Inside the ADHD Studio: Concept & Background
INTRODUCTION
Inside the ADHD Studio is a creative-academic project that helps people understand Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder through metaphor and design.
Rather than presenting symptoms, it invites visitors to step into a recording studio — a space where attention, emotion, and thought can be mixed, edited, and re-balanced.
ORIGINS
The project began with a simple image: a mixing desk where each fader represents a mental process.
Everyone has the same channels, but in ADHD several are turned up higher into the red.
That image grew into a full studio environment with four rooms — each symbolising one of Russell Barkley’s (2015) executive-function domains.
The studio became a way to show that ADHD isn’t about having different traits, but about the degree and interaction of traits we all share.
THE SCIENCE BEHIND IT
Psychologist Russell Barkley describes ADHD as a disorder of executive functioning — the self-management system that helps us regulate time, attention, emotion, and action.
The four rooms translate those processes into creative spaces:
• Video Edit Booth – non-verbal working memory and time awareness
• Sound Edit Booth – verbal working memory and inner speech
• DJ Booth – emotional and motivational regulation
• Songwriter’s Room – planning, creativity, and problem-solving
By walking through the studio, visitors can see how these systems interact and why ADHD can feel like living inside a constantly shifting soundscape.
WHY METAPHOR MATTERS
The studio isn’t just decoration; it’s a translation device.
Metaphor helps externalise inner experience so it can be understood without judgement.
In pluralistic counselling (Cooper & McLeod, 2011), meaning is co-constructed in many ways — cognitive, emotional, and creative.
Using the language of sound and space allows scientific, personal, and imaginative perspectives to sit side-by-side.
It reframes ADHD not as a broken system but as a different rhythm — one that can produce both noise and brilliance.