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Adhd - Blog Posts
every morning i wake up and make the worst possible time management decisions anyone has ever made
Hi everyone,
For the last day of ADHD Awareness Month, I thought I’d share the difference and similarities between ADHD and OCD. I hope many of you find this helpful. The link to the source will be below.
ADHD
OCD
ADHD Awareness Month
Hi!
I've read your post on the science of ADHD and was wondering if you could help me? (Feel free to say no!)
I'm trying to find articles on that symptom where you're unable to do anything even when you want to. Tumblr seems to refer to it as Executive Dysfunction, but since that term is very broad I have been unable to find anything specifically on the above symptom. Do you have any tips? Do you have any idea whether it has a more defined "name"?
Again, don't feel any pressure to answer!
Kind regards,
Hello!
Well, I can try to help 😅
Ah, yes. I'm afraid that executive dysfunction is in fact the official scientific / medical term for this, and there isn't a more defined name for this – at least not an official medical or scientific one. But I see how that might be a bit frustrating when looking for resources to deal with a specific issue or situation.
Just to clarify, what kinds of "articles" are you looking for? Scientific articles, or popular media articles / lay literature?
What you could try to look for are specific presentations of ex. dys., specific ways in which it manifests; there are a number of lay terms that describe more specific aspects of it. For example some people talk about "decision paralysis", or "ADHD waiting mode" – obviously neither of those are official terms, but it may help you find more resources on them, especially in popular/non-scientific media.
If you're going for scientific literature itself (which I personally do recommend), consider looking for executive function instead. Executive function is a fundamental cognitive ability and plays a role in many many things, and thus has a lot of research to back it up. Try searching it in connection to ADHD, and that should lead you to some beginning at least.
Now, you say that you couldn't find anything for "that specific symptom" – a lot of the time, it is a matter of recognising how the same concept leads to different outcomes. So even if you don't find articles that describe your exact situation, the concept discussed in the article might still be helpful to understand your specific symptoms. Furthermore, while it is true that this "inability to do the thing" is often based in executive dysfunction, there are also motivational aspects that have to be considered in ADHD. By motivational aspects I do not mean that you do not want to do the thing, or that you are not trying enough to do the thing. Rather, the motivational circuits in ADHD brains are different from those in neurotypical brains, which can thus lead to some difficulties.
I am guessing part of what you are looking for are ways to deal with this kind of issue. In my experience, understanding it helps to work around most symptoms to a certain degree already, so I do thing that learning about the mechanisms of it is beneficial in any case. Still, there are hacks that help with ADHD paralysis – I'll list a few and how they might help. [All of these are based on urgency, novelty, or personal importance, which are generally the factors that determine how well ADHD vibes with a task or activity.]
The three second rule; sounds stupid, but try it out! If you're trying to start doing something that requires you to move (e.g. take a shower, make food, do the dishes – whatever) and you find yourself stuck on the couch/at your desk/in bed/on the floor, take a deep breath, count down from three, and when you reach 0 you have to move. It can be any movement, but since you're not giving your brain a lot of time to think, the easiest movement is usually to get up – which gets you started at the very least. Try to ride that momentum.
Pomodoros; time your tasks for mini-deadline pressure. Pick a thing to do, e.g. you want to draw because you like drawing, then set a timer to around 20-30 minutes (at least that's the norm, but hey you can also do 16 and a-half minutes!). Start the timer, and while it runs you focus only on the previously specified task. When it's done, take a break of 5-10 minutes (again, you do you), then the next timer starts. I use this a lot for studying and writing, because it creates little focus windows that are easier to handle.
Increase or decrease stimulation; music, fidgets, anything that vibes for you. Maybe the hurdle is that you're simply over- or understimulated – play around with your activity-environment to see if it makes a difference!
Body doubling; personal favourite, simply hang out with your friends! The presence of another being/person often helps to stay on task, and it can be energising (at least to extraverts like me)
External incentives or accountability; aka threats and bribes 😏 my favourite variant of this is a concept I introduced on several of my Discord servers – Drabbles for Dopamine, where people literally bribe each other with little drabbles so they do the thing. But this works with anything! Tell your friend that you want to be out of bed in 30 minutes and ask them to check in on you; the pressure of having someone else know often already is enough. If the "threat" of them checking is not enough, add a "bribe" to it, for example a picture of their pet – whatever is at hand and motivates you.
There is more of course, but those are the few that come to mind off the top of my head. Feel free to message me if you have questions about any of them.
Besides that, here are a few links that might be of interest:
Popular / non-scientific sources (sorted by how useful I think they'll be for you)
What is executive function and why do we need it? – How to ADHD (video)
ADHD and Motivation – How to ADHD (video)
Motivation | How to ADHD (YT playlist)
Executive Dysfunction & ADHD - when you can't 'do the thing' (article)
What is executive function? (ADDitude mag article)
Scientific articles / research (no particular order!)
Validity of the executive function theory of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a meta-analytic review
Executive functions and adaptive functioning in young adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
Are There Executive Dysfunction Subtypes Within ADHD?
Disturbance of the emotion and motivation in the adhd: a dopaminergic dysfunction
Executive dysfunction in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: cognitive and neuroimaging findings
Hi!
I've read your post on the science of ADHD and was wondering if you could help me? (Feel free to say no!)
I'm trying to find articles on that symptom where you're unable to do anything even when you want to. Tumblr seems to refer to it as Executive Dysfunction, but since that term is very broad I have been unable to find anything specifically on the above symptom. Do you have any tips? Do you have any idea whether it has a more defined "name"?
Again, don't feel any pressure to answer!
Kind regards,
Hello!
Well, I can try to help 😅
Ah, yes. I'm afraid that executive dysfunction is in fact the official scientific / medical term for this, and there isn't a more defined name for this – at least not an official medical or scientific one. But I see how that might be a bit frustrating when looking for resources to deal with a specific issue or situation.
Just to clarify, what kinds of "articles" are you looking for? Scientific articles, or popular media articles / lay literature?
What you could try to look for are specific presentations of ex. dys., specific ways in which it manifests; there are a number of lay terms that describe more specific aspects of it. For example some people talk about "decision paralysis", or "ADHD waiting mode" – obviously neither of those are official terms, but it may help you find more resources on them, especially in popular/non-scientific media.
If you're going for scientific literature itself (which I personally do recommend), consider looking for executive function instead. Executive function is a fundamental cognitive ability and plays a role in many many things, and thus has a lot of research to back it up. Try searching it in connection to ADHD, and that should lead you to some beginning at least.
Now, you say that you couldn't find anything for "that specific symptom" – a lot of the time, it is a matter of recognising how the same concept leads to different outcomes. So even if you don't find articles that describe your exact situation, the concept discussed in the article might still be helpful to understand your specific symptoms. Furthermore, while it is true that this "inability to do the thing" is often based in executive dysfunction, there are also motivational aspects that have to be considered in ADHD. By motivational aspects I do not mean that you do not want to do the thing, or that you are not trying enough to do the thing. Rather, the motivational circuits in ADHD brains are different from those in neurotypical brains, which can thus lead to some difficulties.
I am guessing part of what you are looking for are ways to deal with this kind of issue. In my experience, understanding it helps to work around most symptoms to a certain degree already, so I do thing that learning about the mechanisms of it is beneficial in any case. Still, there are hacks that help with ADHD paralysis – I'll list a few and how they might help. [All of these are based on urgency, novelty, or personal importance, which are generally the factors that determine how well ADHD vibes with a task or activity.]
The three second rule; sounds stupid, but try it out! If you're trying to start doing something that requires you to move (e.g. take a shower, make food, do the dishes – whatever) and you find yourself stuck on the couch/at your desk/in bed/on the floor, take a deep breath, count down from three, and when you reach 0 you have to move. It can be any movement, but since you're not giving your brain a lot of time to think, the easiest movement is usually to get up – which gets you started at the very least. Try to ride that momentum.
Pomodoros; time your tasks for mini-deadline pressure. Pick a thing to do, e.g. you want to draw because you like drawing, then set a timer to around 20-30 minutes (at least that's the norm, but hey you can also do 16 and a-half minutes!). Start the timer, and while it runs you focus only on the previously specified task. When it's done, take a break of 5-10 minutes (again, you do you), then the next timer starts. I use this a lot for studying and writing, because it creates little focus windows that are easier to handle.
Increase or decrease stimulation; music, fidgets, anything that vibes for you. Maybe the hurdle is that you're simply over- or understimulated – play around with your activity-environment to see if it makes a difference!
Body doubling; personal favourite, simply hang out with your friends! The presence of another being/person often helps to stay on task, and it can be energising (at least to extraverts like me)
External incentives or accountability; aka threats and bribes 😏 my favourite variant of this is a concept I introduced on several of my Discord servers – Drabbles for Dopamine, where people literally bribe each other with little drabbles so they do the thing. But this works with anything! Tell your friend that you want to be out of bed in 30 minutes and ask them to check in on you; the pressure of having someone else know often already is enough. If the "threat" of them checking is not enough, add a "bribe" to it, for example a picture of their pet – whatever is at hand and motivates you.
There is more of course, but those are the few that come to mind off the top of my head. Feel free to message me if you have questions about any of them.
Besides that, here are a few links that might be of interest:
Popular / non-scientific sources (sorted by how useful I think they'll be for you)
What is executive function and why do we need it? – How to ADHD (video)
ADHD and Motivation – How to ADHD (video)
Motivation | How to ADHD (YT playlist)
Executive Dysfunction & ADHD - when you can't 'do the thing' (article)
What is executive function? (ADDitude mag article)
Scientific articles / research (no particular order!)
Validity of the executive function theory of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a meta-analytic review
Executive functions and adaptive functioning in young adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
Are There Executive Dysfunction Subtypes Within ADHD?
Disturbance of the emotion and motivation in the adhd: a dopaminergic dysfunction
Executive dysfunction in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: cognitive and neuroimaging findings
adhd will have you fighting for your life to do beloved hobbies that bring you nothing but joy
Having ADHD is so fun because sometimes youre looking for something that you use regularly and definitely put away in a smart and reasonable place and you have absolutely 0 hope of remembering where and finding it. And then other times ur like "hmm I need a some kind of small pointed object. I feel like i remember seeing a paperclip under the left couch cushion a month ago, i wonder if its still there" and it is
My doctor and therapist: now with this autism + ADHD diagnosis you need to learn to unmask because masking all the time will make you burn out again and feel like shit
Other people: well it's just interesting how after getting the diagnosis you suddenly start behaving like that I mean I'm not saying you're faking it's just funny how you suddenly cannot be normal like you were before
*Me remembering that I have some hard core Roman fans in my tiny following*: wait they will probably really like this, time to reblog.
I've seen enough Jock Roman. Y'know what I want?
Roman who is absolutely enamored with theater. Who would be absolutely ecstatic if he got a lead role in a play. But who's too anxious that he'll mess up a line, or trip over a wire, or do something equally embarrassing. So he just watches from the sidelines, occasionally helping with set design.
Roman who's adhd is too much of a nuisance to actually remember anything. Which is just another reason he can't have a leading role, he'd forget the lines in a heartbeat.
Roman who's short. Who's friends constantly tease him about it, lightheartedly calling him names and resting their arm on his head like an arm rest. Constantly having to ask for help when picking heavy things up, and getting things down.
Roman who wears mostly larger tee shirts and sweaters because he's kinda pudgy, and if he wears anything else that will be on full display and he does not want that at all.
Idk man, just gimme that non jock Roman..
Reblog and put in the tags what trait you usually have in common with your favorite characters.
Reblog this if you encourage/really want people (especially but not just moots) to infodump in your inbox and dms
Me in a professional kitchen environment with lots of things to keep me busy: I can handle high heat, oil burns, deep cuts and carry huge potato sacks and other weights with little to no effect on the working process, and I aspire to be excellent in everything I'm tasked with
Me during Covid/online therapy classes: Mmh.... I cant stay seated for two mimnutes and push a coumple buttonms on my laptop for my assignmemt.. . It's due tonigmt...i need a distraction 🥺👉👈
me and my mom were talking about my dads family (whom she doesnt like a lot of, for good reason tbh)
she mentioned hoe my grandmother once told her that she thought i might have adhd when i was a baby or toddler and my mom shut it doen
i find it VERY ironic seeing as, i too, now believe i might have adhd or at least neurodivergent in some sense
Not to go "if you have ADHD just go for a run" or anything, but I am so serious if you have ADHD you should regularly go outside, no headphones no phone no nothing and just stand and observe for a while until you've had enough. Not until you get bored, until you've had enough. Drink your coffee without watching tiktok. Have a bath without music. Turn down the volume in your headphones. I cannot overstate how much learning to be bored is cruicial with ADHD. Life is not just about pleasure, no matter what your dysregulated dopamine system thinks, and when you teach your brain to be okay with being bored, then boring tasks stop feeling like torture. By letting yourself be bored you are yoinking your system out of the high/low binary and allow for the highs to feel like actual highs and not just anything that isn't low. I am so serious go literally touch grass. Listen to the sounds in your flat. Stimulate your body the way it was designed. It lowers anxiety and makes you feel like you're real and best of all it's completely free
I HATE BEING AUTISTIC Σヽ(ﾟДﾟ; )ﾉ
the neurodivergent experience:
20% of the time: wowwieee!!! i love my passions and interests!!!!! they make me so happy i want to jump up and down!!!!! weee!!!!!!! :3333333333
80% of the time: this mind is a prison
*places a ball of yarn gently on top of the laundry basket*
Okay now if I don't bring the laundry upstairs my cats will die
(cat tax)
(yes all of my hobbies include stuff that my cats will hapily eat)
Me: haha what if I did some small sketches for some random au
My brain: Wrong. Nine fully rendered character designs on my table NOW
me, talking to someone: Yeah, I have ADHD.
Them: you don’t look like you have ADHD.
me: …
That’s a major ADHD red flags.
“Wow! Is that a bottle with a note in it?!”
*completely over looks crime scene he walked over to look at neat garbage*
Tommy neglected to inform me about the body
Only two ADHD tasks
1) this task will take me five minutes but I couldn’t possibly do it because I have an appointment in six hour a
2) this task will take five hours but I’ll just do it first thing in the morning before I leave
Just do your best that’s all anyone can ask for…
But Sometimes it doesn’t feel that way…
Today was the first two days of my collage classes, and one is okay, but the other one is a lot like my mentally unstable history teacher from 8th grade. I won’t go into too much detail but it was literal hell for me. And when I went up to him to tell him about my disabilities, he said, “You don’t look autistic, fill out this disability form and then I’ll help you, until then you’re on your own.”
I’m feeling my anxiety spiking and I just hope that we got off on the wrong foot, and the rest of the year will be okay… 😰
You know what’s really annoying about having mental issues and learning disorders? My ADD makes me forget to write words for sentences. So when I’m writing things like “She walked the house, taking placed steps as a the floor creaked beneath her.” When really I’m trying to say, “She walked into the house, taking careful placed steps as the floor creaked beneath her.” It’s so freaking annoying for a writer like me. I have to re read my work so many times just because I don’t know if I made a mistake but even then I still read over my mistakes and they don’t register in my brain fast enough for me
My hobbies include-
- Randomly skipping back and forth across the living room because I felt like it
- Combining two completely unrelated fandoms in my head and wondering how it would pan out for hours on end
- Consuming hard boiled eggs with the shell (crunch crunch)
- Staring. Sometimes accidentally at a living person
- Waiting specifically till after the sun has gone down to write out an idea I had because writing while the sun is up is strictly forbbiden in my head
- and finally
- Reading reader x character prompts on tumblr but replacing the reader with another character (all the Revali x Reader prompts are now Revalink)
I love to tell you stories but I can't remember how they end!
Tenya Iida x ADHD! Reader
You've been dating Tenya for a while, but even before that he had noticed the way you struggle to pay attention, stay still, concentrate, study and how you get sudden waves of energy throughout the day, ending tired and even grumpy!
When you opened to him and told him how you have ADHD his mind clicked, understanding most of your actions!
Tenya would be so understanding. The moment you tell him about your problems concentrating, the way your brain sends random waves of energy over just to end up tired and how it impacts your everyday life he is quick to learn as much as he can about it, asking people around him if they have similar experiences and how they regulate themselves (Denki is his principal source aside from you).
You take medications?
If you take medication, he would made sure to draw you a schedule for them, adding water intake and multiple breaks for you to be properly active throughout the day. He would totally do it in black and white for you to paint it! He heard that it can help you memorize it!
Troubles eating?
He would check the food you eat, making sure the levels of sugar are not too high, to evade artificial food, too processed, if they have dangerous food colorings, chemicals, etc. You name it, he already checked! He would only force you to eat things if they're healthy and you are extra picky, disguising them with spices and more!
Chores? Boring!
He would treat chores as games! Setting timers to receive stickers and such. He read about it online and does it with Denki too, making chores far more fun to finish and maintaining everything in order.
Studying with Tenya
Study dates would be in calm spaces with little to no distractions, fringing fidget toys to keep you stimulated and low sugar snacks to not get distracted my hunger. Small breaks in between assignments are a must and he knows it! Giving you a shoulder pat or a kiss (depending to how private the space is) as a reward for how good you're doing. He's rigid, but who is he to deny a little kiss in return for your intelligence?
Zoomies!
Oh no, zoomies time! You suddenly want to dance? Go outside? Run? The beach? The park? He's up for it! Using those moments to help you workout. You want to dance? Aerobics it is. Go outside? Hiking seems perfect to build strength! Run? You know he's up for it. The beach? Some laps on the sand to build resistance! Park? You'll be climbing trees and jumping! He knows how to make everything healthy.
Hobbies? Handcrafting
If you suddenly want to do handcrafted things he's willing to test you! Building things out of wood, let's test how you put crafting and building classes to work, you have to measure and cut precisely after all. Building with Legos is a big activity for him! He makes sure to put physics to the test, building giant places with you, bridges, houses, towers and more! This sweet boy gives the healthiest activities always.
Post-zoomies tiredness
He knows how tired you get after those moments of full energy and he has ways to help calm down during those, but he won't mind hugging you and cuddling to sleep afterwards, you get so tired! He'll encourage afternoon naps, his investigations led to realize that allowing you 20 minutes of sleep afterwards you wake up renewed so he makes sure you fall asleep and tracks your sleep for any sort of weird movements (he knows how anxious you can get too and is sure to wake you up and comfort you).
He'll make sure you have something to eat as soon as you wake up, yogurt with fruits are his go to! But granola bars and cookies or crackers work too if they're low in sugar. He'll have you working after that!
Hiperfixations!
You've got hiperfixations? Don't even worry about it, he'll encourage you to explore them safely and make sure that you won't do something bad such as isolate yourself just to indulge in it or spend huge amounts of money, they don't last enough and you always end up thinking "what have I done?" So he scolds you if you suddenly have a wall full with certain hiperfixation that is based in buying things, economical responsibility will be teached to you whether you like it or not.
Meltdowns? Breakdowns?
He understands when you get overwhelmed, there's so much going in your head at the same time that he can't even reprimand you for crying and suddenly getting angry at everyone. He'll try and get you to calm down in his arms, if it's needed he'll give you a calming tea or some light sleeping pills. As soon as your eyes get teary or your voice raises in that particular way, he holds your hand and takes you to a more private space, allowing you to let everything out and wind down, not an ounce of judging. At first it was overwhelming for him to try and calm you down with logic, now he understands that emotions are mostly not logical. He'll whisper sweet words and reassurance while you slowly calm down, he won't even judge you if you subconsciously regress when you're having a meltdown, he knows you seek the comfort of a home when you're crying or angry with the world and your self, caressing your back and calling you his little baby.
He'll bring you something warm to drink, a stuffed animal of your choice or a warm weighted blanket to ground you, he'll drop anything he's doing to comfort you during a breakdown.
Non-verbal or silent treatment?
He understands if you can't talk afterwards or simply don't want to, such strong emotions much leave you so tired that it's hard to communicate. If you go non-verbal he'll find ways to still communicate, even teaching himself and you simple sign language or reading your expressions to keep you comfortable and give you a way to communicate yourself without words.
If you do use silent treatment he'll feel hurt, why would you just ignore him like that? The first few times he'll excuse you but then he'll sit you down and talk about how much your silence hurts him, how you do not even looking at him. Both of you will find ways to bring you out of that state, slowly helping you stop that bad habit.
A/N: This is based off my own experience and my struggles as someone with ADHD, remember that it changes and variates between people! I tried to make these as inclusive as I could and not too based in just me, you're free to add anything in the comments!!
Hi! Natan here ; wanna read more about Tenya Iida? Check out my master list.
ok so i do have adhd but i feel as though this somehow transcends it. I just made a cup of tea 10 minutes ago. Im in a very small room. It has disappeared. I didnt leave the room. It just escaped. It is gone. It never was. Wheres my tea. It couldnt have gone anywhere and yet it has. Did i drink it and eat the cup and forget? Where is my tea. I miss her. This is fucked
I was in a workshop the other day where someone was detailing how they, compared to others, show respect by not fidgeting and keeping eye-contact with people.
So yeah, I felt the need to make this comic.
Keep in mind: This isn't an ADHD specific problem and depending on the nuance, can stem from different areas like anxiety or autism. The eye-contact "issues" with ADHD stem more from impulsive eye-movements (the kind where you are not really looking at anything) and high distractability.
ADHD also has a significant overlap with eye-conditions and some studies suggest that ADHD medication can actually help with some eye-conditions. (Is that why my sight feels more blurry on days off medication?!)
Here is the comic series I promised with my last post!
Part 1/4
Part 2 will be neurological explanations,
Part 3&4 will be actual tips and tricks!
Please know that I’m not intentionally withholding the next parts, they’re just not finished yet and making this series takes so much time. So much Layouting to not make all this info a wall of text! That being said I hope I can upload part 2 next week to my patreon
