There’s a word embedded in the name ADHD that does more damage than most people realize.
Deficit.
If you grew up hearing that word attached to your brain (or if you heard it for the first time as an adult sitting across from a clinician) you probably felt it land somewhere deep. A deficit means something is missing, less than or broken.
That framing is wrong and it has real consequences for the millions of professionals experiencing it everyday because ADHD is not a deficit.
I sat down with Tara LaFon Gooch, MBA — CEO, two-time bestselling author, international TEDx speaker, and host of the Grasp Confidence podcast — for a conversation about what ADHD actually is, why so many high-performing entrepreneurs have it, and what it looks like to stop managing your brain and start working with it.
Hear our entire conversation here:
ADHD is a terrible name because ADHD is not a deficit.
There’s a full chapter in my book dedicated to this, and I’ll say it plainly here too: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is a deeply misleading label for what’s actually happening in these brains.
Attention deficit — people with ADHD brains don’t have a deficit of attention. They have trouble modulating it. Directing it where they want it to go, when they want it there. That’s a fundamentally different thing. When the topic is right, the passion is there, the work is aligned — the attention is extraordinary.
Hyperactivity — in adults, this rarely looks like what the name conjures. It looks like an internal restlessness. A sense of crawling out of your skin while sitting perfectly still in a meeting. Leg shaking. The kind of thing you’ve trained yourself to hide so well that nobody around you would ever guess it’s happening.
And disorder — when 5 to 10% of the worldwide adult population carries this brain type, that’s an evolutionary variant. The human body is full of variants. An ADHD brain isn’t broken… it’s different. And there’s almost certainly a reason we’ve had this many people with this kind of brain for this long.
The emotional piece that almost nobody talks about.
ADHD is consistently framed as a deficit – an attention and executive function issue. The part that gets left out (and the part that is often more impairing in professional life) is emotional regulation.
The ADHD brain is emotionally reactive. Something good happens and the world is extraordinary. Something difficult lands and suddenly everything is terrible. The emotional intensity moves fast and hits hard, in both directions. And the frontal part of the brain that typically helps regulate those responses in real time doesn’t work the same way in an ADHD brain.
What this looks like in practice: a professional holds it together at work all day, using every available resource to stay regulated, to perform, to keep the mask in place. And then they get home. And everything falls apart. The partner, the kids, the household… they get what’s left after a full day of managing.
This pattern contributes to something worth naming directly: misdiagnosis. Emotional dysregulation in adults with ADHD has led to diagnoses of bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder (sometimes for years) before anyone looked at ADHD. I worked with a young woman who had been hospitalized twice, put on high-dose lithium, loaded with medications that weren’t addressing what was actually happening. When we finally did the assessment, the picture was clear. She had an ADHD brain. Getting her correctly diagnosed and treated has been a long road — and a painful one that didn’t have to be that long.
Understanding your brain is the foundation.
Tara said something in this conversation that I keep coming back to: she remembered the shame of her childhood diagnosis. The sense of not being worthy, not being smart enough, not being enough. That shame is still out there. It’s still shaping how professionals seek help — or don’t.
Understanding how your brain works doesn’t require a label you’re comfortable with, or a treatment plan you’re ready for, or a conversation you’re not ready to have. It just requires curiosity. And the ADHD brain, as it turns out, has plenty of that.
If this conversation resonates, ADHD in Professionals: Embrace Your Brain is available now on Amazon HERE.
If you’re looking for a place to start before reaching out to a clinician, my free ADHD resource list is available at constellationpllc.com.
📌 Grasp Confidence Podcast with Tara LaFond Gooch. Find it on: Apple, Spotify, and Youtube.
📌 Driven to Distraction by Dr. Hallowell and Ratey.
📌 Free ADHD resource list: constellationpllc.com
📌 Constellation PLLC 90-day program for ADHD diagnosis and treatment: constellationpllc.com/program
Dr. Jennie Byrne, MD, PhD is a neuroscientist, psychiatrist, and author whose work explores human behavior, mental health, and ADHD in high-achieving adults. In her latest book, “ADHD in Professionals: Embracing Your Brain,” she offers an honest, empowering look at how ADHD shows up in physicians, executives, entrepreneurs, and other professionals—and how they can better understand and work with their brains.
A board-certified psychiatrist with an MD/PhD in neuroscience, Dr. Byrne has built her career at the intersection of clinical care, leadership, and innovation. She is known for her clear, pragmatic voice on topics including ADHD, burnout, stigma, and the future of mental health care.
Dr. Byrne is also a sought-after speaker and thought leader committed to helping professionals navigate mental health with insight, candor, and compassion. Learn more at www.constellationpllc.com.