Treating ADHD as executive function disorder
youtube.com
youtube.com
However, I don't have ADHD, so I can't comment on living with it.
The video is from 2014 - their are probably better treatments now https://psychnews.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.pn.2...
And there is a Show HN post on the front-page right about ADHD coaching for adults. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37252231
Sometimes if you're lucky a different way of thinking/working happens to be useful, but most of the time it's a burden, and makes functioning in a society harder.
This whole “neurodivergecy is a gift!” “Celebrate your differences! Embrace your kinks!” thing is irksome to me. I know it isn’t intended in a bad way but, sometimes things aren’t a socially repressed positive just looking for love and attention. Not everybody gets a trophy.
Stimulants though, I know they work for some but boy, adhd + addictive drugs? Head scratcher. I have a nagging suspicion it’s the next OxyContin, personally. Maybe not on such a grand scale but I see negative effects in myself and others regularly. Maybe humans shouldn’t be hopped on speed so much?
If I am Icarus, then stimulants are my wax wings. Stimulants have been the cause and solution to most of my problems in life over the past decade.
Some days, I truly feel like I made a deal with the Devil. But what alternative do I have? The world has no sympathy and even less empathy. I want to survive in this world like everyone else.
Sure, I do not technically need them to survive. I wasn't even diagnosed until my early 20s. However, I've had a taste of the good life, and I can't go back.
I do not think I am clinically addicted, but I am very psychologically and physically dependent on stimulants.
One sick thought that occasionally ruminates inside my mind is that while I feel like the medications have helped me so much, I look around me -- look back on my life -- and I literally have accomplished nothing. I have nothing to show for any of it. Life is "stable", for sure. Same underpaid, miserable job for 7 years now, but really, that's it...
I do not care what any medical research paper or any doctor says. These medications are powerful psychoactive substances. I think they absolutely fuck with one's mind, and one's perception of reality albeit in subtle ways. I am starting to wonder if my perception of reality has been warped in to making me think I have been performing better than I actually have been all these years.
I'm not really sure how to end this scattered rant, but all I can say is that I've lost a lot of faith in psychiatry and psychology because of ADHD and its treatments. ADHD is the most treatable psychiatric condition? Seriously?
i had adhd diagnosed as a kid, medicated for a while, then stopped. didnt do great in school, just ok. struggled at uni with timekeeping and grades. made it decently, and then had some decent jobs.
got quite lucky, but always had issues with social skills and being too talkative. eventually got a tough job that needed a lot of personal initative and went back on meds. vyvanse has changed my life, allowed me to focus on my thoughts, keep organised, and not only helped me excel, but also fix my sleep schedule, get promoted, and just generally live like a normal person.
How long does Vyvanse last for you? At best I could only ever get 4-6 hours out of it.
Can't speak for all of them, but I don't feel any drive to take them beyond getting the positive effects. I even have a reminder otherwise I forget it.
It's basically a meme repeated by many people with ADHD by this point about how they forget to be addicted to those dangerous drugs.
But we have to remember not everyone has a legit prescription for these and that’s a big number of people too. There are absolutely pill mills for these drugs and they are very easy to find. Now I wonder about cardiac damage, or social damage from having the wrong type of people revved up to the max socially interacting. Look at some of the jarring/angry tik tok culture .
Look at Alex Jones, he’s had some interesting things to say in the past but at his worst he looks like he’s hopped up on adderall and booze and just spewing crazy poop. It’s just an example, please don’t get caught up on the specific example of what adderall can drive you to.
So at the end of the day, it’s a double edge sword. I’ve met many people who also were able to use narcotics responsibly and it helped them. It helps some, neutral for others, disaster for the rest.
My only real point is, it can help but please future reader treat them as serious drugs because they are serious. Yeah we give them to kids but they are not “kid safe.”
I'm on concerta, and was nervous to take it, because of all this fear mongering. I don't think you have malintent, but you gotta dial that back quite a lot. They started me on a tiny dose, even as an adult, and gave me a massive booklet with all possible information I couls have asked for. They said "Try this, see how it makes you feel, if it doesn't seem to help or has negative effects, we can figure something else out". Yes it's potentially addictive, but you shouldn't be going around putting the idea of turning into Alex Jones into anyone's head. That's ridiculous.
I should also point out that I have both ADHD and rather high general intelligence. At any given IQ, measures of academic success are lower for those with ADHD. There's also survivor-bias in that I couldn't be posting this if I had died from reckless behavior.
The major challenge for me is my attention gets "hung" in a way that I don't fully control. Sometimes it can get hung on a work topic, in which case I absolutely crush the project/feature etc. Other times, it gets hung on something it shouldn't and I can't be productive to save my life.
It also seems to come into play right at the end of a major project. It's very hard to wrap up the little details when I'm mentally ready to move onto the next thing.
I can't even read a page of a novel without getting slightly distracted, having to re-read sentences, etc. but I can program for 6+ hours straight. When the hyperfocus kicks in, then it's really hard to break away/distract myself. I'll forgo standing up, eating, etc. because I'm in the "zone" and I can't make myself break away until it's damn near unbearable.
And yeah, everything you describe is characteristic of ADHD. :)
Thank you for providing insight, perspective and additional links that aren't just logs on a fire.
You promote civilization with such discourse, and I personally just felt the need to throw a TY out there.
I'm surprised this ended up on HN.
Diagnosed myself, predominantly inattentive with bits of hyperactive, mostly fidgeting. Executive dysfunction, issues keeping my train of thought, poor short term memory, motivation issues, and more are the other half.
Yeah I do this too. Never thought this could be classified as hyperactive.
1. There is external hyperactivity (like Ace Ventura or any other Jim Carey character)
2. There is internal hyperactivity (Racing thoughts, excessive talking, anxiety-like symptoms, etc.).
Those with ADHD all have hyperactivity, it just manifests differently across the subtypes (ADHD-Predominately Hyperactive, ADHD Predominately Inattentive, and ADHD-Combined).