From the blog
AuDHD explained: autism and ADHD together.
The plain answers, and then the part that is harder to find written down.
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In short
- AuDHD is an informal term for being both autistic and ADHD. It is not a formal diagnosis.
- Both can be diagnosed in the same person. That has only been allowed in the UK since 2013.
- ADHD is neurodivergent, but neurodivergent is a broader umbrella than autism and ADHD.
- The two are distinct conditions with real overlap, not points on one scale.
- Meltdown and shutdown are the same overload with opposite outputs.
What is AuDHD?
AuDHD is an informal term for being both autistic and having ADHD. It is not a formal diagnosis and does not appear in diagnostic manuals. It is used because the combination produces experiences that neither description covers on its own, particularly the sense of two sets of needs pulling against each other.
The term comes from the community rather than from clinicians, which is usually a sign it is doing work the official vocabulary is not. People reach for it because being handed two separate diagnoses does not describe what it is like to hold both.
What does AuDHD stand for?
It is a blend of Au, the chemical symbol used as shorthand for autism, and ADHD. Written AuDHD or sometimes AudHD. It simply means autistic and ADHD in the same person, and carries no clinical status of its own.
Is ADHD neurodivergent?
Yes. ADHD is one of the conditions the term neurodivergent covers. Neurodivergent means having a mind that works differently from what is considered typical, and the umbrella also includes autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia and Tourette's among others. It is a social term rather than a medical one.
Worth knowing that neurodivergent is broader than autism and ADHD, and that it was coined within the community rather than by clinicians. You will not find it in a diagnostic manual, and that does not make it less useful.
Is ADHD the same as autism?
No. They are separate conditions with genuinely overlapping features. Both affect attention, social experience and sensory processing, and both are frequently missed in women. They are not points on a single spectrum, and one is not a milder form of the other.
They do co-occur often, which is where the confusion comes from. It is also why, until relatively recently, people were made to choose. Diagnostic rules in the UK did not permit both diagnoses in the same person until 2013, so a generation of people were assessed under a system that could only see one of the two things in front of it.
What is the difference between ADHD and autism?
The clearest way to hold it is that they often want opposite things.
| Autism | ADHD | |
|---|---|---|
| Relationship to routine | Usually seeks it, distressed by change | Usually finds it hard to maintain, seeks novelty |
| Attention | Deep, sustained focus on interests | Inconsistent, with intense hyperfocus on some things |
| Social experience | Difficulty reading unwritten rules, effortful masking | Interrupting, missing cues through inattention, impulsive speech |
| Sensory | Often heightened sensitivity | Often seeking stimulation, sometimes both |
| Change | Distressing | Frequently welcome |
Read that table as one person and you have a fair sketch of AuDHD: needing routine and being unable to keep one, wanting stimulation and being flattened by it.
Do I have AuDHD?
An article cannot tell you, and anyone claiming otherwise is selling something. What it can do is tell you whether the frame is worth investigating. If both descriptions have partly fitted for years, and neither has fitted completely, that is the usual reason people start looking at both together.
If you would like to take it further there are three routes: an NHS assessment, which is free and typically involves a long wait; a private assessment, which is faster and costs money; and self-identification, which is legitimate, widely respected in the community, and where a great many people sensibly begin while they wait.
None of those routes is a prerequisite for getting support with how you are actually finding life.
Meltdown and shutdown.
These come up constantly and are described badly almost everywhere, usually as behaviour. They are not behaviour. They are what happens after capacity has been exceeded, and by the time either arrives the decision-making part of the process is long over.
Meltdown.
An outward response to overload: crying, shouting, rapid speech, movement, sometimes anger. Frequently mistaken for a tantrum, which implies a goal. There is no goal. There is a system past its limit.
Shutdown.
The same overload turned inward: speech going, movement reducing, a flat withdrawal that can look like sulking or rudeness. Often more socially acceptable, and often more frightening from inside.
What helps, in the moment.
- Fewer words, not more. Questions add processing load at the exact wrong time.
- Reduce input. Lower light, less noise, fewer people.
- Do not require eye contact or an explanation.
- Wait. Recovery takes as long as it takes, and afterwards there is usually a long tail of tiredness.
- Talk about it later, not during. Afterwards is when the useful conversation is possible.
Shame is the part that lasts longest, particularly for adults who have spent years being told they overreact. Working on that is often more useful than any technique for preventing the next one.
Amy Hutson
BACP accredited counsellor, supervisor and trainer in Brighton and Hove, and online across the UK. PG Dip Humanistic Psychotherapy, University of Brighton. Trained in writing therapy and creative arts counselling.
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Reading about it only gets you so far.
The first fifteen-minute call is free, by phone, with no obligation to book anything afterwards.