seriously.. I even wrote it down and missed it).
I don’t remember the name of the characters or story from my favorite novel.
And yes, its cause of the ADHD.
Memory problem is an inattentive symptom and affects people with ADHD-PI more often (but can affect PH people too).
ADHD directly affects two kinds memory: Working and Short Term memory.
While the two are used interchangeably, there is a distinction: working memory involves manipulating the stored information while short term memory is purely storage.
Doing sums in your head? That’s working memory.
Remembering a phone number? That’s short term memory.
And ADHD is the reason you have difficulty with both.
Here’s the thing though.. various processes in your brain turn short term memory into long term memory. But as we have difficulties with short term memory, it creates difficulties in long term memory.
It makes sense if you think about it.. if you have difficulty focusing/ concentrating on the task at hand, it will not be absorbed into your brain and you’ll have difficulty recalling it later.
Now good news is that your memory can be improved (meds can boost your memory but it is temporary unlike coping mechanisms). As you can guess, I CAN actually remember things that happened after 2-3 years ago. How? I learnt mindfulness, which helped me improve my concentration and active listening skills. It takes a fuck tonne of energy and effort but my memory is probably a few times better than it used to be.. not as much as when I’m on meds, but atleast 40-50% of it and its not temporary like the meds.
I will post a more detailed post about how I improved my memory soon
(unless executive dysfunctions fucks with me, in which case I apologize :P).
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