We definitely understand that a software solution will by no means "fix" ADHD. It's an extremely complex condition layered on to extremely complex & individual human beings and we as a society have lots of work to do with education, awareness, stigma, medication, and other behavioral solutions (including coaching). We advocate for a mixed method that may include multiple of the above, potentially even all through experimentation, to find what works best for you uniquely.
Many of our members and community members either (1) are already on medication and use coaching to build skills & systems to further improve their lives, or (2) for whatever reason aren't able or want to be on medication [stigma, cultural barriers, can't be on because of other medications for co-occuring conditions, and many other reasons, or simply not wanting to] and use coaching either on it's own or with therapy/other modalities of care. Other benefits of coaching involve support & acceptance from someone who understands, and accountability to follow through on certain commitments in life.
We have built the service up with much care & love, alongside the ADHD community, clinicians, and ADHD experts & coaches, but are always open to more specific feedback on how we can improve. Our inbox is always open: hi@shimmer.care
Almost every single one of their techniques and incentives is were bound to fail exactly if someone had ADHD.
Like they had a 14 day trial where you had to remember to keep launching the app every day and things like that.
Guess what, someone with ADD would forget to launch the app, and definitely blow through a silly 14 day trial before they could even realize any value. It showed me exactly how clueless they were about their audience.
Even worse: the trial was probably sign up with card before you buy and many people with ADHD will still be _paying_ for the service long after the trial ran out...
> It showed me exactly how clueless they were about their audience.
It sounds like a grift that knew _exactly_ who their audience was...
[disclaimer: I didn't check which service you are talking about, so this may not be the case. This does seem to be a trope, however.]
I have ADHD, my kids have ADHD, and most of my friends have ADHD. Was on Vyvanse for 5 years, then off for 6, and I just recently started taking it again.
During my first 5 years on Vyvance, I had my first experience of what was truly possible for me and it changed my life.
Then, triggered by unrelated health issues and unhappiness with side effects, but mainly because I wanted to run the experiment of seeing how far I could get without meds, I stopped for 6 years. I focussed on lifestyle, structure, health, exercise, nutrition, meditation, And it was pretty good, much better than before my diagnosis.
Then as my life moved forward it presented me with increasing responsibility and challenge, and this year I decided to go back on meds. Of course it was immediately obvious that meds improve my ability to focus and my general self-regulation to a level not possible through healthy lifestyle and earnest intentions. But… now I am getting a multiplier effect of an ADHD-optimized lifestyle working together with my medication, and its amazing. I'm taking a lower dose than before, but sustaining a better level of productivity and mental health.
I have seen in myself and others where meds on their own have failed because their benefits were squandered by a careless lifestyle. Now I get to see how this plays out with my kids, And guess what? Meds are essential, but they aren't enough. The hard part is changing their attitudes, habits and lifestyle.
The cliche "pills don't teach skills".
A mix of (or at least experimenting with) meds, skills, routines, potentially therapy... all good starting points but the key is to figure out what works for you. And we'll take all the help we can get! Each neurodiverse person is different and will likely respond to a different mix of solutions.
A service that provides virtual assistance for ADHD ppl - without the veneer of medical treatment to raise prices - could be a lot more affordable and helpful in helping ppl complete tasks they're struggling with, bounce ideas and plans back and forth, and help with other executive tasks.
This is an assistance vs treatment approach. ADHD doesn't have to be seen as a disease you treat medically - it can be seen as a perfectly natural way of being that requires some assistance, but also provides special abilities.
It would be cool if there were VAs that were trained in how best to help people with ADHD. I would see that as being supplementary to Shimmer. I use Shimmer myself and find it useful in coming up with strategies that work for me.
Literally read their post, it's for if:
>If you have ADHD (or think you do)
Wow that's great and not exploitative at all. A service to treat a medical condition that people merely THINK they have. Don't suppose anybody is going to get a refund if they don't actually have ADHD.
This definitely is not treatment nor therapy/medication, just to clarify. We view ourselves as 1 potential piece of your greater solution to ADHD (or wanting better executive function skills in general). Same as a to-do list is helpful for ADHD, as is a body doubling tool. These services don't treat ADHD, simply may be of help!
Having tried pretty much all the stimulants (oh DNMs how I love you) and currently taking one, I almost can't believe I have to say medication alone is not enough.
I would very much like such 'entrepreneurs' to stop trying to profit from my disability. If they had something actually useful to sell, they'd engage with health service providers. Instead they try to fool the individual with promises of success and happiness.
It's disgusting and predatory, and sours me even more towards the VC types that think this is a worthwhile type of business to invest in.
I am the 'entrepreneur' in question here (who also uses our ADHD coaching), and definitely do not want to profit from anyone's disability. I hope that comes through at some level! We are definitely in the process of engaging with health service providers but the unfortunate nature here is to get something innovative and tech-enabled out there, we first need to prove that it is helpful to folks (which is our mission anyway! By providing at-cost services while compensating our coaches, our main goal right now is to prove that we can help people with ADHD, like me!)
The also unfortunate reality is that there aren't enough therapists out there with ADHD specialization, especially once you filter for an individual's state/insurance. We know we're not the be all end all, but hopefully a useful stop to help gain some skills and routines for people with ADHD.
I've done these 2 of Russell Barkley's free courses: http://www.continuingedcourses.net/active/courses/course109.... http://www.continuingedcourses.net/active/courses/course109....
I took notes on the former (here: https://shimmercare.notion.site/ADHD-in-Adults-Diagnosis-Imp...) but didn't get around to the latter.
I don't disagree that things like this can be exploitative and if it happens even once then I agree with the 'you should be ashamed' thesis statement. You're treating the solution as a very black and white thing in this comment of yours though and the vitriol with which you wrote it left me with the impression that pushback is warranted.
Literally none of this is true. The research overwhelmingly shows that stimulant medication is the most effective treatment for ADHD, and second place isn't even close. Show me a single paper that shows that "good sleep" is a more effective treatment for ADHD than medication and I'll eat my shoe.
The people who got exercise, slept well and kept meaning in their life avoided falling down the hole. They aren't in the study in the first place.
Horseshit.
I have a sleep tracker and an exercise tracker that tell me I get enough of both and I’ve plenty of meaning in my life. None of those things helped nearly as much as adderall.
The people who kept up with a well planned exercise routine, slept well instead of trying to catch up with work at 2am in a mad rush, and had meaning in their life because they didn't push their friends away with uncontrolled emotional outbursts? Perhaps they aren't in the study because they don't have ADHD?
Seriously, why does ADHD and other neurodivergent "treatment" always fail to listen to the afflicted? It's ableist and othering, and it's fucking disgusting.
It is that fact which plays into why this treatment is exploitative. You should only ever be trying something like this after exhausting a number of more effective options. This program is marketing itself as for people who AREN'T EVEN DIAGNOSED with ADHD and pretending this is somehow an "evidence-based" approach.
Most of members use coaching as a tool in conjunction with medication or other forms of treatment. Our service is not marketed as treatment, but simply another tool (for guidance, support, accountability, skill discovery) you use like to do lists, education blogs, body doubling, etc.
Our methods, on the other hand, stand on the shoulders of giants and are based on evidence-based approaches and methods. We put a lot of effort & care to conferring with the medical/clinical, coaching, and other helping professions to ensure what we're building is based on evidence-based approaches. Happy to share more over if helpful! hi@shimmer.care
I can see this sort of thing being at least a stop-gap, and something that might help while someone's waiting to get access to the better treatment.
“ADHD is primarily a neurological disorder” and “differences in ADHD diagnosis rates are primarily cultural” are not incompatible statements.
Vyvance is time release. She takes it in the morning and it wears off by the time she gets home. The behaviors at home that don't work well are still there but her stress level is way down now that she has a good handle on work. Good for her, better but not good for the kids and I.
I wouldn't say she needs anything like counseling because there isn't a problem with perception or emotional dysfunction. A "coach" on the other hand could help her and us quite a bit, if she had someone to talk to about "life". Maybe they could point out she's gone into work for the last 3 weekends and for this upcoming one she can take Saturday completely for herself to decompress, then do something meaningful and fun with her family on Sunday. That would make her feel a lot better and the the kids and I too.
The problem is the person with ADHD being willing to have some measure of accountability. The life coach needs to do that part expertly. In our case, it really does need to be someone else because I can say the same thing as a life coach and in the exact same way, but because I am "the husband" my wife's guilt ramps up and so does negative self talk and some anger. Even when I try to help kindly and thoughtfully she can become defiant or dismissive. Because I'm "the husband". I have tried stepping and helping her have a relax day followed by a family day but its exhausting as I'm the only adult doing it. Its a bit of a trap too because it starts to change our relationship to the dreaded parent/child dynamic. Although I tend to think of it as care giver and care needer. ADHD aside, she needs to own what she does or does not do because she is an intelligent capable adult. But she has to figure out how to do it without me stepping in all the time.
So while medication ought to be the first step for help, it is also probably the right thing to supplement with some kind of coaching, even if it is infrequent or done with a light touch. Ideally self reflection could eliminate the need for coaching but it's not a task that elevates dopamine levels in the executive function of the brain. Meaning, someone with ADHD is probably not drawn to or motivated to do it on their own. It's more likely involving an unbiased 3rd party is actually helpful.
ADHD is not a bad thing and I really don't want to call it a dysfunction. I'm in the neurodivergent camp. When her hyper focus kicks in whatever she is doing is done to the best degree anything like that can be done. There's another member of the family that has ADHD that is also competitive. When we do something together and there is the mere possibility of being competitive, their hyper focus kicks in and I can't keep up with them. In software development, an engineer with ADHD can out think and out code me by a noticeable distance if their hyper focus kicks in. Their problem isn't performing, it's being in control of when they perform and on what tasks. They make great pinch hitters by the way. Want a production issue fixed quickly? Grab the ADHD dev in a group meeting where they share their screen. Me though, I cave. I fold. Too much pressure and I don't mind admitting it. I'm too much of an empath. I just don't see ADHD as a dysfunction because its obvious that its a rebalancing of strengths and weaknesses. They'll get their electricity shut off by forgetting to pay the bill but they'll also decorate the best looking wedding cake when it's late and the decorator calls in sick.
I want to also mention, we have a friend that hasn't been diagnosed but swears he has ADHD. I can see that might be true but he also is an avid runner. The physical and mental exercise of running probably helps him manage well enough that he doesn't need medication. And I think that suggests that ADHD is not a switch where you have it or you don't, more that it is a spectrum. There are probably people that have a low level of ADHD and have figured out life just works better if they do certain things, like drinking coffee regularly and running.
edit: spelled Vyvanse wrong