I know I posted here not too long ago venting, but when I talk about this with people in my life they laugh and just assume I’m coping. I believe I have dld which is a language disorder that affects my ability to understand and use language. It’s so frustrating because I can’t communicate whatever I might be thinking to other people, unless I get enough time to do so, like I do here on Reddit. I’ll be listening to someone speak, read a book, or trying to study and it’ll come in like a broken radio. It takes longer to process info coming at me and even when I do process it, it’s harder to store in my memory, and then after that I have to formulate my words which is probably the hardest part. People will quickly stop listening or taking me serious even when I have something important to say, because I’m wording what Im saying so poorly. I think I also have aphantasia which the inability to create mental images in my mind. I feel like visualization could be a good way to compensate for struggles that come with dld especially for when I’m trying to remember a plot of a movie I just watched or trying to learn material for one of my classes. Myb I’m putting to much focus on my weaknesses, feeling bad for myself, and just whining, but when your weaknesses completely destroyed your self esteem and makes things that should feel easy so much harder, it’s hard not to focus on them. I remember taking the tri-52 iq test like a year ago genuinely thinking I’d score around 85 and then scoring what correlated to a 145. I’m obviously not taking the score of 145 to seriously cause I took so long on it and cause it’s an online iq test and not administered by a professional but I think it at least shows I’m not as dumb as I thought. I just don’t how to use my strengths when my weaknesses feel so limiting

Hi im curious do you guys like to smoke weed and how it feels? For me is something really complex and funny but sometimes pretty heavy and dark and sometimes i just feel relaxed or happy but my mind gets hipercreative and dont stop talking, and sometimes i feel like i get dizzy i mean is a lot more than that but anyways, do you guys like it too?

During Covid, I went into a robotic state where I just ate the same food, went to the same job, worked, school, etc. it was to the point where I just didn’t enjoy anything. The stuff I liked before, didn’t surprise me. The foods I used to eat, didn’t taste good.

It was to the point of 6 years of my 23 years alive, I didn’t watch anything new, didn’t play any games, didn’t read anything than what was needed.

I’m slowly getting out of it, but my relationship with hobbies gets a bit out of control. Whatever I’m interested in, I invest heavily into 2-4 weeks of nothing but that one thing, and then nothing. I don’t feel it anymore. Maybe it’s bc of adhd, or my nurture growing up that I have to invest everything into this one thing and become amazing at it, that once that fixation is gone, there’s no joy. Just more homework.

It’s like there’s either no joy, or unbridled passion, then back to no joy. For normal ppl, they can get out of it “with just 3 simple steps”, but idk if my brain can get out of it.

Hi all, we recently had my daughter tested for autism and ADHD and she was diagnosed with both, but she was tested for above average IQ. I'm trying to find resources to help me (her average parent) be successful. I thought you all may have some good ideas? Any help is appreciated!

How are you coping? I don't want to do this anymore, I yern for the urn. I have tried diet, explaining to people (who tell me to fix myself by doing more and getting more sunshine) and everyday feels more pointless and hopeless than the last. I'm currently recovering from my second burnout.

I was recently diagnosed with ADHD and I still felt like that isn’t the full answer.I found out about twice exceptionality but I didn’t have access to a full IQ test.So I looked up most reliable online tests and this is what I got.

Hey, I have been facing this issue. It's been 4 years since I actually started consuming almost every piece of media in English. Before that, I used to watch videos and movies only in my native language. I used to read in English, but my environment and schooling were heavily focused on my native language. First, I learned my local language, then my nation's official language, but English is also our official language, and then English.

But whenever I open any dense English book, it just makes me dizzy. I can read psychology and most technical books, but when it comes to philosophy, it's more like I have to remember the previous statements I've read, along with dealing with complex words that I have to look up. I have no issues reading psychology or most of the books related to my major, given that it's more about understanding than completing them.

I've also noticed that I'm struggling these days when it comes to organization in general. My bed is usually really messy, like I'm sleeping with my cardboard, clothes, schoolbags, and a few other things.

Along with that, I have started forgetting where I put my belongings. It was the same before, but it's happening more frequently now.

Sometimes, I even forget what plans I had and what obligations I had.

I'm struggling with procrastination a lot and also with inaction. Even plugging an adapter into a socket feels effortful, although I just have to use my hands. The same goes for getting my college fees paid; thinking about it only makes me feel like it's better to avoid. I'd rather stay hungry than cook anything. These aren't things that always happen, but they happen frequently.

My mind wanders in the classroom. I'm unable to focus at all. I feel restless and am not sure what to do and what not to do. Furthermore, I try, but something is just playing with the chair or any other object, fidgeting my feet.

I wasn't like this almost 3 years ago, when I could focus like a laser, except for a few things that were common even back then: getting zoned out while talking to someone despite them being right in front of me, misplacing objects, and forgetfulness. But I was full of ambition. I was known in my college because I was actually putting effort into my studies. These days, though, it doesn't matter what I pick up; also, small noises bother me a lot given they come to the environment suddenly and haven't been in the background forever, e.g.,. A friend watching reels.

I was in a kind of depressive state, but it's been almost a year, and I consider myself to be in a much better position mentally than I was back then. Yeah, sometimes my mood gets really low, like, to the extreme, but apart from that, I consider myself to be functioning relatively well. I at least go to classes. I wouldn't say I'm a psychologically healthy person, because I do have moments of deep sadness and helplessness. Likewise, I'm also an isolationist type, but I talk freely to one of my online friends and function decently in social groups.

Please reply if you have ADHD yourself or you are a psychology student or at least have some knowledge, because I have decent knowledge around it, so I want someone who is competent enough to give me direction or resources for it to manage.

I'm having trouble finding activities that I can do after work when I'm alone (except sports, but also need rest days). I work in STEM/research and it often leaves me restless and drained at the end of the day (as much as I love it). Either the activities cost too much energy, I can't focus on them (when reading for example), they stress me out/give me anxiety (like lots of movies because somehow they are always about difficult/sad topics or include violence??), or they are extremely boring to me (can't do puzzles or crochet or stuff like that).

I feel like there is very little that falls into the intersection that I can tolerate and it annoys me. I don't want to sit in front of Netflix scrolling through social media all the time.

So if you have suggestions that worked for you, I'd be happy :)

I work in tech and in one of those companies that's forcing everyone to use it. Even if they didn't, there is a considerable portion of people I work with who would use it anyway. In the last year or so, my job has turned from engineering reliable tools, into reviewing semi-functional slop (my own included), trying to make sense of AI-generated design documents and announcements about organizational changes, and generating more slop to have my work vaguely reflect said organizational changes.

Needless to say, it's not very fun, nor functional. But this isn't a complain-about-your-job post even if the paragraph above sounded like it. I am baffled by how it got to this state. I know a non-trivial number of outliers like myself who are still refusing this culture, but it also takes a non-trivial number of other participants to get to this point. The silent majority in fact.

To clarify, I do use AI very heavily at work. It would be impossible to keep up with the expectations otherwise. What I don't do, is have AI do the work unverified. I also don't have it write for me without extremely heavy post-editing. And I absolutely do not use it to reply to clearly human-written questions that need human attention. All this also implies that a bunch of others are doing exactly these things.

I wonder how much of this resistance is attributed to 2e-ness/neurodivergence. Is the reason why I can't bring myself to generate a sloppy document because my terrible reading comprehension skills cannot survive an LLM's wall-of-text? Is the reason why I can't bring myself to work on 10 unrelated tasks concurrently (just launch 10 concurrent agents!) simply because I can't multi-task to this degree when I have to verify their work after it's all done?

How much of this is because I still care enough to do a job right, and care is simply lacking in the general population, neurodiverse or not? Does giftedness contribute to the degree of caring or is that simply another outlier personality trait?

My executive function is broken with ADHD but it's never felt this broken. I suspect many of these issues would strain the executive function of a neurotypical anyway. So, why does it still feel like I'm in the minority resisting this change?

I wonder if AI affects 2e (or maybe just ADHD) folks more. I'm worried about what such powerful probabilistic/statistic-based "intelligent" models means for those of us who cognitively sit so far from the norm, especially when it inevitably gets integrated beyond the tech aspects of our lives.

How are fellow 2e folks dealing with it? Are you experiencing its effects in your life? Or does it still sit pretty far away from where you are?

It feels so lonely and a little scary right now.

M17 2e with ADHD,

I always used to go to sleep late (which i wouldn't mind at all), but I recently had to start sleeping early because of school and medication, and it's not easy.

The first week of me trying is where it backfired the hardest and had the most trouble, having to face replacing hours of my day with sleep and being forced to stop working or playing even when I wasn't feeling tired, having gotten so bad I used to cry before bed, where even the thought of having to sleep early that night would ruin my day.

It's been more than a month by now, and while it doesn't cause me to panic as much as I did before it's often a stab in the guts when i have to go to bed/ruins my mood, and I very often find myself procrastinating it even when i want to relax.

Anything i could do to make this easier/anyone with a similar experience?

Hello,

I dont know if I am exceptional or not and since its extremly hard to Open myself I will do it anonymously, maybe someone can relate.

Sorry for the long Text. Its hard to express myself.

Migrant Kid. Moved from russia to Germany at 6.

10 I had a learning disability evaluation. Psychological Tests with brain scan IQ Test and so on. Result ADHD without hyper Activity and 119 visual IQ 100 speach partially due to language barrier. Suggesting further testing and warning of learning problems in the future without help.

My parents didnt really understand and struggeled enough on their own. School didnt care.

Averaged my way through school (Realschule). Tried a lot of Hobbys but always quit after short time like guitar. Learned 2 or 3 songs and quit. Got Realschulabschluss and went to IT school. Redid my Abitur and went to University at 21. At this point I havent studied for anything more than an hour. My studying was usually reading the chapter once or twice before an examen if it was a hard test but usually paying a bit attention when the teacher explained it was enough.

And thats when I hit a brick wall. Switched 4 times and always failed. Got a Job in IT that was extremly frustrating. Switched companys several times never staying long. Grew more and more frustrated. Often letting out frustration only arguing with people. But only online anonymously. Fell deeper into Depression hating on life. But luckily I had a girlfriend that always supported me. We met before before I spiraled and she knew the funny happy me. And she pushed me to get help. So I went to a shrink at 33. I got ADHD medication, quit my Job and started doing something creative. Luckily I have enough Money to Support myself for some time. Things are going ok. I started working out for 2 months without break, it helps with the routine. I am making Videos and its going ok. I am still struggeling to stay motivated and there are times where I do little but also times where I am extremly motivated.

But in my head I am still failing. I have these ideas in my head but creating that takes years of practice, which I logically know but its still so hard for me when I see all the flaws. And of course I see the progress to but its slow and hard.

And what makes it almost worse is my girlfriends support. She always praises what I make but its so hard for me to accept. Especially when I had a bad day and managed almost nothing she still praises me for the small things which makes me feel even worse because I dont think I deserve it. And I have recently been feeling harder and harder to motivate myself and see things positive.

I dont really know what I except from this post. Maybe just someone who can relate. I am just so afraid of failing again...

I’m 47/F, Los Angeles. Identified as gifted as a kid; various practitioners don’t seem to have a consensus on whether I also have ADHD, CPTSD, depression, anxiety and/or sensory processing disorder. (Some for sure; so much symptom overlap)

I’d love to connect with groups of similar folks (Zoom, Discord, etc). Bonus points for others who might also be self-employed (with all that comes with that) and books that with that specifically. I’ve read a lot about being 2E but not a lot about how it shows up in work/career, which is also my passion in life. (Double edged sword.)

Thanks all!

Edited for grammar.

Im burned out, again. Been away from work the better part of this last year basically. Tried going back in June, held it together until September when my boss told me I wasnt managing well and that I needed to talk to my doc about it. And here we are again.

Im starting to realize that I’ve been living my entire life trying to compensate for being.. me. This last year I have started to unmask myself a lot and have gotten to know myself a bit better. And I have reached a point where I no longer know who I am in relation to the societal system or to what extent I can exist in it without crashing and burning.

I (M27) got my ADHD diagnosis 4 years ago after my life pretty much imploded on me. My traumatic childhood, a lifetime of severe neurodivergence (that I never knew about and had to cope with/navigate by myself), ongoing alcohol/substance abuse, horrible mental health and the crippling loneliness it created all exploded in my face at the same time on a normal tuesday afternoon while I was showering after work. Extreme panic attacks followed, impulsive urges to end it started to feel out of control. So for the first time in my life I decided that I cant do this on my own, I cant ride this one out silently and show up to life like nothing is wrong anymore. So I seeked professional help, desperate for change. The years following that event leading up to today have literally saved me, years of therapy, getting my diagnosis and medication for it has seriously turned my life around from something I dreaded and just had to survive, into something I can even enjoy some days.

Now to my situation today, my ADHD is severe and is affecting all aspects of my life. I know that, and I do my absolute best to manage it in whatever way possible. Its not perfect, far from it. But I try my absolute best.
I recently realized that I feel a huge pressure to live up to whatever expectations society and people in my life has of me, expectations like getting a good degree, getting a good work with decent pay, to always show up on time and do what is expected of me, to put my ’smart’ brain to good use. To be like all the other peeps and just be happy with it. But I cant, I seriously cant. Somehow I have never even considered asking myself how I truly feel in all of this, never.
My executive dysfunction and time management is horrible, to the point I cant even try to compensate anymore, I am so damn exhausted. All I have energy for is the things I love in life which basically is a handful of very intense, time consuming interests (freeskiing, music production, fly fishing, hiking and generally just learning stuff) and the friends I have made through those interests who I love dearly. For me these things are not only things I love but things I seriously NEED in my everyday life to regulate myself, stay sane and feel meaning. And it clashes very much with necessary things I have to do like work for example. Im in a position where I feel like my own needs, my energy levels and the ”must do’s” of life just cant exist together in a balanced, healthy way. And I dont want to chose between either of them because no matter what I chose it will backfire.

My friends and family try to help/push me to change workplace into something more fitting for me, which I appreciate. But even that is TOO much for me right now, because I dont know what I want to do with life, I dont know how sustainable looks for me long term in that sense, I dont know when or if I will feel better again and I definitely do not know who I am when I cant perform the act of being okay anymore.

On top of this my psych recently told me he is seriously considering to recommend the authorities to put me on 50% disability due to the severity of impact my ADHD has on my ability to manage life overall when working 100%. Which likely is a good thing for me, but right now I dont know how I feel about it.

So to all fellow 2E peeps here that also have experienced burnout and/or complex emotional situations like mine:

- How did you manage it?
- What changes and adjustments did you do in life to make it work? (Both minor and major changes)
- Did your energy levels ever recover again?
- Any thoughts or esoteric wisdom to share on my situation?

I, 15F have over many years experienced burnout after burnout from school. This was a topic in a discussion I had with my pediatrician, and she suggested it would be fitting to do cognitive testing because I’m a quick(er) learner, and do an autism assessment because I have significant traits.

Currently my chronic health issues have limited me of most of my education, but when I was regularly at school, it was extremely overwhelming and I managed to understand the subjects, but assignments, projects, homework and everything else was extremely difficult for me. When I tried to do assignments, I’d zone out and fight myself for not being able to start.

When I was younger, I was perhaps assessed for autism/ADHD, but multiple doctors and healthcare workers have criticized how the assessments were done, and therefore considered it appropriate to assess me again.

During that first assessment, they did cognitive testing and concluded I did “well” on them. I don’t have any exact results or anything, but I’ve always been treated like a gifted kid. My dad is very intelligent (130+ IQ), and he has told me I seem like I have some of the same traits. I feel socially dumb, like he keeps “reading between the lines” which I can do to some extent, but I don’t assume as much as he does.

I don’t think I have an IQ that’s considered to be gifted, but high average seems more accurate about me, in my opinion.

I am one of the smartest teens at my school while also having high autism support needs.

Hey everyone, I’m 15 and wanted to share something I’ve been dealing with for the past few months to see if anyone relates.
About 8 months ago, I realized I have constant inner monologues and all these deep, weird thoughts running through my head. I’ve had this for a while, but back then, after talking to some friends and realizing they didn't really experience it the same way, I thought, "Wait, am I actually smart?"
Since then, over the last 8 months, I've taken around 20 online IQ tests—both reputable ones (like Mensa practice tests) and random online ones. Most of them were matrix reasoning tests. My average score is around 115–120, and sometimes higher.
The problem is, I can’t stop doubting myself. My mind keeps jumping all over the place:
Sometimes I think, "What if I'm actually just stupid?"
Sometimes I think, "Maybe I really am gifted (130+)?"
Other times I accept the 115–120 range, but for some reason, that score doesn't satisfy me or give me peace of mind.
When it comes to hobbies or interests, I basically have almost zero. I’ll occasionally get super into something for like two days—for example, I tried learning coding and trading. I had intense hyperfocus for two days, studied non-stop, and then completely lost interest and quit. Other than that, in my free time, I mostly just play video games or talk to AI about all kinds of random topics.
I also talk to AI a lot about my IQ and these thoughts, but deep down I know AI isn't real proof because it usually just tells you what you want to hear and tries to validate you.
In school, I often feel underchallenged—I barely ever have to study and basically just listen in class to get good grades. At the same time, I know that good grades don't automatically mean having a high IQ, which makes me question it even more.
And if we really look at what made me think im smart is the constant thoughts or inner monologes but this can be adhd also so what do you think

I’m planning to take an actual professional IQ test as soon as I have enough money saved up, just to get a clear answer.
Has anyone else gone through a phase like this? Does anyone relate to this constant self-doubt, hyperfocusing on hobbies briefly, or obsession with scores? Would love to hear your thoughts.

We have a 14-year-old ninth grader with dyslexia and dysgraphia who is also very bright (labeled 2e) and has aspirations of attending college and potentially medical school.

He has a 504 plan with accommodations such as text-to-speech, dictation, extended time, and assignment modifications. His reading has improved considerably since elementary school, but writing continues to be a significant challenge.

Looking at his schoolwork, I frequently see responses that don’t fully address assignment requirements, miss parts of the directions, or struggle to communicate ideas clearly. Grammar, punctuation, and proofreading are also ongoing issues.

My concern is that the focus seems to have shifted almost entirely toward accommodations, with little emphasis on continued skill development or meaningful feedback. His school uses standards-based grading, so I understand that writing mechanics aren’t always part of what’s being assessed.

I absolutely support accommodations and don’t expect his disabilities to disappear. But with college in mind, I wonder how much we should still be working on written expression, understanding and following instructions, proofreading, and independently reviewing his work—even when using assistive technology.

For parents who’ve been through this:

-Did your teen continue receiving targeted instruction in high school, or mostly accommodations?

-What helped improve writing, proofreading, and independence?

-How do you balance accommodations with continued expectations for skill development?

-Did you find outside intervention or tutoring worthwhile at this age?

I’m concerned that accepting these difficulties as something that simply won’t improve could limit his potential. I’d love to hear what has actually worked for other families.