An Art-Based Study of Adult Perspectives on Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

This art-based inquiry set out to investigate if adults living with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) could deepen their understanding of their relationship with the disorder through creative writing and visual art. In five individual sessions, each of four participants (referred to as co-researchers in this study) created writing texts and visual art, and observed and discussed the videos and visual art that I as researcher created in response to their work. Results showed that a multimodal artistic expression of the relationship with ADHD, enriched by an “artistic conversation with the researcher, gave co-researchers new perspectives on how the condition had informed and crafted aspects of their identities. Co-researchers felt listened to and respected without judgment; were able, through the response art, to see themselves as others might see them; and began to realign entrenched views they had adopted over decades about themselves and ADHD