Tbh when I got diagnosed with ADHD as an adult I went searching for information and aside from academic articles there was:

• Info sheets (e.g. "How To Get Your ADHD Child To Do Their Homework") that were borderline useless

• ADDitude Magazine stuff (which is a bit sketchy and which is either aimed at such a broad audience that it's really generic or their videos which seem to attract dubious guests to talk about "strategies" that usually amount to vague descriptions and boilerplate advice)

• Old lectures or sometimes interviews with Russell Barkley or William Dodson

The level of information online in social media peer spaces was really dismal too - I swear to Marx if I hear people reduce ADHD down to being "a lack of dopamine" one more time I'm going to have a stroke. (That's not aimed at anyone in particular, it's just a super common trope that imo is actually really harmful.)

There's a lot of misinformation out there about ADHD and ADHD meds, and there's a huge gulf between the basic "So your child has ADHD, now what?" info and the stuff that exists in academia. It's really fucking frustrating and I guess I'm just lucky that I had the right combination of things to be able to channel that frustration into becoming the knowledgeable person about ADHD that I needed in my own life.

So much advice on managing ADHD feels virtually identical to what you get regarding depression - it's just a list of things that might make it easier to manage but it's basically just healthy lifestyle stuff ("exercise regularly, get 6-8 hours of uninterrupted sleep per night, eat a healthy and balanced diet, maintain a routine, limit screentime, remember to take breaks regularly, practice mindfulness exercises, don't beat yourself up when you encounter setbacks...") Bruh, that's barely one step up from telling a depressed person "If you start to feel sad, think of something that makes you feel happy" smh.

I always got the impression that a psychiatrist just put me on Adderall in Kindergarten to make it more bearable for the teacher.

Not a criticism aimed at you but rather the abject failure on behalf of professionals and adults around you to do basic psychoeducation but this is such a harmful trope and it leads people to think that ADHD meds are just a Big Pharma substitute for good parenting, "discipline" (usually just a stand-in phrase used to make advocating for low grade child abuse socially acceptable), and the moral character of the individual.

Oh and sometimes there's something thrown in there about how running around, usually in paddocks or forests, is the cure for ADHD but nowadays kids have to, like, sit down instead. Occasionally you get the manosphere bullshit about how "Boys aren't allowed to be boys because of "tOxIc mAsCuLiNiTy" so instead of letting boys beat eachother up, harass girls, and engage in destructive and antisocial behaviour we just dope them up instead" as well.

I still don't really have a good handle on what's up with me.

Well here's an open offer: if you ever have any questions about ADHD or you need ADHD stuff explained, I'm happy to share what I know - just ask. I'm not a substitute for a psychiatrist but I'm no slouch.