ADHD, Autism, Giftedness & Burnout: A Curious Overlapping of Traits

8-page PDF to share with your therapist, coach, partner or medical provider to provide context around your nuanced complexity

Photo by Solen Feyissa on Unsplash

Have you ever wondered why it seems like there is so much overlap in descriptions of Autism, ADHD, Giftedness and even burnout? Let’s dig in.

Most of the world refers to ADHD and Autism as inherently different sets of wiring, yet the research supports not only a high co-occurrence rate (being diagnosed with both ADHD and Autism). A data cross analysis nugget to support this:

• 22-83% of Autistic children also meet the diagnostic criteria for ADHD (Ronald et al., 2008; Matson et al. 2013; Sokolova et al., 2017)

I’ve also learned via my work in assessing Autism and ADHD in adults that, in addition to high levels of co-occurrence, there is also significant overlap in the characteristics of ADHD and Autism. Research that supports this anecdotal conclusion includes:

• 30-65% of children with ADHD have clinically significant levels of Autistic traits (Ronald et al. 2008; Sokolova et al., 2017).

• There is approximately a 50-72 % overlap of contributing genetic factors (Sokolova et al., 2017).

With the apparent phenotypic, genetic, and neurobiological similarities between Autism and ADHD, it’s no wonder there are so many individuals who prefer to combine these identities into a single term: AuDHD (Autism + ADHD) .

It doesn’t stop there…

In my training and experience in providing Giftedness Profiling¹ for adults, I have also become aware of significant overlap in characteristics associated giftedness² in relation to both Autism and ADHD (and AuDHD). Here is a link to a Venn diagram that exhibits some of the higher level factors of similarities and differences between these three areas of neurodivergence.³

Additionally, I’ve recognized that ~90% of the adults I assess for Autism, ADHD and/or Giftedness have experienced at least one (usually more) episode of neurodivergent burnout, commonly linked to masking their differences at work, home or in other environments. Neurodivergent (Autism, ADHD, Giftedness, etc. ) burnout is associated with symptoms that include uncommon levels of mental, emotional, and physical fatigue that is not restored with the individual’s usual rest routine as well as apathy, life dissatisfaction, headaches or chronic pain, and changes in sleep and eating patterns.

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So what are the specific overlapping characteristics of Autism, ADHD, Giftedness and Burnout?

I hoped you’d ask!

In order to show you a slice of what my brain “sees” when assessing an individual with all of these areas of complexity in mind, I have created an AUTISM, ADHD, GIFTEDNESS, BURNOUT Characteristic Overlap table of items⁴ (click file below to see this behemeth)—all known characteristics of ADHD— taken directly from the DIVA-5, an empirically-supported ADHD assessment tool⁵ (that we use regularly for assessment at Method) and:

1. Identified which other areas of neurocomplexity (Autism, Giftedness) and/or burnout this item could potentially overlap and

2. My reasoning as to why/how this item could be characteristic of Autism, Giftedness and/or burnout.

In other words, any time an individual endorses one of these items in an ADHD assessment, here are all of the expanded differential possibilities I am synthesizing to determine a potential diagnosis/identification/further recommendation.

Here is a sneak peek of the table I created for you to share with your therapist, coach, partner, family, friends, or medical provider to provide context around your complexity!

To access all eight (8) pages of this document (you’re going to want to see this), click this file: