Hyperfocused Brain and How to Shift to a Lower Dopamine Activity with Dr. Sharon Saline, PsyD
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ก.พ. 2023
- On Friday, January 6, Dr. Saline talked about why adults with ADHD often fall down rabbit holes of attention - due to hyperfocus, Imposter Syndrome, productive procrastination and other ADHD tendencies.
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Learn more about Dr. Sharon Saline:
drsharonsaline.com/
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This is great advice for neuro typicals. Alarms and awareness isn't the problem at all. In fact, one could say the ADHD brain is hyper aware of needing to stop one behaviour, and the why. Ask any addict about their addiction, they are well aware of what needs to happen in order to circumvent their addiction and quit. The problem is HOW to do so. The answer is NOT set your own alarm, and write yourself a note. The answer is intentionally putting in place something that will result in a negative for the person. For example, if I am hyper focussing on a project, and know I need to stop to eat, then it would be wise for me to schedule an appointment outside of thd home that I must attend or accept a penalty. That will drive me to stop, and get out of the house, without needing an alarm, the pre-made grab and go snacks I've made will work out well, and mission will be accomplished, without me having to use willpower, which I don't have very much of. I'm so sick of hearing advice that requires me to fight what comes natural and use willpower. I do not want to be in fight mode for the rest of my life. My motto is, the less thinking, the less fighting myself, the better!
So get into a relationship with a dom. If you don't obey, you suffer a penalty.😈
Has your advice worked? Have you tried in depth the tips given?
@@staciamj1 yes it works. That I am able to articulate and share the strategy is indicative of it. The first step in solving a problem is identifying it, then understanding what barriers are enabling the problem to continue. It is much easier and less stress to work with myself, then to go against the grain and fight (using willpower) to achieve the same results. Willpower causes me stress and anxiety which is what I practice to avoid.
I resonate very much with your feeling, I just sat for 9 hours programming something that did not want to do and I had other plans to do enjoyable stuff for the day but I just couldn't stop because of my hyperfocus.
Do you have any other tips to defeat hyperfocus?
Hyperfocus on a dumb task and not finding "satisfaction" or resolution is so annoying and such a let down but at the same time hard to let go and move on.
Medication is first step or this might as well be impossible. It's not "oh i was on tik tok for an hour" it's something worse for 10hrs
I’ve been doing the alarm / timer trick for a while now. Problem is if I’m in a flow state I find it irritating to stop the activity and will quickly hit snooze or repeat. After 10 times doing that I realise it’s pointless and turn it off entirely. I’ve learnt to hate the sound of alarms entirely. Everything I try my ADHD brain finds a workaround for 😞
That's because in my opinion, experts should be guiding us and devising strategies that work with our ADHD brains rather that fighting our brains to submit to neuro-typical tactics.
@@julybutterfly spot on!
I recently learned how to get better at my art (been drawing ten plus years) and it has been a Heavy hyperfocal point for me... And I recently start watching a TV show and cannot stop 😭😭😭 it is the same with my music I can listen to the same.song all day... Ugh 😭😭😭
Great tips! Thanks for sharing!
I love this advice. ADD has absolutely kicked my ass, and I have recently gotten better at meta-cognition through mindfulness exercises. It has been amazing, I used to just absolutely judge and shame myself and it made everything so much worse because I wanted to avoid the judgement and shame entirely. Now with less judgement I am so much more hopeful that I'll be capable of achieving impulse control and hopefully emotion regulation as well. Emotional regulation seems very abstract to me and something I didn't really understand, so I would really appreciate it if I could find more info about this? Understanding it in the context of dopamine seeking/dependency and seeking out instant gratification by my brain kind of makes sense though.
Found a lecture by Dr Barkley on emotional self regulation. Thank you for your great content!
Seeking dopamine hits and instant gratification is not unique to ADD. Literally the entirety of humanity is now distracted by apps. Shaming yourself for not doing what you don't want to do isn't going to help. However putting down the phone and stopping mindless scrolling is something anyone can learn to do. It's an addiction plain and simple. Use hyperfocus to your benefit. I hyperfocused this past week on art and created some of my best ever art work. Was it what I planned for the week. No. But I don't care. It was a win for me. Better than scrolling Tiktok. That's brain mutilation over time. Good luck. You got this.
Something that works for us: I set the echo dot (Alexa) in the bathroom adjacent the bedrooms to start quietly with a rooster crowing and church bells. This repeats and gets louder until finally applies “I’m on my way” by Phil Collins quite loudly. My daughter loves to jump out of bed when she hears this music. I put on podcasts while I do the chores.
Hyperfocus is a Superpower. Use it to your advantage. Stop referring to Add as a disorder. It's not. It's an atypical wiring of your brain compared to others. Were not wired to be the same as everyone else. If you are hyperfocused on Tiktok you're just distracted. Everyone is hyperfocused on Tiktok. It's hoe they program the app. When you are in hyperfocus realize that you have the ability to be super productive. If you can't focus on the job you're in, you're likely in the wrong job. Believe me I did stuff I hated for years. I finally Carved my own path and created something that works for me. I don't Let other people tell me what I should be doing. I do what I want/ need to do even if it doesn't always make logical sense. It ways works out in the end.
How to overcome the challenges of ADHD: just act like you don't have ADHD and everything will be fine.
Seriously, if timers and self-management worked for ADHD, there would be no ADHD.
What is your advice? There is no magic pill. You have to put in he work doing things like using timers, positive self talk. etc. to combat it.
Just use the pomodoro technique and you will crush it. Break larger tasks down into smaller chunks, and you will see progress. If I had a nickel for everytime I've been given, and tried this antiquated willpower advice, I'd be rich!
Thank you
Just watching another video how to stop