Find a therapist to help with ADHD

Fantasy that replaces real life is not a formal diagnosis, yet it is especially common in people with ADHD.

Analysis of Reddit posts shows fantasies of a perfect self and companions who always offer support.

Low self-esteem is common in ADHD, and fantasy may offer a refuge from years of rejection and criticism.

One of the greatest things about the internet is finding out you’re not alone. I feel sorry for those Victorian souls who had a weird thought and simply had to live with it. Instead of going on Reddit and searching, “Does anyone else pretend to be a chicken to get to sleep at night?” they sat there in their little nightcaps by candlelight, feeling like the biggest weirdo on earth, when they could have been doomscrolling for three hours about how many people had the exact same fantasy and, even more comforting, even weirder and more bizarre ones. Which brings me to my most recent discovery. It not only made me feel less of an oddball, but it also gave me that now-familiar feeling: Has anyone on this planet ever had a truly unique experience?

According to subreddit threads, no. We are all infinitely bizarre and confused creatures, bumbling around and trying to look like we’ve got our sh*t together when we clearly don’t. That brings me a great deal of comfort, knowing I’m not alone.

As a woman with ADHD, I’ve spent my life feeling like an alien who has landed on Earth while everyone else received the manual on how to be human except me. It turns out that even that alien feeling is common among people with ADHD. Through my research into women with ADHD, I keep finding........

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