Glossary
Every term gets the definition first, real examples second, and honest attribution always. Community terms are labeled as community terms.
Core concepts · 5 min read
Executive dysfunction is difficulty with the brain's self-management skills — starting, switching, planning, remembering. The concept behind a dozen everyday struggles.
Read the definitionCore concepts · 5 min read
Hyperfixation is intense, sticky absorption in one interest or activity — for hours or months. How it differs from hyperfocus and special interests, and how to exit it.
Read the definitionCore concepts · 6 min read
Task paralysis is being unable to start or choose a task despite wanting to. Why ADHD brains freeze, the two flavors of it, and what actually unsticks it.
Read the definitionCore concepts · 7 min read
Time blindness is difficulty sensing time pass and forecasting how long things take. What it means, how it shows up, and the cousin terms that live inside it.
Read the definitionSymptom vocabulary · 4 min read
Hyperactivity in ADHD is not just running around — in adults it often turns into internal restlessness. What the word means and how it shows up.
Read the definitionSymptom vocabulary · 4 min read
Impulsivity is acting before the brain's brake pedal engages — what the word means in ADHD, and how it shows up in adult life.
Read the definitionSymptom vocabulary · 4 min read
Inattention in ADHD is not a lack of attention but a steering problem — what clinicians mean by the word, and how it shows up in adults.
Read the definitionEmotions · 4 min read
ADHD burnout is the deep depletion that comes from months or years of running an ADHD brain in a neurotypical world — more than tired, and rest alone rarely fixes it.
Read the definitionEmotions · 5 min read
Rejection sensitive dysphoria (RSD) is the name many people with ADHD give to sudden, overwhelming pain around real or perceived rejection — a named experience, not a diagnosis.
Read the definitionEmotions · 4 min read
The Wall of Awful is the emotional barrier that builds around a task after repeated failure and shame — and why pushing harder rarely gets you through it.
Read the definitionCommunity terms · 4 min read
In ADHD communities, “object permanence” means out of sight, out of mind — things and people fade from awareness when unseen. The technical meaning is different.
Read the definitionCommunity terms · 4 min read
AuDHD is a community term for having both autism and ADHD at once — not a diagnosis, but a word for the specific push-pull of living with both.
Read the definitionCommunity terms · 5 min read
Body doubling means doing a task while another person is simply present — in person or virtually — and their quiet company makes starting easier.
Read the definitionCommunity terms · 4 min read
A doom pile is a heap of postponed decisions — every item is waiting for a verdict. A doom box is the same phenomenon with a lid on it.
Read the definitionCommunity terms · 4 min read
Masking is hiding or suppressing your natural ADHD traits to seem “normal” — rehearsing, copying, holding still — and it sends you the bill later.
Read the definitionCommunity terms · 4 min read
The ADHD tax is the extra money, time, and energy that forgetfulness, impulsivity, and disorganization quietly cost you — and it can be itemized.
Read the definitionCommunity terms · 4 min read
A dopamine menu is a pre-written menu of quick, genuinely enjoyable activities to pick from when your brain is understimulated — no deciding required.
Read the definitionCommunity terms · 4 min read
Waiting mode is the frozen, can't-start-anything state before a scheduled event. A community term for a very real planning glitch — and what unfreezes it.
Read the definition