High-Functioning ADHD

After putting it off for years now, I finally went to a specialist in Shanghai and got officially diagnosed with ADHD. At this point it came as no surprise to me whatsoever, but that’s because I’ve learnt what high-functioning ADHD actually looks like. So before you jump in with the thought “isn’t everyone attention deficit these days?” (which is exactly how I first reacted), see this list of symptoms. You may think a few of them are relatable. But if, like me, you’re off the scale on all seven, then you might want to embark on the same research journey that has led me here.

1. Overcompensation through perfectionism - using strict organisation systems to cover for inadequacies, and obsessing over small details to avoid mistakes.

2. “All-or-nothing” productivity - alternating between hyperfocus and avoidance. Avoidance (and burnout) often mistaken for mild depression.

3. High creativity and idea generation, coupled with a baseline level of inconsistency - achieving great results but not always on a reliable basis.

4. Strong verbal or social skills - masking inattentiveness or impulsivity by being articulate, charming, or funny.

5. Emotional sensitivity - a hypervigilance to rejection, and also prone to impatience and frustration. Often mistaken for anxiety or mild bipolar.

6. Obsession with fairness - perceiving injustice more frequently and intensely, and showing stronger emotional and behavioural responses.

7. Chronic self-criticism - a sense of “I should be doing better,” despite good external achievements.

In short, I’ve seen it defined as “Someone who appears successful but is secretly exhausted from keeping all the plates spinning. They may not fit the stereotype of hyperactive and distracted, but underneath there’s a lifelong struggle with attention regulation, impulsivity, and time management - hidden behind effort, intelligence, or external structure.”

I still have many of the signs of classic ADHD: the excitability, the irritability, the forgetfulness, the oversharing, the trouble with auditory processing, the intrusive thoughts on constant loop. But this high-functioning version is all about laboriously trying to conform to the norm, and masking the feeling of shame about your true nature. That’s an all-too-familiar feeling for a gay guy who grew up in the eighties. So I’ve decided to “come out” today. To help spread awareness, and also to be totally honest and accountable to myself. Pictured is the trial course of medication I’ve just been prescribed, but I don’t think I’ll continue. Partly because I don’t need to be consistently productive these days, and I’m already regulating myself with a daily dose of self-awareness. But also because China has assigned this drug as a class one controlled substance, requiring regular face and passport scans to procure very small amounts at a time. And you don’t need ADHD to have zero patience for that… 😬


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