While I'm convinced by your arguments about (genetic) nature coming before the 'nurture' argument of Maté, I think that your argument in this video has some gaps. In this video, you have taken a very literal, objective, and quantitative view of the term 'sensitive', linking it with different brain waves and the substance cortisol, relating it back to the body of research from nearly 50 years ago, together with a Google AI analysis. The term 'sensitive' might also be considered in the context of emotional sensitivity, reactivity, and lack of self-control under your model of ADHD being a disorder of executive function. Rather than biomarkers like theta and beta waves, the argument might be more convincing if it actually looked at the perceived experiences of both neurotypical people and those with ADHD, and relative handling of those experiences. While with conventional trauma, some people might be traumatised by a single major event, others might not be. In a scenario where complex PTSD might not be a fully-bedded-down condition, assessment of the same type of outcomes with chronic smaller negative experiences might be analysed in a qualitative way between neurotypical people and people with ADHD. Given the symptoms of ADHD, the genetic components and historical non-treatment of parents and grandparents with the condition, one might reasonably predict that subsequent generations would have an increase in negative life experiences, which might be read together with altered self-control in this group. This might be an alternate or additional factor influencing the subjective experiences of people with the condition. If the science is not yet in a position to diagnose people with ADHD based on lower brain or cortisol activity, it appears that an argument predicated on these same observations in relation to emotional sensitivity and reactivity is not robustly based.
Science and subjective experience don't map too well though aye ? Science itself has a kind of difficulty handling the observer or measurer - insisting on a perfect objectivity, the view from nowhere in particular. Mate appeals to the emotions and projects this deeply caring and concerned image. He clearly has his own agenda and a kind of guru thing going on. I don't think scientific rigour is Mate's game at all.
I have read Mate's book, and consider him wrong simply because he pulls his claims out of nowhere and does not make attempts to prove or disprove them. But you are right in the sense that these matters should be addressed in regard to the question of if people with ADHD are born with a sensitivity in the fashion you state that can be pushed towards ADHD by environment. We already know that physical trauma can push someone from having subdiagnositic ADHD "traits" to a diagnosable case of ADHD.
Can you please explain how hyposensitivity connects with the common experience of feeling overstimulated and agitated as an unregulated response to environmental factors? I’m not sure I understand. Thank you!
Exactly! If ADHD alone is a lack of stimulation in some areas, then overwhelming hypersensitive autism traits are a more accurate description of intense reactions. ADHD may reduce positive reactions that a "normal" brain would give to calm down. Please see: AuDHD combo that is rarely diagnosed and highly masked.
I think what he’s describing is the lack of a typical response to stimuli is what gives rise to the inability to inhibit undesirable behaviours ie hyperactivity and inattention. (I think!)
I agree with Dr. Barkley on this. I have often thought of myself as needing a stronger stimuli to move me in general, or to create the action potential in the brain required for neurotransmission. Be it general sensory stimuli, i.,e. light, sound or emotional stimuli (some bad news or good news), I wouldn't react to it until it's something really unbearable or overwhelming. I am no expert, but based on my little knowledge and what I have experienced as an ADHDer, Overstimulation is because of not being able to filter out the stimuli in the environment, which leads to sensory overload, followed by the frustration of not being able to process the useful stimuli due to distractions. Lowered dopamine levels also require you to be on the move, fidget or keep yourself engaged in something that interests you and keeps providing the flow of dopamine. One more thing is having high injustice sensitivity paired with objective thinking (At least in my case) makes me react/response in ways that is not very typical of other people. I have seen that, most people tend to appear idealistic but compromise with their values in situations where it can benefit them, and this is something that's widely accepted. On the other hand, my brain is extra sensitive to something that's wrong or going against my ideals. So it's like, I am not sensitive to things that most people are typically sensitive to. But I am sensitive to something that objectively doesn't make sense to me or is directed towards my ethos and pathos. I hope I made some sense and didn't go much offtrack.
So the neurological system isn't reactive enough for the amount of input which causes the feeling of overwhelm and then people call it hypersensitivity which isn't correct in a neurological sense, but as a description of the experience as a person that's the word that best describes it. Would that be a good way of putting it to merge the perceived with the neurological data? Btw, are there neurological studies looking at tactile sensitivity? A lot of people I know with ADHD, me, my daughter and my dad included have tactile sensitivity that fluctuates from non existant to something that can make "being in your skin" sometimes unbearable. Would be interesting to know if it has he same kind of mechanism in a neurological sense
I find that I don't get scared as much as others in the moment, I don't feel quite as much sensorily, I can be really irritated by certain touches because they feel too light and strange. I even listen to music like Olhava because I think it sounds beautiful, and people I talk to really can't imagine it, but it's completely real for me. I do experience really high generalized anxiety when absolutely nothing is happening though, lol. It's a strange thing. I've often told people that I'm anxious when nothing is going wrong and calm when something is going wrong. It's not completely true but certain life events seemed this way. I think that if an individual says they really can't stand something though, they shouldn't need a diagnosis for that to be respected either.
@@GallumA I under respond to traumatic situations - providing first aid is a major one then describing it afterwards to other first aiders I work with (often to decompress) I become overwhelmed by emotions. Then in noisy situations with many people talking I become overwhelmed as I have a hard time filtering out all the extraneous conversations to concentrate on what one person is saying directly to me.
As a lay person, when I hear Dr Mate' talk about hypersensitivity, I hear it as more of an autonomic response or simply as a depth of feeling. What do you think of Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria as a phenomenon of ADHD?
As far as I understand, not much is known yet about RSD. But some of the speculation is about emotional dysregulation playing a role. The low arousal of the prefrontal cortex means that it exerts less executive control over several mental functions, one of them being emotions. Also, RSD does not seem to be a sensory problem, it does not seem to be the result of noises or touch sensitivity or smells or even visual stimulation. But rather it is an emotional over-response to perceived criticism, teasing or rejection. (And that is how I experience it.) There may be other factors at play, for example I do not recall seeing a neurological explanation for the strong initial emotional impact. In any case, we need more research, we don’t know much yet. My experience of my ADHD since I was a small child is not one of feeling rejected a lot. (I had problems *connecting* to others and was somewhat more interested in complicated things, which is probably due to my yet-to-be-diagnosed autism. But I did not experience rejection frequently.) My mind wandered off by itself, basically at any time. There was no external stimulus that prompted my mind to do that. And, in addition, any external stimulus, even a bird or a tree, was more interesting when I tried to focus my mind on homework. (And I *loved* learning stuff. But getting my mind to do it was really difficult.)
i can see adhd symptomes being missdiagnosed as that, but if a kid is just acting out cause they are attention starved wont fundamentally change how their brains work and the kind of connections it can make. as some one whos over 30 and still cant get a job or life or anything going because of the severity of the adhd, I'm not some one who feels like they were neglected. i feel like I didn't get to be a kid enough though, I felt a bit restricted as when I was with my dad, I wouldn't really be aloud to climb on shit or what not. that side of my family was a bit too restrictive so it made me behave completely opposite of that every chance I get. so idk, maybe it can have an effect on adhd, maybe it can make somethings worse, but that still doesn't mean its a sole symptom of adhd
@@kirill2525 I experienced 6 yrs in the duldrums unemployed & feeling quite worthless. However I used the time, being INFJ I Obsessively learned as much about my self, CGJung, Dr S Vaknin, cold therapy, nature meditation. Ironically I now work in mental health! 😂 In my Autumn years 🍁. All to play for......... ♥️
My take is that RSD is a facet of emotional dysregulation in ADHD. So, putting that together with this video, we may not respond as intensely, but we're less able to regulate the expression of an emotion once it has occurred.
Thank you for this vital concrete information. I feel all the physiological symptoms you have stated and this has led me into dangerous situations particularly in romantic relationships, staying longer than I should have, putting my adhd mental health at risk as well as my physical self.
It's important to point out that Dr. Barkley is making a very specific point about the psychophysiology of the brain. He is not talking about your behavior. He is saying that when analyzing the brain functions acutely the problem isn't about perception it is about how our brain manages our perceptions in working memory with adhd. He is demonstrating, very specifically, how Mate is just making things up to fit his narrative of what the problem is. Imagine this happening in a courtroom. Dr. Barkley is very specifically, surgically, showing how in this case the evidence doesn't support what Mate says. Adhd is a problem with managing emotions. Adhd can manifest as a problem with down regulating emotions which is why you see strong comorbidity with anxiety and depression. Do overthink this. This is video for Mate.
Hmm yeah if Emotions inform us and logic works to refine that information further, then that would mean that abnormal surges of emotional intensity in ADHD messes up our whole network of information that is actually important to refine further and that way overloads the brain with too much input, This overload can impair prioritization of working memory specifically.
No, I disagree, he is talking on his platform and informing his followers. My response above goes to how this particular talk raises more questions than it answers. Emotion dysregulation is alos not *only* about down regulating, its misregulating.
@@shaneward_adhdreimagined Actually been thinking about how alot of Emotion dysregulation could be explained as hypo or hyper sensitivity of body causing our natural emotional bodily reactions to be either heightened or numbed and that way confusing what we are expecting when mirroring others or presented standards.
Thank you! This may help to explain why I don't get tunnel vision in highly stressful situations. Training is part of it but my reactions are different from those on my team. I need to dig into this more. As always your videos are very informative and leave me reading research papers for hours.
@@ChrisBombria I actually plan my work accordingly so have periods of info gathering, musing slow prep work and then bursts of intense work because if I have the same sort of work all the time I burn out because of the effort of trying to get things moving but during those crunch periods I can accomplish more than most people can.
Would love to get a commentary on how hyposensitivity and overwhelming state are linked, because they seem contradictory at first glance! :) Thanks for your work!
My issue with Mate is that he comes across like many in the “self help” genre - putting out a message that we just need to somehow change the way we perceive things and our struggle or illness will just go away. The school of “what did you do to give yourself cancer?” It adds guilt to the burden & resolves nothing.
Yes! And he's not the first one to do it so problematically. Read about Bruno Bettelheim who was treated as an autism expert and said it resulted from the way mothers were raising their children. It turns out that much of his credentials he claimed he had, he just made up in the chaos that followed World War II - and that theory has done great deals of damage. He ran a clinic at the University of Chicago, an elite institution - and many of the children that were sent there and the people who worked there said he was physically abusive as elements of his "method."
Could this result change if the participants has comorbid disorder like autism? Is it true the people with adhd and autism differ in the lived experience than those who has both disorder in the same person?
I also am curious! I've both autism and ADHD and usually on the very sensory sensitive side of things. Also easily very overwhelmed and don't do well with stress. Glad to have these videos about Gabor Mate. Such misinformation is harmful. I wish I knew of a channel like this but for autism!
I have been diagnosed with ADHD and waiting for an autism diagnosis. In my own experience, there are definitely differences when ADHD and ASD come together. For example, I believe I am somewhat more emotionally detached from people around me, it is more difficult for me to feel connected with them in the moment. That may be one reason why RSD does not happen often to me. But, when someone criticizes my work or takes away a device that I need for my special interests, that can be deeply hurtful and trigger a strong emotional response. Unfortunately, ADHD and ASD were mutually exclusive diagnoses before 2013 (when the 5th version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders came out). Now it is clear that ADHD and ASD are common comorbidities, in stark contrast to before. But that also means that there is not much research yet on the ADHD and ASD comorbid experience (aka “AuDHD”). We need more on this. Btw, I also have the sensory sensitivities, especially to sounds. But I don’t think it is a cause for my ADHD. It can make it even easier for me to get distracted by external stimuli, yes, definitely. But the distractibility is there even when I see something, and I don’t think I have increased visual sensitivities. Also, my mind wanders off by itself without any external stimuli. So, I do believe that my ADHD is not the *result* of any of my hypersensitivities. It is made worse by them. But I do think that I really cannot shut out certain external stimuli (which is something that non-ADHD people seem to be able to do much better), and also not down-regulate my mind wandering sufficiently. And both are in line with the explanation of reduced mental control over these things.
Yes we do. Its why what works for adhd isn't enough, nor what works for autism. Some times one is more dominant over life, or at a time in the day or a season. It takes managing both individually, and how they work together. I think more people are Audhd then we ever thought.
Thank you so much for explicitly going through the information that explains why Mate is so so wrong! It is do disturbing when I see so many people online including medical professionals repeat his miss information. I’m not a medical Dr but surely what he is doing spreading such blatantly wrong miss information qualifies as some kind of breach of medical ethics which could be reported? Either way thank you do much for doing what you’re doing!
ADHD or not, night driving has become an issue with all the newer vehicles with LED headlights. They are too bright and make it difficult to see properly. I miss the warm hued lights…
Same. I wear anti-glare glasses over my usual glasses when I drive at night. If it's cloudy enough, I'll put them on during the day, too. It's not perfect but it helps me a lot.
Oh my god the lights should be illegal. They're dangerous. In slow rush hour traffic on the expressway, I often have to angle all my mirrors in to where they're useless, because I'm overwhelmed by the lights of cars behind me.
@@yellowthermos Now that I think about it, I also angle down my mirrors. With the things we have to do to cope with newer headlights, there really should be some legislation regarding their brightness.
@@altyrrell3088 well there is legislation on it in certain states, but its really hard to enforce considering patrolmen don't carry lumens detectors lol. for example "In New Jersey, the brightness limit for vehicle headlights is 3,770 lumens. Any headlight that is brighter than this must be directed so that the beam does not hit the road more than 75 feet away from the vehicle.
I'm ADHD. Is that why I can't wrap my mind around how exactly these proven facts disprove Dr. Mate's theory? I genuinely respect you and am a HUGE fan of both of your work... and I am so confused. I'm understanding these discussions to be about the same word: "sensitivity" but the ideas seem completely unrelated to each other. I am understanding this video's information to be factual, scientific, and physical evidence for a physical process and solely related to the brain. My understanding of Dr. Mate's theory speaks about emotional sensitivity and is about the brain, body, and spirit combined. Is it possible that this science could be Dr. Mate's theory in action? This is how I imagine the brain of someone with ADHD/C-PTSD/ TBI to be while in shut down, escape mode, or just needing a break from the chronic overwhelm of feelings. With my understanding, this information further corroborates his theory, simply because he believes ADHD is genetic but not in the exact same way you believe ADHD is genetic. His theory about the combination of having a predisposition for emotional sensitivity AND early chronic exposure to specific emotional stimuli in an individuals environment has a great impact on the brain's development of emotional coping skills. In my mind, I relate it to how everyone has cancer cells in their body, yet not everyone's cancer cells are triggered to develope the same type or intensity of cancer because it depends what, where, and how the cells were triggered, and possibly with what genetic variations playing a role. Am I completely wrong!? 😅 I believe my genetic makeup combined with the stress from my environments, my traumatic experiences, and my intense feelings, have caused my nervous system to develop in a way that just causes a domino affect of poor health. I feel ADHD is a neurological disorder; a 'chemical imbalance', but not something natural. I absolutely believe that if I didn't have the upbringing that I did, including the numerous traumatic experiences, I don't think I would have developed the nervous system that I did. And without those experiences, I doubt my nervous system would have developed the same way. I believe this emotional stress early on, and all through life, has directly caused every health issue I have: allergic asthma, general anxiety disorder, major depressive episodes, severe RSD, debilitating combined-type ADHD, learning disabilities, auditory processing disorder, suppressed memories, environmental allergies, arthritis, eczema, psoriasis, fibromyalgia, IBS, and Systemic Lupus. In your experiences, the only common denominator can possibly be genetics. In Mate's experiences, the common denominator can only be a combination of specifically emotional genetics + trauma. I believe you are both right, and could you ever be a team - What a life altering world this could be! These 2 incredible brains coming together could make history.
Exactly, looking at only the scientific which doesnt account for how are mind perceives or our soul and how that makes us react or not react; will cause people to not understand Mate. Humans are more than Body, they are spirit soul and body. Science refuses to understand this and adapt which causes harm to humans in a myriad of ways.
theorycrafting nuances of diagnosing asd/adhd/cptsd based on experience and the desire to ensure extrapolation of same ‘does no harm’. It’s clear Dr B believes Dr GM is doing that. I agree, the argument needs better context of operational definition of ‘sensitive’, sensory thresholds how they correlate to emotional expression, stimuli buffering, emotional recovery and stamina…. Etc… Dr B needed to get this off his chest fast. My apologies if I’m wrong. How ‘interesting’ is it that adult diagnoses happens at the point when the environmental conditions they live in finally exceeds their ability to cope/recoup day to day on average? Their compensation mechanisms are maladaptive pure and simple, creating ‘the sacrificial caregivers or the sacrificial overachievers’ that can’t mask anymore. These adults masked the ptsd they developed as children. Walled it away using the adaptive mechanism of the ‘freeze response’. Waiting for the time to deal with it in a safe environment that never happened. The child never was given the opportunity to learn emotional maturity, development the prefrontal cortex connection from a flawed generational parenting style. Adult manifestation should be looked at as a multimodal environmental progressive chemical deficiency … like typical cataracts (lack of energy to the cells keeps oedema out of the lens)… Or insulin dependent DM - all is well until you cross the threshold to require supplementation. I loved the ‘rechargeable battery memory’ analogy a friend used once to describe this phenomenon, it fits perfectly in asd/adhd/cptsd context: ‘it never recharges fully, eventually you don’t have enough battery life to do the job it’s intended to do’. I hope someday people will normalize this, remove stigmas by educating ableists, redefine ‘freeze’ stress response to something more adaptive/maladaptive diagnostically operational such as ‘filter’ or ‘blindness’… then we’re getting somewhere. Makes videos like this easier to understand when people fall under the threshold to mask their ability to mask being ‘sensitive’. :D. Love to hear feedback and everyone is discussing this in a safe, positive way. Wishing you the best
I think the main thing you need to remember with Mate is that he isn't an expert - he is a family physician, and his positions are not the result of research, but just his feelings about how he came to have his own emotions based upon what his mother experienced in her life. So, don't think of him as an expert, imagine if some guy on the bus said that - give it that amount of weight. He has a soothing voice and trauma definitely impacts people, even small amounts of trauma - but nothing about him says expert in this matter. He just chose to write a book, and everyone treated him as an expert because of that!
If those with ADHD are hyposensitive to the environment, why is the environment so distracting? Does this suggest that because our autonomic nervous system isn't responding normally, our conscious mind feels the need to respond to environmental factors leading to distraction? Where in neurotypical minds the conscious mind doesn't need to respond to every noise or movement around them because the autonomic nervous system can process the environmental information
As a recently diagnosed 26 year old living in Italy, where the concept of adult ADHD is almost unheard of, I'd like to say I appreciate your channel and benefit immensely from your expertise. Yours is one of the very few ADHD channels that brings forth studies and research as opposed to anecdotes and pseudoscience. It's so refreshing.
This is NOT EMOTIONAL HYPERSENSITIVITY. Dr Barkley is talking about how the brain as an *organ* responds biochemically and electrically to external stimuli. Not emotional sensitivity or our conscious thoughts, feelings, responses etc. Gabor Mate claims that ADHD is brought on by trauma making the brain hypersensitive to external stimuli. Think of a traumatised person being in a state of 'flight or flight', hypervigilance, or stress all the time. This is the 'hypersensitivity' being discussed. It is well-established that trauma can cause long-standing changes in brain activity. This can be directly measured and compared through scans of electrical activity and brain waves, and through the stress hormone cortisol. Many studies over decades show ADHD brain is slower to respond and does not respond as strongly to external stimuli as the non-ADHD brain. Therefore the ADHD brain not hypersensitive as Mate claims, and his ideas that ADHD is caused by trauma is not supported by the evidence.
The distinction between internal (emotions, anxiety) and external stimuli (sights and sounds) is important to understanding this video. Thanks. I’m still confused because I have ADHD (or so my doctor tells me), and yet I’m very sensitive to loud sounds and bright lights. I’m also sensitive to my emotions (RSD, anxiety etc.). (Btw: growing up I had no trauma and good parents. And I did well in school. ) I have low motivation for dull tasks. So do a lot of ADHD-ers from what I understand. So I’m wondering if the hyposensitivity that Barkley mentions here has to do with more abstract stimuli like to do lists and deadlines?
Mate seems to be confusing how personalities are formed instead of genetic ADHD & basing this through his own personality perceptions. Thank you for this logic. Probably the only time I can click on to listen about Mate without a passionate verbal adhd Tourette’s RANT 🤣♥️🤜🏻🤛🏻
I dont think that is what it is, you cant separate your personality from your genetics. ADHD has a long list of symptoms. We already know it plays it plays out differently based on personality, sex, gender in general, and when it comes to how we mask symptoms. Its one of the reasons women and minorities are under evaluated and diagnosed. People through sexism just say "you are just being a women" or "its your period". If you are black, they say "you have a victim mentality" etc. When the behavior and mindset doesnt match society. The truth is that we are soul, spirit and body.
I won’t even mention GM’s name as last time I had a rant about him in response to Dr B’s last post about him the TH-cam algorithms then kept recommending his videos to me, making me even madder!
I'm confused by this, i feel extremely emotional and what about RSD which I experience a lot. How do you think these things play into the link with depression and anxiety?
Dr.Barkley has several lectures/talks on youtube and at his website , as well as research papers, about emotional reactivity, and deficient emotional regulation being a primary symptom of ADHD.
@ right but if we have reduced activity in the areas mentioned in this video then how does that relate to the emotional reactivity? Can you briefly explain?
He is talking about the general sensitivity and response of the brain to external stimuli. His examples are all things like brain scans and salivary cortisol, because that is how you find out what the brain as an *organ* is doing. It isn't about emotional sensitivity, emotional processing, reactions or anything conscious. Gabor Mate says the ADHD brain is hypersensitive to external stimuli due to trauma. Russ Barkley is refuting that by showing the ADHD brain is actually slower at responding to external stimuli, and the overall response within the ADHD brain is weaker.
I think from what I've heard him talk on the matter, Dr Mate might be confusing ADHD with PTSD. Trauma reaction to adverse life event(s), rather than highly genetic and neurodevelopmental Increased salivary cortisol - higher baseline sympathetic activation - hypersensitivity to stimuli enabling sympathetic cascades. Also, isn't PTSD usually made worse clinically with stimulant treatment in that it lowers the 'trigger' threshold for an attack?
If there is a strong correlation between ADHD and this kind of brain activity, why aren’t these sorts of tests used in addition to DSM-5 when a diagnosis is being made? Incidentally, prior to my own diagnosis, I had for a long time thought of myself as a “HSP” - highly sensitive person, but the more I learn about ADHD, the more I understand that this isn’t quite accurate in terms of my personality. Thanks for highlighting these research findings!
he has a video on why, but I think the gist was that you can see brain differences only at scale, i.e. tests performed on hundreds of brains and averaged out. So while the whole of ADHD brains tend towards a range outside the norm, there are too many ADHD brains who still fall into the normal range (and vice versa) for us to be able to take a single person and test their brain waves and conclude whether they have ADHD with high enough confidence.
Thank you Dr Barkley, can you make a vídeo about adverse childhood experiences + adhd and also how adhd affects motherhood and the relationship between the child and the mother?
I am not hypersensitive, but when I am overwhelmed, my coping skills typically aren't something I am able to call on, and my frustration leads me to seem hypersensitive-but it is not being able to handle my own overwhelm...my mom and dad both showed signs of being ADHD. I also teach, and truly, I see more and more children with ADHD tend to have parents who, though maybe not diagnosed, show the signs of ADHD.
Thank you! Keep on battling ignorance and talk-knowledge (if i can put two different theories into one sentence it must mean they are the same😂). You are doing the world a favour, again😊🙏
Según entendí, tenemos una reacción mas lenta a los estímulos ambientales/sensoriales por ende los procesamos de manera mas lenta y esto causa un "taponamiento" de estimulos que es lo que da paso a la abrumación. Las personas Neurotípicas procesan, filtran y reaccionan más rápido a los estímulos, pero en momentos de crisis es esa rapidez la que no les permite "reaccionar" correctamente. Ahí es cuándo el Tdah se convierte en una ventaja. Los bajos niveles de cortisol hacen que en medio de una crisis "conservemos la calma" y pensemos con cabeza fría. Y esa es la razón por la que la inmediatez nos mueve a hacer las cosas. Necesitamos ese sentido de urgencia para que nustro cerebro funcione en modo "típico" o a velocidad normal... El detalle es que entoncesla dopamina se dispara y entramos en un éxtasis que no nos deja parar hasta que la dopamina se agote o el cuerpo nos detenga. Entiendo que esa "lentitud" es la responsable de que tengamos tan mal sentido de propiocepción y problemas en el procesamiento auditivo. Al menos es mi opinión como persona con TDAH.
originally people struggling with ADHD normally know nothing about this disorder before they attract attention and thus become candidates for a diagnosis. in the meantime and in ignorance of their condition, they are confronted on a double front 1: with the symptoms of the condition and 2: with the attitude of those around them who are also in total ignorance of the disorder. this situation is supposed to last as long as the absence of diagnosis lasts. the individual confronted with this disorder of which he knows nothing will ask himself questions about the behavior of those around him, equally ignorant, who in turn will convince themselves that there is intention, obstinacy, lack of self-regulation for one reason or another and relationships based on these assumptions and beliefs will be strained and full of misunderstandings.
A thought becoming an excepted theory is the common scientific method most accepted by society. Disastrous! Thanks for offering some critical information for those of us that find it most valuable. I’ve been seen mostly as insensitive for not suffering bad math. Best to all!
Unfortunately, by virtue of ADHD being correlated with a higher risk of substance abuse, some adhd-kids may grow up with violent/abusive adhd-parents who are also alcoholics. Would you then say that ADHD would be protective for those children, hyposensitizing them to their childhood trauma?
no cuz we just end up thinking about a magnitude of more ways that our lives could be better and then all the bad thoughts and evil thoughts come in, and then we element over it over and over, and its even fun sometimes, so if anything, we are way more affected by that
Just based on personal experience, but I think there's a difference between physical sensitivity and emotional sensitivity. I do find myself ignoring/not responding to pain, uncomfortable sitting positions etc and holding in pee or ignoring hunger, but emotionally I am so easily stressed and sensitive to perceived rejection.
It's so interesting to hear this experience from someone else, because having 100% the same thing, every person I've spoken to about it, including some with adhd and one doctor, has said that they don't relate to that at all (and in the case of the doctor (a GP) that it's not an adhd trait) E.g. if most of my body is comfortable except for my arm or neck or something, I'll feel too lazy to adjust my position and will keep lying or sitting that way until it's BEYOND sore, despite the fact that i want it to be comfortable or stop hurting (duh), and same for bathroom, food, etc. I'd lie there despite really needing to go, but won't because it requires me to get up, and an hour later my bladder is at absolute bursting point but I'm still lying there fighting with myself to just get off the bloody phone or couch or pc or whatever. Story of my life. And same on the flip side - extremely easily stressed out, etc.
The closest I've ever seen to someone else having something similar, is one of ADHD Love's shorts, where Rich asks for... something (a glass of water or something) and Rox in her brain starts weighing up which is less effort between grabbing one for him vs just handing hers over because she REALLY can't deal with any more of that effort.
When I hear hyper sensitive (as a layman) I first understood it to be hyper responsive towards emotional stimuli, not all stimuli which is a much more consistent defintion. What people call being a 'snowflake', a term I very much don't like. The lack of emotional self control due to atypical issues with the prefrontal cortex. The muted response to stiumuli in a broad sense, not emotional stimuli, is also very interesting and thank you for the video.
Timely review, i just got an audiobook from Dr Mate. Thank you for this breakdown, it's interesting. I still appreciate the approach Dr Mate brings about, it could be applied to other "alignments" to do with Trauma. Who knows.
There seems to be a lot of confusion about what hyposensitivity means in context of brain science versus what it means in the lived experience of ADHDers. I would love to see a video that explains that - how can so many of us feel extremely sensitive to the point of struggling to function but also have "under sensitive" brains? The word sensitive is being used in different ways? Or our hyposensitive frontal lobes aren't filtering out things the way they do for NTs so we feel hypersensitive or overwhelmed?
Idk, I guess I don't have ADHD then. I am very sensitive and have a lot of anxiety, overthinking, rumination, etc. I also feel overstimulated from my environment more often than not.
I'm part of that club. People talking to me not getting to the point makes me start poking my tongue at them through frustration. I feel like jumping out of a moving car. It's frustrating
I don't think Dr. Barkley's discussion here is related to overthinking, ruminations or anxious feelings. I think he briefly mentioned the difference between Mate's theories about hypersensitivity and ADHD vs the emotional dysregulation (and assoc behaviors, impulses and uncontrolled thoughts ) that is part of ADHD - that mention is close to the beginning of the video. Dr. Barkley has several videos and articles about the prevalence of overthinking and ruminating experienced by people with ADHD. He also has talks that explore the overlap between ADHD and Anxiety symptoms, as well as the co-occurance of ADHD and dx of Anxiety. - check out Dr Barkley's recorded lectures and talks on youtube ,and at his website, from the early 90s (emotional regulation and Executive Function topics) to fairly recent videos. I think you'll find your ADHD symptoms are validated by science, and Dr. Barkley .
With the higher corresponding prevalence of adhd in professional sports (compared to the general population ratio) I postulate hyper focus is a contributing factor. As a diagnosed adhd lifer- and with a strong familial phenotype observed- I can posit that I personally am highly sensitive, but it varies in my family tremendously- there are significant overlapping comorbidities such as addiction as a coping mechanism, and hyper vigilance due to learned defensive mechanism to avoid the pain from rejection. Thank you for backing up your points with research and physiological evidence. I believe Gabor is speaking anecdotally and intuitively but is ultimately irresponsible with his lack of thoroughness on this subject. Gabor may be correct in an epigenetic, psycho-analytic, epidemiological collective consciousness perspective- but that is more abstract and poetic than it is prescriptive. We can societally create mechanisms that perpetuate executive disfunction, and increased mindfulness of parents is always beneficial, nevertheless research shows the efficacy of stimulant medication is still the best available tool and must be a part of the management. If you read this far reply with an emoji 😊 also did you exercise today? This is one other necessary thing to incorporate into your regimen for adhd management.
Hi Dr Russ. Could you please give your opinion on the views of Dr Chris Palmer on the Mel Robbins podcast from 11 months ago? It's confused the hell out of me and a lot of people. I think what he's saying is ADHD isn't a permanent condition, but maybe I've misunderstood. Thanks as always.
I got diagnosed with ADHD at a young age. They gave me SSRI antidepresants which worked wonders on my symptoms (mostly anxiety). Later in life i tried all Adhd meds available but they made me feel even more anxious. Does this mean I don’t have ADHD?
I sadly am confused by this video, and I want to understand better. I thought hypersensitivity was associated with adhd, but I think Dr Barkley is using nuance that I'm not picking up well. I must be looking at this in an oversimplified way. Please help clarify ❤ It's not a problem with the video! I'm just not understanding it well. Love your videos! Edit: Is the point you're making that adhd is not correlated with hypersensitivity though many adhders are hypersensitive? As in, the hypersensitivity is not due to adhd but something else?
Dr Barkley is talking about how the brain as an *organ* responds to external stimuli. Not about emotions or physical senses or our conscious or subconscious thoughts and feelings. The ADHD brain is slower to respond and does not respond as strongly to external stimuli as the non-ADHD brain. That is why he is talking about studies looking at brain waves and electrical activity, and salivary cortisol, rather than behaviour.
i hsaave adhd and i lack stress so much that its kind of a problem as I put everything off till its too late lol, . our brains are just everywhere all at once and honestly, id argue that people with adhd would make this world a better place if things were run with them in mind. there's soo many things that I'm good at that no one really values and wont pay for, and yet the things that are payed for are impossible for me to do without going insane
I love these videos. The part that got me was the last support. My son, diagnosed with ADHD, definitely does NOT exhibit a decreased stress response. It’s the opposite. Wondering what you think this suggests? He seems to fit the other descriptions…. Thank you!
Interesting. I have multiple diagnoses, including ADHD-C, and I am increasingly aware of the impact of comoribities on the way a given diagnosis might present. In my case, I am prone to elevated levels of stress hormones, presumably passed on via prenatal influences.i have in recent years realized how high levels of anxiety moderate my inattentiveness: if I am fearful and hypervigilant, I can (as an example) not lock my keys in my car. But absent the anxiety, I am very inattentive. I have described myself as oblivious and have failed to react to certain critical stimuli many times throughout my life. Toggling between these states feels like an intermittent connection in my brain, or a voltage regulation problem. I’ve described myself as a bit of a mutt, probably owing to the fact that both of my parents had a variety of undiagnosed traits. I’m learning that this is not uncommon. These sorts of comorbid smorgasbords likely create serious confounds for responsible diagnosticians. And it’s why I am deeply distrustful of those who, like Mate, try to channel their particular specialty into a deus ex machina of sorts, presenting it almost as a key to everything. Life and neurology are more complicated than that.
This is a great discussion. What is the operational definition of sensitive? Between the two opinions? Subjective self report of individuals who feel discomfort at lower environmental sensory thresholds or overall brain activity? Lack of a robust prefrontal cortex engagement >theta wave activity doesn’t necessarily imply mutual exclusivity? Connection of emotional regulation just isn’t as strong and therefore collective neural activity in the prefrontal cortex could be argued to be lower? Hyperesthesia or allodynia is measurable through transcutaneous electrical activity as an expression of lower sensory thresholds. Has this been studied yet Dr Barkley? I value your work Dr B and sincerely appreciate the discussion
I absolutely hate light touch, it makes my skin crawl. I am also very light sensitive. Too bright is bad, including being in a sunny place too long (it’s not only the heat, I experimented with it on a cold day). Conversely I have SAD (medicated). I need light but I can’t have it too bright. I might be AuDHD, am considering testing for it.
Thanks Doc. How about Midbrain activity ? Psychiatrist told me stimulants help us to manage the midbrain which might turn the attention to something irrelevant like the bird landing on a branch outside while I'm trying to do my timesheet. I frequently experience an awareness of some movement in my peripheral vision - like a hyper vigilance - then when I focus there's nothing there. It's not an hallucination just a "is that a something?" from the corner of my eye , particularly when stimulants are wearing off.
This is just a layperson's understanding (I have no training in neurology) however I can quite relate to an experience ofADHD symptoms feeling like chronic underarousal. Indeed I have had this commented on during an EEG, and I have the associated issue with low cortisol which is that I suffer with extremely strong sleep inertia causing great difficulty in waking up - I can sleep through multiple loud alarms - I understand this is not unheard of within ADHD, although it's not a universal symptom. I have not had my cortisol tested but I believe this is likely to be the cause. I suppose what it feels like to me is that if the nervous system is a dial, which I realise it is not, but as a metaphor for a moment. If it were a dial which can be turned (via biological or external stimulation) from low-arousal (sleepy, sluggish, relaxed) up through moderate (alert, focused) through to high (stressed/anxious, adrenaline-fuelled, ready to act) it feels as though the dial is too loose, swinging much too easily to an extreme and finding it difficult to remain in the moderate area which is an important one for many activities of daily life such as studying, working, and interacting with others. Yes, it takes far too much to stir us from that unfocused, daydreamy state but a lot of ADHD people when they are stirred - it REALLY happens. Many children with ADHD express aggressive or explosive behaviour, for example - temper tantrums persisting to a later age than in typically developing kids. Emotional dysregulation very much looks like a high arousal state to me, and many parenting books refer to tantrums or meltdowns as being a high arousal state where the prefrontal cortex is less accessible. And there is the stereotype about the fact ADHD people often do well in situations of great stress such as emergencies and so on - surely a prime example of when a high arousal state is in fact advantageous. Is there an explanation for this in the context of the underarousal theory? I would be really interested to learn more about this. Or am I pulling together unrelated things due to a misunderstanding here? This would be a really interesting follow up topic if you have the time and interest.
Thank you very much! So true! I wanted to ask what do you think about doc Chris Palmer work about chetogenic diet. We feel better when we change our diet, pluss some suplements.
I‘m asking myself some questions now. For the last 3 weeks I’m listening to a binaural Delta wave track (the subharmonic world by The Power of You) during the night and I have to say I never slept so soundly. So is the ADHD brain more on the beta wave side during nights? Also I’m wondering if binaural alpha and beta waves during the day would help me with executive dysfunction?
Does this hold true for the people with migraine as comorbidity? According to what I have learned about migraines, a brain / neurons that reacts to intensely on stimuli is one of the main underlying mechanisms for migraines. Especially as there is a positive correlation between both diagnoses.
I don’t think that is quite the problem. migraines are often problems with the brain vascular system not with the underlying brain matter though vascular spasms do affect blood flow to brain regions and thus affect their functioning indirectly.
Dit lijkt op een gevecht, niet op een zoektocht. De wetenschap, en de manier van meten over het menselijk lichaam is nog heel beperkt, je kunt dit niet verkopen als de waarheid. Zelf denk ik dat de kwaliteit van interactie tussen de moeder (primaire verzorger) en de baby en peuter van heel groot belang is voor de hersenontwikkeling van het kind. En natuurlijk speelt aanleg ook een rol.
I've had ADHD my entire life. I haven't had any "trauma ". Im a mechanical engineer. My brother has had ADHD. Hes an industrial electrician My dad had minor ADHD. He was an electrical engineer. He didn't have any trauma. My paternal grandfather had mild ADHD and he didn't have any trauma as a kid. Although he did suffer a little bit of trauma in World War II in Papua New Guinea. Malaria starvation, and people shooting at you will do that. That seems to be a pretty clear pattern for inheritance. And not to brag, but to make a point, we are all have IQs higher than average. My paternal grandmother was mind-boggling smart. With a photographic memory. She didn't have ADHD though. Seems pretty clear that ADHD and general intelligence are pretty genetic. I'll admit we got lucky because when you have a high IQ, you can work around the ADHD, sort of.
The question. Why people, especially women with ADHD tend to have anxiety disorders and they are highly sensitive? To my knowledge and also personal experience, women with ADHD get very easily overstimulated by internal and external stimuli with sensory processing sensitivity… This is very confusing information and I need to read more about these studies that were presented. I wonder if they were all done on male subjects only?
Could it be that overstimulation is caused by an inability to screen out unnecessary stimuli over a period of time? And that the feeling of hypersensitivity is actually an unregulated response to an unexpected stimulus? I have ADHD and I lose it if someone touches me unexpectedly when I’m busy, especially if the touch (from my husband, for example) is out of sync with the task at hand (something I despise, like dishes)?
It might also be related to cultural expectations and mental load, I’ve found that as a woman with adhd if I let myself have expectations from myself that are more in line with what we culturally expect from men then I am a lot happier (I don’t need to cook elaborate or fancy, I don’t need a spotless house/room, I don’t have to constantly mask and act like I care about inane things when I don’t, stuff like that) Anxiety with adhd can come a lot from unfulfilled or unmet self-expectations. I think then anxiety contributes to high sensitivity, which would link it more to a trauma response than to being an actual factor of adhd. That’s just my theory anyway! It absolutely could be something else
I wonder how complex PTSD affects sensitivity, maybe it causes hyper vigilance and hyper awareness rather than hypersensitivity? Along with inappropriate responses to stimuli based on past trauma?
I like Dr. Barkley for his knowledge and scientific approach as well as his friendly personality, but I'm always a little bit taken aback by the animosity between him and Gabor Maté. It seems more personal than a professional exchange of opposing opinions should
Wouldn’t it be valuable to compare brain scans of individuals with ADHD with and without medication? It would seem helpful in determining an individual’s ideal dosage.
ADHD is so hard to define and understand. How does the hyposensitivity of ADHD-ers presented here align with the commonly cited ADHD symptoms of rejection sensitivity (RSD) and sensory hypersensitivity (tags on clothing is often an example, but also loud noises, visually busy environments, etc.) and the feelings of overwhelm? I don’t doubt Barkley’s research here…just have so many questions. Back in 1960-70s I suspect all the test subjects were of the hyperactive type. Definitions of ADHD (from real scientists and internet pundits alike) more recently have expanded to include inattentive types and also some overlap /co-morbidity with ASD, OCD, anxiety and depression. So the term ADHD has become very hard for me to pin down. My doctor tells me I have ADHD- and I do- but I’m still confused about what that means.
This is strange. I myself have a lot of ADHD symptoms, have Misophonia, light and sound-sensitive, AND slow in some things. Sometimes my sensitivity is increased or decreased, idk why.
En effet, si j ai bien compris, il y aurait hyposensibilite sensorielle au niveau environnement et hypersensibilité aux niveau des pensées reseau par défaut ? Concernant le cortisol, il me semble que des enfants de personnes ayant connu un trauma grave type les camps de concentration ou bien les enfants de personnes ayant vecus les attentats de 2001 presente des taux de cortisol plus bas que la normal. A l heure actuelle, il me semble difficile de faire l impasse sur l epigenethique meme si en l etat actuelle des connaissances cette derniere ne se transmets pas via les gametes. Il semble que des etudes parlent des micro arn comme mecanisme de transmission mais je ne duis pas assez calee sur le sujet. Si on parle de l hypersensibilité émotionnelle, il me semble qu il soit possible d avoir une vulnerabilite au stress et donc a l anxiete et a la depression en plus du tdah. Genetique oui mais pas sans l epigenetique et l environnement
We are* hypersensitive. I can assure you of this. That's not to say everyone who is hypersensitive has ADHD. But I assure you we are HYPERsensitive to everything.
I wonder about the adhd and autism overlap or co occurrence with both. Is the autistic brain more on the "hypersensitive" side? The term hypersensitive is used so often and I guess misunderstood by many.
Easily frustrated, but may be unreasonably calm in situations where outhers would freak out. It doesn't mean that if you are calm in a crisis you have adhd. It means that people with adhd can be frustrated over things other people aren't easily frustrated over, but be remarkably balanced and clear facing a crisis or emergency. I mean... emergency is our way of life, no? :D
I always felt that was one of my strengths when I was in the military. Where others would freeze up and just stare in an emergency situation. That’s when I went into a mode where everything became structured in my mind. My mind quickly resolved the issue and I would dole out tasks to others. While also being calm as can be as if nothing scary was happening. In flight emergencies, on the ground losing control of gas turbine engines. No matter how dangerous the situation I was always cool as can be. But, leave me to pay my bills on time and I fell apart. Though, through experience and desire to make my credit better. I have learned to save and pay bills ahead of time.
I didn’t realize this for most of my life, but a major reason I get frustrated is difficulty focusing on tasks. It feels a bit like trying to thread a needle with heavy gloves on. Beyond that - emotional dysregulation is a long recognized aspect of ADHD, though one that the DSM still hasn’t included. I’ve heard Dr. Barkley and other experts address that in webinars. The causes I’m not clear on, but since impulse control is impacted by weak executive functioning, I suspect emotional control may be also. As far as cool in crisis, I believe adrenaline can improve focus much as stimulants do. But it’s also worth noting that, in addition to adrenaline, the adrenal glands secrete stress hormones, and if adrenaline stays up for a while, those hormones tend to rise - and unlike adrenaline, they come down slowly. This can lead to argumentative behavior until they lower. I have a predisposition to high stress hormones that probably came from prenatal exposure to my mother’s high levels, and as near as I can tell, relying heavily on adrenaline to focus in a high pressure job is what massively dysregulated me. But even those with low to average standard levels of stress hormones might conceivably see effects at times. (This last is speculation on my part.)
At the top of this comment I am going to caveat with my own journey away from Mate's view on ADHD. It's wrong, or at a minimum accounts for a minor fraction of diagnoses that are not genetically validated (which is another topic for discussion). And now the but. Is this not a matter of definition? Some of your examples speak to processing speed rather than sensitivity? Here's why I'm struggling with your point here - the model he uses is a bog standard biopsychosocial model (or the one I learnt via DBT) where emotional sensitivity in an invalidating environments leads to a pervasive emotional dysregulation. And circular logic applies because ED is a core symptom of ADHD? (In a no blame model the invalidating environment "just is" but obviously includes trauma events/abuse as possible factors, parental ignorance is probably the bigger challenge though). When I talk about heightened sensitivity I'm also thinking Elaine Aron and the Highly Sensitive Person - which is not without its challenges given that the ASD community have suggested that HSP = ASD, but those of us with ADHD and are HSP without an ASD dx speak quietly to avoid offending 🙂 We could also throw in RSD and Justice Sensitivity - where the studies support the idea that a fair proportion of ADHD is inherently emotionally sensitive (and for the record I find RSD and JS useful only as situation labels whereas they are largely "manifestations" of emotion dysregulation). It's the RSD in particular though that makes me wonder if we are talking about different ideas of sensitivity - and to be generous to Mate I'd argue that he is leaning on emotional sensitivity/dysregulation rather than stimulus response - but that also confuses me given that ED is a stimulus/response shortcut rather than stimulus/moderate/response that is the "normal" way of processing emotion? We go from trigger to outrage whereas an NT will go from trigger to moderate to response? Hopefully this makes sense but this talk probably is raising more questions than answers for me. PS I really wish people would stop taking advice on any disorder from Rogan, CEO and Huberman - their role is simply to facilitate the most outspoken or outrageous guests that speak to the current trends...
yes, it is partly definitional because Mate is not precise in his operationalizing of terms. not surprising given he is not a scientist. but see my video tomorrow that can help to clear up this confusion, I hope. thanks !
Maybe, but excess emotion is not hypersensitivity as I explain tomorrow. The issue in ADHD is not on the sensory side of the brain but on its motor inhibitory side so hyper reactivity might be a better though also inadequate term for this but it’s not a sensitivity issue technically. thanks !
No. Very basically, he is saying that when a person with ADHD is at home, they have a lesser stress response, like they're even more likely to live in clutter, phone scrolling, be unmotivated etc, because they're hyposensitive(hypo = less) to the consequences of it. Mate on the other hand was suggesting the opposite, that people with ADHD are just flat out more sensitive to everything which would mean including stress at home. This evidence shows that his theory is wrong.
@@wes1581ohhhh. Thanks for clarifying. I thought he meant we're less emotionally reactive, which really confused me, because dysregulated emotions is a huge feature of ADHD for a lot of us.
True in many topics but in this case it does accurately summarize the existing research and reviews of those topics in the scientific literature. Rather than cite multiple reviews underscoring my arguments, I relied on AI summaries but your point is well taken.
This channel has video about IQ and ADHD. No statistically significant difference was faund when it comes to IQ in people with ADHD compared to neurotypicals.
please stop using AI i have great respect for you but i don't think its helpful to normalize using AI, i have a little less respect for you when you add it into your videos.
@begumvural8114 is it useful when it's wrong so often. Also think about this drinking alcohol is fun why have an age limit or why not drink 6 drinks every day? If you are still not understanding what I'm trying to say, look into the energy and water usage of such LLMs, or look into copyright law and how that applies.
Yes, in some cases or topics, but in this case the AI summation maps very well onto the conclusions of reviews of the literature in these topics and rather than inundate viewers with reviews, the AI summary made the same point. even then, I did illustrate the summary with the graphic findings of actual research. thanks!
@@russellbarkleyphd2023 I'm not saying that it doesn't, the point I'm attempting to make is that as a respected member of the medical community when you use it as part of your presentation you are sending a message that using it in a medical context is ok. To me that's a red flag.
The underactivity images and studies seem to be made on children, likely male. Adult female brains would likely be different just due to sheer lived experience and hormone differences. My stress response is anything but hypo which makes me strongly disagree with your premise here.
Did I understand it well: people with ADHD have decreaaed brain activity because of the deficit in noradrenergic and dophaminergic systems which also decreases their overall sensitivity and response time to various stimuli. There might me natural receptor upregulation or other compensatory mechanism that may increase their sensitivity to cathecolamines though, which may sxplain the ability to hyperfocus in highly rewarding or stressful situations.
I understand Dr Mate's theory a little differently. His book introduced me to the concept of inter-generational trauma. Other research has indicated genetic markers for trauma being passed down. As such, it seems to me that he is in line with a genetic vector of ADHD. Perhaps he is contradicting himself recently.
Does his book suggest epigenetics rather than genetics? I googled "gabor mate adhd genetic". Second result (I am logged in): In my view, ADD is not an inherited condition, contrary to the commonly held opinion, but originates in early childhood stresses during the first years of ... When I clicked I see: Rather than an inherited disease, Attention Deficit Disorder is a reversible impairment and a developmental delay, with origins in infancy. If I understand epigenetics right, it is also inherited at basically biological level, just not at DNA level. It is not reversible in childhood nor adulthood...
@@grzegorzp.1827 his book does not actually address the topic of genetics. He speaks of the trauma of his parents during the Holocaust and the effect that it had upon him. He seems to attribute the problem to parenting style. Perhaps he has missed the point. But the science is young.
While I'm convinced by your arguments about (genetic) nature coming before the 'nurture' argument of Maté, I think that your argument in this video has some gaps.
In this video, you have taken a very literal, objective, and quantitative view of the term 'sensitive', linking it with different brain waves and the substance cortisol, relating it back to the body of research from nearly 50 years ago, together with a Google AI analysis.
The term 'sensitive' might also be considered in the context of emotional sensitivity, reactivity, and lack of self-control under your model of ADHD being a disorder of executive function.
Rather than biomarkers like theta and beta waves, the argument might be more convincing if it actually looked at the perceived experiences of both neurotypical people and those with ADHD, and relative handling of those experiences. While with conventional trauma, some people might be traumatised by a single major event, others might not be. In a scenario where complex PTSD might not be a fully-bedded-down condition, assessment of the same type of outcomes with chronic smaller negative experiences might be analysed in a qualitative way between neurotypical people and people with ADHD.
Given the symptoms of ADHD, the genetic components and historical non-treatment of parents and grandparents with the condition, one might reasonably predict that subsequent generations would have an increase in negative life experiences, which might be read together with altered self-control in this group. This might be an alternate or additional factor influencing the subjective experiences of people with the condition.
If the science is not yet in a position to diagnose people with ADHD based on lower brain or cortisol activity, it appears that an argument predicated on these same observations in relation to emotional sensitivity and reactivity is not robustly based.
Couldn't agree more...
Science and subjective experience don't map too well though aye ?
Science itself has a kind of difficulty handling the observer or measurer - insisting on a perfect objectivity, the view from nowhere in particular.
Mate appeals to the emotions and projects this deeply caring and concerned image. He clearly has his own agenda and a kind of guru thing going on.
I don't think scientific rigour is Mate's game at all.
I have read Mate's book, and consider him wrong simply because he pulls his claims out of nowhere and does not make attempts to prove or disprove them. But you are right in the sense that these matters should be addressed in regard to the question of if people with ADHD are born with a sensitivity in the fashion you state that can be pushed towards ADHD by environment. We already know that physical trauma can push someone from having subdiagnositic ADHD "traits" to a diagnosable case of ADHD.
He has a video coming out tomorrow that I hope will address.
Can you please explain how hyposensitivity connects with the common experience of feeling overstimulated and agitated as an unregulated response to environmental factors?
I’m not sure I understand. Thank you!
Exactly! If ADHD alone is a lack of stimulation in some areas, then overwhelming hypersensitive autism traits are a more accurate description of intense reactions. ADHD may reduce positive reactions that a "normal" brain would give to calm down. Please see: AuDHD combo that is rarely diagnosed and highly masked.
I think what he’s describing is the lack of a typical response to stimuli is what gives rise to the inability to inhibit undesirable behaviours ie hyperactivity and inattention. (I think!)
I agree with Dr. Barkley on this.
I have often thought of myself as needing a stronger stimuli to move me in general, or to create the action potential in the brain required for neurotransmission. Be it general sensory stimuli, i.,e. light, sound or emotional stimuli (some bad news or good news), I wouldn't react to it until it's something really unbearable or overwhelming.
I am no expert, but based on my little knowledge and what I have experienced as an ADHDer, Overstimulation is because of not being able to filter out the stimuli in the environment, which leads to sensory overload, followed by the frustration of not being able to process the useful stimuli due to distractions. Lowered dopamine levels also require you to be on the move, fidget or keep yourself engaged in something that interests you and keeps providing the flow of dopamine.
One more thing is having high injustice sensitivity paired with objective thinking (At least in my case) makes me react/response in ways that is not very typical of other people. I have seen that, most people tend to appear idealistic but compromise with their values in situations where it can benefit them, and this is something that's widely accepted. On the other hand, my brain is extra sensitive to something that's wrong or going against my ideals.
So it's like, I am not sensitive to things that most people are typically sensitive to. But I am sensitive to something that objectively doesn't make sense to me or is directed towards my ethos and pathos.
I hope I made some sense and didn't go much offtrack.
Honestly, my emotional impulsivity when not medicated is off the charts. This might be seen as hypersensitivity...
See Dr.Barkley's talks on emotional dysregulation and ADHD @@aleksandars9254
So the neurological system isn't reactive enough for the amount of input which causes the feeling of overwhelm and then people call it hypersensitivity which isn't correct in a neurological sense, but as a description of the experience as a person that's the word that best describes it. Would that be a good way of putting it to merge the perceived with the neurological data?
Btw, are there neurological studies looking at tactile sensitivity? A lot of people I know with ADHD, me, my daughter and my dad included have tactile sensitivity that fluctuates from non existant to something that can make "being in your skin" sometimes unbearable. Would be interesting to know if it has he same kind of mechanism in a neurological sense
Same about the tactile.
I am also curious about this question..
I find that I don't get scared as much as others in the moment, I don't feel quite as much sensorily, I can be really irritated by certain touches because they feel too light and strange. I even listen to music like Olhava because I think it sounds beautiful, and people I talk to really can't imagine it, but it's completely real for me. I do experience really high generalized anxiety when absolutely nothing is happening though, lol. It's a strange thing. I've often told people that I'm anxious when nothing is going wrong and calm when something is going wrong. It's not completely true but certain life events seemed this way.
I think that if an individual says they really can't stand something though, they shouldn't need a diagnosis for that to be respected either.
Sensory over or under stimulation, or sensitivity, are often co-occurting with ADHD .
@@GallumA I under respond to traumatic situations - providing first aid is a major one then describing it afterwards to other first aiders I work with (often to decompress) I become overwhelmed by emotions.
Then in noisy situations with many people talking I become overwhelmed as I have a hard time filtering out all the extraneous conversations to concentrate on what one person is saying directly to me.
@@chriscohlmeyer4735 I think I relate to this to some degree!
As a lay person, when I hear Dr Mate' talk about hypersensitivity, I hear it as more of an autonomic response or simply as a depth of feeling. What do you think of Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria as a phenomenon of ADHD?
As far as I understand, not much is known yet about RSD. But some of the speculation is about emotional dysregulation playing a role. The low arousal of the prefrontal cortex means that it exerts less executive control over several mental functions, one of them being emotions. Also, RSD does not seem to be a sensory problem, it does not seem to be the result of noises or touch sensitivity or smells or even visual stimulation. But rather it is an emotional over-response to perceived criticism, teasing or rejection. (And that is how I experience it.) There may be other factors at play, for example I do not recall seeing a neurological explanation for the strong initial emotional impact. In any case, we need more research, we don’t know much yet.
My experience of my ADHD since I was a small child is not one of feeling rejected a lot. (I had problems *connecting* to others and was somewhat more interested in complicated things, which is probably due to my yet-to-be-diagnosed autism. But I did not experience rejection frequently.) My mind wandered off by itself, basically at any time. There was no external stimulus that prompted my mind to do that. And, in addition, any external stimulus, even a bird or a tree, was more interesting when I tried to focus my mind on homework. (And I *loved* learning stuff. But getting my mind to do it was really difficult.)
i can see adhd symptomes being missdiagnosed as that, but if a kid is just acting out cause they are attention starved wont fundamentally change how their brains work and the kind of connections it can make.
as some one whos over 30 and still cant get a job or life or anything going because of the severity of the adhd, I'm not some one who feels like they were neglected. i feel like I didn't get to be a kid enough though, I felt a bit restricted as when I was with my dad, I wouldn't really be aloud to climb on shit or what not. that side of my family was a bit too restrictive so it made me behave completely opposite of that every chance I get.
so idk, maybe it can have an effect on adhd, maybe it can make somethings worse, but that still doesn't mean its a sole symptom of adhd
@@kirill2525 I experienced 6 yrs in the duldrums unemployed & feeling quite worthless. However I used the time, being INFJ I Obsessively learned as much about my self, CGJung, Dr S Vaknin, cold therapy, nature meditation.
Ironically I now work in mental health! 😂 In my Autumn years 🍁. All to play for......... ♥️
My take is that RSD is a facet of emotional dysregulation in ADHD. So, putting that together with this video, we may not respond as intensely, but we're less able to regulate the expression of an emotion once it has occurred.
@@OrafuDaYour childhood experiences are remarkably similar to my own!
Thank you for this vital concrete information. I feel all the physiological symptoms you have stated and this has led me into dangerous situations particularly in romantic relationships, staying longer than I should have, putting my adhd mental health at risk as well as my physical self.
It's important to point out that Dr. Barkley is making a very specific point about the psychophysiology of the brain. He is not talking about your behavior. He is saying that when analyzing the brain functions acutely the problem isn't about perception it is about how our brain manages our perceptions in working memory with adhd. He is demonstrating, very specifically, how Mate is just making things up to fit his narrative of what the problem is. Imagine this happening in a courtroom. Dr. Barkley is very specifically, surgically, showing how in this case the evidence doesn't support what Mate says. Adhd is a problem with managing emotions. Adhd can manifest as a problem with down regulating emotions which is why you see strong comorbidity with anxiety and depression. Do overthink this. This is video for Mate.
Hmm yeah if Emotions inform us and logic works to refine that information further, then that would mean that abnormal surges of emotional intensity in ADHD messes up our whole network of information that is actually important to refine further and that way overloads the brain with too much input, This overload can impair prioritization of working memory specifically.
No, I disagree, he is talking on his platform and informing his followers. My response above goes to how this particular talk raises more questions than it answers.
Emotion dysregulation is alos not *only* about down regulating, its misregulating.
@@shaneward_adhdreimagined Actually been thinking about how alot of Emotion dysregulation could be explained as hypo or hyper sensitivity of body causing our natural emotional bodily reactions to be either heightened or numbed and that way confusing what we are expecting when mirroring others or presented standards.
correct. see my video on this issue tomorrow. thanks!
Thank you! This may help to explain why I don't get tunnel vision in highly stressful situations. Training is part of it but my reactions are different from those on my team. I need to dig into this more. As always your videos are very informative and leave me reading research papers for hours.
Different dopamine and adrenaline levels? For you it is finally optimal, for others it is too much.
@@ChrisBombria I actually plan my work accordingly so have periods of info gathering, musing slow prep work and then bursts of intense work because if I have the same sort of work all the time I burn out because of the effort of trying to get things moving but during those crunch periods I can accomplish more than most people can.
Would love to get a commentary on how hyposensitivity and overwhelming state are linked, because they seem contradictory at first glance! :) Thanks for your work!
see tomorrow”s video.
“Wrong repeatedly” lol a subtle and tactful way of KO’ing Mate
My issue with Mate is that he comes across like many in the “self help” genre - putting out a message that we just need to somehow change the way we perceive things and our struggle or illness will just go away. The school of “what did you do to give yourself cancer?” It adds guilt to the burden & resolves nothing.
Yes!
And he's not the first one to do it so problematically. Read about Bruno Bettelheim who was treated as an autism expert and said it resulted from the way mothers were raising their children. It turns out that much of his credentials he claimed he had, he just made up in the chaos that followed World War II - and that theory has done great deals of damage. He ran a clinic at the University of Chicago, an elite institution - and many of the children that were sent there and the people who worked there said he was physically abusive as elements of his "method."
Could this result change if the participants has comorbid disorder like autism?
Is it true the people with adhd and autism differ in the lived experience than those who has both disorder in the same person?
I also am curious! I've both autism and ADHD and usually on the very sensory sensitive side of things. Also easily very overwhelmed and don't do well with stress.
Glad to have these videos about Gabor Mate. Such misinformation is harmful. I wish I knew of a channel like this but for autism!
I have been diagnosed with ADHD and waiting for an autism diagnosis. In my own experience, there are definitely differences when ADHD and ASD come together. For example, I believe I am somewhat more emotionally detached from people around me, it is more difficult for me to feel connected with them in the moment. That may be one reason why RSD does not happen often to me. But, when someone criticizes my work or takes away a device that I need for my special interests, that can be deeply hurtful and trigger a strong emotional response.
Unfortunately, ADHD and ASD were mutually exclusive diagnoses before 2013 (when the 5th version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders came out). Now it is clear that ADHD and ASD are common comorbidities, in stark contrast to before. But that also means that there is not much research yet on the ADHD and ASD comorbid experience (aka “AuDHD”). We need more on this.
Btw, I also have the sensory sensitivities, especially to sounds. But I don’t think it is a cause for my ADHD. It can make it even easier for me to get distracted by external stimuli, yes, definitely. But the distractibility is there even when I see something, and I don’t think I have increased visual sensitivities. Also, my mind wanders off by itself without any external stimuli.
So, I do believe that my ADHD is not the *result* of any of my hypersensitivities. It is made worse by them. But I do think that I really cannot shut out certain external stimuli (which is something that non-ADHD people seem to be able to do much better), and also not down-regulate my mind wandering sufficiently. And both are in line with the explanation of reduced mental control over these things.
Yes we do. Its why what works for adhd isn't enough, nor what works for autism. Some times one is more dominant over life, or at a time in the day or a season. It takes managing both individually, and how they work together. I think more people are Audhd then we ever thought.
Thank you so much for explicitly going through the information that explains why Mate is so so wrong! It is do disturbing when I see so many people online including medical professionals repeat his miss information. I’m not a medical Dr but surely what he is doing spreading such blatantly wrong miss information qualifies as some kind of breach of medical ethics which could be reported?
Either way thank you do much for doing what you’re doing!
My pleasure. thanks for commenting and watching.
Wow! I had no idea how detailed the research has been. I am very grateful for these videos.
ADHD or not, night driving has become an issue with all the newer vehicles with LED headlights. They are too bright and make it difficult to see properly. I miss the warm hued lights…
Yeah same here, it's annoying as heck
Same. I wear anti-glare glasses over my usual glasses when I drive at night. If it's cloudy enough, I'll put them on during the day, too. It's not perfect but it helps me a lot.
Oh my god the lights should be illegal. They're dangerous. In slow rush hour traffic on the expressway, I often have to angle all my mirrors in to where they're useless, because I'm overwhelmed by the lights of cars behind me.
@@yellowthermos Now that I think about it, I also angle down my mirrors.
With the things we have to do to cope with newer headlights, there really should be some legislation regarding their brightness.
@@altyrrell3088 well there is legislation on it in certain states, but its really hard to enforce considering patrolmen don't carry lumens detectors lol. for example "In New Jersey, the brightness limit for vehicle headlights is 3,770 lumens. Any headlight that is brighter than this must be directed so that the beam does not hit the road more than 75 feet away from the vehicle.
I'm ADHD. Is that why I can't wrap my mind around how exactly these proven facts disprove Dr. Mate's theory? I genuinely respect you and am a HUGE fan of both of your work... and I am so confused. I'm understanding these discussions to be about the same word: "sensitivity" but the ideas seem completely unrelated to each other.
I am understanding this video's information to be factual, scientific, and physical evidence for a physical process and solely related to the brain. My understanding of Dr. Mate's theory speaks about emotional sensitivity and is about the brain, body, and spirit combined. Is it possible that this science could be Dr. Mate's theory in action? This is how I imagine the brain of someone with ADHD/C-PTSD/ TBI to be while in shut down, escape mode, or just needing a break from the chronic overwhelm of feelings. With my understanding, this information further corroborates his theory, simply because he believes ADHD is genetic but not in the exact same way you believe ADHD is genetic. His theory about the combination of having a predisposition for emotional sensitivity AND early chronic exposure to specific emotional stimuli in an individuals environment has a great impact on the brain's development of emotional coping skills.
In my mind, I relate it to how everyone has cancer cells in their body, yet not everyone's cancer cells are triggered to develope the same type or intensity of cancer because it depends what, where, and how the cells were triggered, and possibly with what genetic variations playing a role.
Am I completely wrong!? 😅
I believe my genetic makeup combined with the stress from my environments, my traumatic experiences, and my intense feelings, have caused my nervous system to develop in a way that just causes a domino affect of poor health. I feel ADHD is a neurological disorder; a 'chemical imbalance', but not something natural. I absolutely believe that if I didn't have the upbringing that I did, including the numerous traumatic experiences, I don't think I would have developed the nervous system that I did. And without those experiences, I doubt my nervous system would have developed the same way. I believe this emotional stress early on, and all through life, has directly caused every health issue I have: allergic asthma, general anxiety disorder, major depressive episodes, severe RSD, debilitating combined-type ADHD, learning disabilities, auditory processing disorder, suppressed memories, environmental allergies, arthritis, eczema, psoriasis, fibromyalgia, IBS, and Systemic Lupus. In your experiences, the only common denominator can possibly be genetics.
In Mate's experiences, the common denominator can only be a combination of specifically emotional genetics + trauma.
I believe you are both right, and could you ever be a team - What a life altering world this could be!
These 2 incredible brains coming together could make history.
Exactly, looking at only the scientific which doesnt account for how are mind perceives or our soul and how that makes us react or not react; will cause people to not understand Mate. Humans are more than Body, they are spirit soul and body. Science refuses to understand this and adapt which causes harm to humans in a myriad of ways.
theorycrafting nuances of diagnosing asd/adhd/cptsd based on experience and the desire to ensure extrapolation of same ‘does no harm’. It’s clear Dr B believes Dr GM is doing that. I agree, the argument needs better context of operational definition of ‘sensitive’, sensory thresholds how they correlate to emotional expression, stimuli buffering, emotional recovery and stamina…. Etc… Dr B needed to get this off his chest fast. My apologies if I’m wrong. How ‘interesting’ is it that adult diagnoses happens at the point when the environmental conditions they live in finally exceeds their ability to cope/recoup day to day on average? Their compensation mechanisms are maladaptive pure and simple, creating ‘the sacrificial caregivers or the sacrificial overachievers’ that can’t mask anymore. These adults masked the ptsd they developed as children. Walled it away using the adaptive mechanism of the ‘freeze response’. Waiting for the time to deal with it in a safe environment that never happened. The child never was given the opportunity to learn emotional maturity, development the prefrontal cortex connection from a flawed generational parenting style. Adult manifestation should be looked at as a multimodal environmental progressive chemical deficiency … like typical cataracts (lack of energy to the cells keeps oedema out of the lens)… Or insulin dependent DM - all is well until you cross the threshold to require supplementation. I loved the ‘rechargeable battery memory’ analogy a friend used once to describe this phenomenon, it fits perfectly in asd/adhd/cptsd context: ‘it never recharges fully, eventually you don’t have enough battery life to do the job it’s intended to do’. I hope someday people will normalize this, remove stigmas by educating ableists, redefine ‘freeze’ stress response to something more adaptive/maladaptive diagnostically operational such as ‘filter’ or ‘blindness’… then we’re getting somewhere. Makes videos like this easier to understand when people fall under the threshold to mask their ability to mask being ‘sensitive’. :D. Love to hear feedback and everyone is discussing this in a safe, positive way. Wishing you the best
Spot on. Thanks.
I think the main thing you need to remember with Mate is that he isn't an expert - he is a family physician, and his positions are not the result of research, but just his feelings about how he came to have his own emotions based upon what his mother experienced in her life. So, don't think of him as an expert, imagine if some guy on the bus said that - give it that amount of weight. He has a soothing voice and trauma definitely impacts people, even small amounts of trauma - but nothing about him says expert in this matter. He just chose to write a book, and everyone treated him as an expert because of that!
well said!
Hyper sensitive feelings versus hypersensitive "brain activity"... I had never considered there was a difference: this is seriously interesting!!
see my video tomorrow on this very issue. thanks!
Love your content. ❤ Thank you for always backing up your evidence with real studies! I’m so grateful for everything you do.
Thank you so much!
Feliz Año estimado Doctor desde México❤
If those with ADHD are hyposensitive to the environment, why is the environment so distracting? Does this suggest that because our autonomic nervous system isn't responding normally, our conscious mind feels the need to respond to environmental factors leading to distraction? Where in neurotypical minds the conscious mind doesn't need to respond to every noise or movement around them because the autonomic nervous system can process the environmental information
see my video tomorrow on how this is a disinhibition problem, not a sensitivity problem. thanks!
As a recently diagnosed 26 year old living in Italy, where the concept of adult ADHD is almost unheard of, I'd like to say I appreciate your channel and benefit immensely from your expertise. Yours is one of the very few ADHD channels that brings forth studies and research as opposed to anecdotes and pseudoscience. It's so refreshing.
Thank you ever so much. Grazzi.
YESSSS!!!! I have been waiting for this vid. :)
Dr Mate really grinds my gears.
My parents liked him until he blamed them for my condition. Lol.
I agree. See my video next week on Mate’s view of parenting and ADHD as being wrong as well. Thanks!
This is NOT EMOTIONAL HYPERSENSITIVITY.
Dr Barkley is talking about how the brain as an *organ* responds biochemically and electrically to external stimuli.
Not emotional sensitivity or our conscious thoughts, feelings, responses etc.
Gabor Mate claims that ADHD is brought on by trauma making the brain hypersensitive to external stimuli.
Think of a traumatised person being in a state of 'flight or flight', hypervigilance, or stress all the time. This is the 'hypersensitivity' being discussed. It is well-established that trauma can cause long-standing changes in brain activity. This can be directly measured and compared through scans of electrical activity and brain waves, and through the stress hormone cortisol.
Many studies over decades show ADHD brain is slower to respond and does not respond as strongly to external stimuli as the non-ADHD brain.
Therefore the ADHD brain not hypersensitive as Mate claims, and his ideas that ADHD is caused by trauma is not supported by the evidence.
The distinction between internal (emotions, anxiety) and external stimuli (sights and sounds) is important to understanding this video. Thanks.
I’m still confused because I have ADHD (or so my doctor tells me), and yet I’m very sensitive to loud sounds and bright lights. I’m also sensitive to my emotions (RSD, anxiety etc.). (Btw: growing up I had no trauma and good parents. And I did well in school. )
I have low motivation for dull tasks. So do a lot of ADHD-ers from what I understand. So I’m wondering if the hyposensitivity that Barkley mentions here has to do with more abstract stimuli like to do lists and deadlines?
Thank you so much for doing these sessions. Love them!
Mate seems to be confusing how personalities are formed instead of genetic ADHD & basing this through his own personality perceptions. Thank you for this logic. Probably the only time I can click on to listen about Mate without a passionate verbal adhd Tourette’s RANT 🤣♥️🤜🏻🤛🏻
I agree. ADHD is not personality, and it’s frustrating when pop science makes it as if it is.
I dont think that is what it is, you cant separate your personality from your genetics. ADHD has a long list of symptoms. We already know it plays it plays out differently based on personality, sex, gender in general, and when it comes to how we mask symptoms. Its one of the reasons women and minorities are under evaluated and diagnosed. People through sexism just say "you are just being a women" or "its your period". If you are black, they say "you have a victim mentality" etc. When the behavior and mindset doesnt match society. The truth is that we are soul, spirit and body.
I won’t even mention GM’s name as last time I had a rant about him in response to Dr B’s last post about him the TH-cam algorithms then kept recommending his videos to me, making me even madder!
@@binghobson7122 No words 😆👍🏻
I'm confused by this, i feel extremely emotional and what about RSD which I experience a lot. How do you think these things play into the link with depression and anxiety?
Dr.Barkley has several lectures/talks on youtube and at his website , as well as research papers, about emotional reactivity, and deficient emotional regulation being a primary symptom of ADHD.
@ right but if we have reduced activity in the areas mentioned in this video then how does that relate to the emotional reactivity? Can you briefly explain?
He is talking about the general sensitivity and response of the brain to external stimuli. His examples are all things like brain scans and salivary cortisol, because that is how you find out what the brain as an *organ* is doing. It isn't about emotional sensitivity, emotional processing, reactions or anything conscious.
Gabor Mate says the ADHD brain is hypersensitive to external stimuli due to trauma. Russ Barkley is refuting that by showing the ADHD brain is actually slower at responding to external stimuli, and the overall response within the ADHD brain is weaker.
I think from what I've heard him talk on the matter, Dr Mate might be confusing ADHD with PTSD.
Trauma reaction to adverse life event(s), rather than highly genetic and neurodevelopmental
Increased salivary cortisol - higher baseline sympathetic activation - hypersensitivity to stimuli enabling sympathetic cascades.
Also, isn't PTSD usually made worse clinically with stimulant treatment in that it lowers the 'trigger' threshold for an attack?
If there is a strong correlation between ADHD and this kind of brain activity, why aren’t these sorts of tests used in addition to DSM-5 when a diagnosis is being made? Incidentally, prior to my own diagnosis, I had for a long time thought of myself as a “HSP” - highly sensitive person, but the more I learn about ADHD, the more I understand that this isn’t quite accurate in terms of my personality. Thanks for highlighting these research findings!
Brain Tests are to expensive to be used as a diagnostic measure
he has a video on why, but I think the gist was that you can see brain differences only at scale, i.e. tests performed on hundreds of brains and averaged out. So while the whole of ADHD brains tend towards a range outside the norm, there are too many ADHD brains who still fall into the normal range (and vice versa) for us to be able to take a single person and test their brain waves and conclude whether they have ADHD with high enough confidence.
Indeed, fans of ADHD Science and you Dr. Russ Barkley. Thank you for all you do!
Thank you Dr Barkley, can you make a vídeo about adverse childhood experiences + adhd and also how adhd affects motherhood and the relationship between the child and the mother?
I am not hypersensitive, but when I am overwhelmed, my coping skills typically aren't something I am able to call on, and my frustration leads me to seem hypersensitive-but it is not being able to handle my own overwhelm...my mom and dad both showed signs of being ADHD. I also teach, and truly, I see more and more children with ADHD tend to have parents who, though maybe not diagnosed, show the signs of ADHD.
Thank you! Keep on battling ignorance and talk-knowledge (if i can put two different theories into one sentence it must mean they are the same😂). You are doing the world a favour, again😊🙏
Según entendí, tenemos una reacción mas lenta a los estímulos ambientales/sensoriales por ende los procesamos de manera mas lenta y esto causa un "taponamiento" de estimulos que es lo que da paso a la abrumación. Las personas Neurotípicas procesan, filtran y reaccionan más rápido a los estímulos, pero en momentos de crisis es esa rapidez la que no les permite "reaccionar" correctamente. Ahí es cuándo el Tdah se convierte en una ventaja. Los bajos niveles de cortisol hacen que en medio de una crisis "conservemos la calma" y pensemos con cabeza fría. Y esa es la razón por la que la inmediatez nos mueve a hacer las cosas. Necesitamos ese sentido de urgencia para que nustro cerebro funcione en modo "típico" o a velocidad normal... El detalle es que entoncesla dopamina se dispara y entramos en un éxtasis que no nos deja parar hasta que la dopamina se agote o el cuerpo nos detenga.
Entiendo que esa "lentitud" es la responsable de que tengamos tan mal sentido de propiocepción y problemas en el procesamiento auditivo.
Al menos es mi opinión como persona con TDAH.
originally people struggling with ADHD normally know nothing about this disorder
before they attract attention and thus become candidates for a diagnosis.
in the meantime and in ignorance of their condition, they are confronted on a double front 1: with the symptoms of the condition and 2: with the attitude of those around them who are also in total ignorance of the disorder.
this situation is supposed to last as long as the absence of diagnosis lasts.
the individual confronted with this disorder of which he knows nothing will ask himself questions about the behavior of those around him, equally ignorant, who in turn will convince themselves that there is intention, obstinacy, lack of self-regulation for one reason or another and relationships based on these assumptions and beliefs will be strained and full of misunderstandings.
Thank you for your positive energy and motivation
A thought becoming an excepted theory is the common scientific method most accepted by society. Disastrous!
Thanks for offering some critical information for those of us that find it most valuable.
I’ve been seen mostly as insensitive for not suffering bad math.
Best to all!
Unfortunately, by virtue of ADHD being correlated with a higher risk of substance abuse, some adhd-kids may grow up with violent/abusive adhd-parents who are also alcoholics. Would you then say that ADHD would be protective for those children, hyposensitizing them to their childhood trauma?
I wouldn’t think so, personally but I’m not a neuropsychologist.
no cuz we just end up thinking about a magnitude of more ways that our lives could be better and then all the bad thoughts and evil thoughts come in, and then we element over it over and over, and its even fun sometimes, so if anything, we are way more affected by that
Thanks for the video and a comment for the algorithm 😊
Just based on personal experience, but I think there's a difference between physical sensitivity and emotional sensitivity. I do find myself ignoring/not responding to pain, uncomfortable sitting positions etc and holding in pee or ignoring hunger, but emotionally I am so easily stressed and sensitive to perceived rejection.
It's so interesting to hear this experience from someone else, because having 100% the same thing, every person I've spoken to about it, including some with adhd and one doctor, has said that they don't relate to that at all (and in the case of the doctor (a GP) that it's not an adhd trait)
E.g. if most of my body is comfortable except for my arm or neck or something, I'll feel too lazy to adjust my position and will keep lying or sitting that way until it's BEYOND sore, despite the fact that i want it to be comfortable or stop hurting (duh), and same for bathroom, food, etc. I'd lie there despite really needing to go, but won't because it requires me to get up, and an hour later my bladder is at absolute bursting point but I'm still lying there fighting with myself to just get off the bloody phone or couch or pc or whatever. Story of my life.
And same on the flip side - extremely easily stressed out, etc.
The closest I've ever seen to someone else having something similar, is one of ADHD Love's shorts, where Rich asks for... something (a glass of water or something) and Rox in her brain starts weighing up which is less effort between grabbing one for him vs just handing hers over because she REALLY can't deal with any more of that effort.
yes, and see my video tomorrow on this very issue. thanks!
Very interesting and reassuring,thank you🎉
Oh hey, Sachs is where I got diagnosed. Neat.
When I hear hyper sensitive (as a layman) I first understood it to be hyper responsive towards emotional stimuli, not all stimuli which is a much more consistent defintion. What people call being a 'snowflake', a term I very much don't like. The lack of emotional self control due to atypical issues with the prefrontal cortex. The muted response to stiumuli in a broad sense, not emotional stimuli, is also very interesting and thank you for the video.
Nailed it! see my video tomorrow on this.
Timely review, i just got an audiobook from Dr Mate. Thank you for this breakdown, it's interesting. I still appreciate the approach Dr Mate brings about, it could be applied to other "alignments" to do with Trauma. Who knows.
There seems to be a lot of confusion about what hyposensitivity means in context of brain science versus what it means in the lived experience of ADHDers. I would love to see a video that explains that - how can so many of us feel extremely sensitive to the point of struggling to function but also have "under sensitive" brains? The word sensitive is being used in different ways? Or our hyposensitive frontal lobes aren't filtering out things the way they do for NTs so we feel hypersensitive or overwhelmed?
Thank you for this review!!
a pleasure! thanks for watching
Idk, I guess I don't have ADHD then. I am very sensitive and have a lot of anxiety, overthinking, rumination, etc. I also feel overstimulated from my environment more often than not.
I'm part of that club. People talking to me not getting to the point makes me start poking my tongue at them through frustration. I feel like jumping out of a moving car. It's frustrating
Still possible to have adhd and also feel very sensitive. ❤
I don't think Dr. Barkley's discussion here is related to overthinking, ruminations or anxious feelings. I think he briefly mentioned the difference between Mate's theories about hypersensitivity and ADHD vs the emotional dysregulation (and assoc behaviors, impulses and uncontrolled thoughts ) that is part of ADHD - that mention is close to the beginning of the video.
Dr. Barkley has several videos and articles about the prevalence of overthinking and ruminating experienced by people with ADHD. He also has talks that explore the overlap between ADHD and Anxiety symptoms, as well as the co-occurance of ADHD and dx of Anxiety. - check out Dr Barkley's recorded lectures and talks on youtube ,and at his website, from the early 90s (emotional regulation and Executive Function topics) to fairly recent videos.
I think you'll find your ADHD symptoms are validated by science, and Dr. Barkley .
With the higher corresponding prevalence of adhd in professional sports (compared to the general population ratio) I postulate hyper focus is a contributing factor.
As a diagnosed adhd lifer- and with a strong familial phenotype observed- I can posit that I personally am highly sensitive, but it varies in my family tremendously- there are significant overlapping comorbidities such as addiction as a coping mechanism, and hyper vigilance due to learned defensive mechanism to avoid the pain from rejection.
Thank you for backing up your points with research and physiological evidence. I believe Gabor is speaking anecdotally and intuitively but is ultimately irresponsible with his lack of thoroughness on this subject.
Gabor may be correct in an epigenetic, psycho-analytic, epidemiological collective consciousness perspective- but that is more abstract and poetic than it is prescriptive.
We can societally create mechanisms that perpetuate executive disfunction, and increased mindfulness of parents is always beneficial, nevertheless research shows the efficacy of stimulant medication is still the best available tool and must be a part of the management.
If you read this far reply with an emoji 😊 also did you exercise today? This is one other necessary thing to incorporate into your regimen for adhd management.
Hi Dr Russ. Could you please give your opinion on the views of Dr Chris Palmer on the Mel Robbins podcast from 11 months ago? It's confused the hell out of me and a lot of people. I think what he's saying is ADHD isn't a permanent condition, but maybe I've misunderstood. Thanks as always.
Happy new year Russell!!
Same to you!
I got diagnosed with ADHD at a young age. They gave me SSRI antidepresants which worked wonders on my symptoms (mostly anxiety). Later in life i tried all Adhd meds available but they made me feel even more anxious. Does this mean I don’t have ADHD?
I sadly am confused by this video, and I want to understand better. I thought hypersensitivity was associated with adhd, but I think Dr Barkley is using nuance that I'm not picking up well. I must be looking at this in an oversimplified way. Please help clarify ❤
It's not a problem with the video! I'm just not understanding it well. Love your videos!
Edit: Is the point you're making that adhd is not correlated with hypersensitivity though many adhders are hypersensitive? As in, the hypersensitivity is not due to adhd but something else?
Dr Barkley is talking about how the brain as an *organ* responds to external stimuli.
Not about emotions or physical senses or our conscious or subconscious thoughts and feelings.
The ADHD brain is slower to respond and does not respond as strongly to external stimuli as the non-ADHD brain. That is why he is talking about studies looking at brain waves and electrical activity, and salivary cortisol, rather than behaviour.
correct! see my video tomorrow on emotion and ADHD
I appreciate you Dr. Barkley.
Thanks for listening
i hsaave adhd and i lack stress so much that its kind of a problem as I put everything off till its too late lol, . our brains are just everywhere all at once and honestly, id argue that people with adhd would make this world a better place if things were run with them in mind. there's soo many things that I'm good at that no one really values and wont pay for, and yet the things that are payed for are impossible for me to do without going insane
I love these videos. The part that got me was the last support. My son, diagnosed with ADHD, definitely does NOT exhibit a decreased stress response. It’s the opposite. Wondering what you think this suggests? He seems to fit the other descriptions…. Thank you!
He said in another comment that he'll have a video coming out on Wednesday that may clarify some of this
Interesting. I have multiple diagnoses, including ADHD-C, and I am increasingly aware of the impact of comoribities on the way a given diagnosis might present. In my case, I am prone to elevated levels of stress hormones, presumably passed on via prenatal influences.i have in recent years realized how high levels of anxiety moderate my inattentiveness: if I am fearful and hypervigilant, I can (as an example) not lock my keys in my car. But absent the anxiety, I am very inattentive. I have described myself as oblivious and have failed to react to certain critical stimuli many times throughout my life. Toggling between these states feels like an intermittent connection in my brain, or a voltage regulation problem.
I’ve described myself as a bit of a mutt, probably owing to the fact that both of my parents had a variety of undiagnosed traits. I’m learning that this is not uncommon. These sorts of comorbid smorgasbords likely create serious confounds for responsible diagnosticians. And it’s why I am deeply distrustful of those who, like Mate, try to channel their particular specialty into a deus ex machina of sorts, presenting it almost as a key to everything. Life and neurology are more complicated than that.
This is a great discussion. What is the operational definition of sensitive? Between the two opinions? Subjective self report of individuals who feel discomfort at lower environmental sensory thresholds or overall brain activity? Lack of a robust prefrontal cortex engagement >theta wave activity doesn’t necessarily imply mutual exclusivity? Connection of emotional regulation just isn’t as strong and therefore collective neural activity in the prefrontal cortex could be argued to be lower? Hyperesthesia or allodynia is measurable through transcutaneous electrical activity as an expression of lower sensory thresholds. Has this been studied yet Dr Barkley? I value your work Dr B and sincerely appreciate the discussion
I absolutely hate light touch, it makes my skin crawl.
I am also very light sensitive. Too bright is bad, including being in a sunny place too long (it’s not only the heat, I experimented with it on a cold day). Conversely I have SAD (medicated). I need light but I can’t have it too bright.
I might be AuDHD, am considering testing for it.
Thanks Doc. How about Midbrain activity ?
Psychiatrist told me stimulants help us to manage the midbrain which might turn the attention to something irrelevant like the bird landing on a branch outside while I'm trying to do my timesheet.
I frequently experience an awareness of some movement in my peripheral vision - like a hyper vigilance - then when I focus there's nothing there. It's not an hallucination just a "is that a something?" from the corner of my eye , particularly when stimulants are wearing off.
This is just a layperson's understanding (I have no training in neurology) however I can quite relate to an experience ofADHD symptoms feeling like chronic underarousal. Indeed I have had this commented on during an EEG, and I have the associated issue with low cortisol which is that I suffer with extremely strong sleep inertia causing great difficulty in waking up - I can sleep through multiple loud alarms - I understand this is not unheard of within ADHD, although it's not a universal symptom. I have not had my cortisol tested but I believe this is likely to be the cause.
I suppose what it feels like to me is that if the nervous system is a dial, which I realise it is not, but as a metaphor for a moment. If it were a dial which can be turned (via biological or external stimulation) from low-arousal (sleepy, sluggish, relaxed) up through moderate (alert, focused) through to high (stressed/anxious, adrenaline-fuelled, ready to act) it feels as though the dial is too loose, swinging much too easily to an extreme and finding it difficult to remain in the moderate area which is an important one for many activities of daily life such as studying, working, and interacting with others.
Yes, it takes far too much to stir us from that unfocused, daydreamy state but a lot of ADHD people when they are stirred - it REALLY happens. Many children with ADHD express aggressive or explosive behaviour, for example - temper tantrums persisting to a later age than in typically developing kids. Emotional dysregulation very much looks like a high arousal state to me, and many parenting books refer to tantrums or meltdowns as being a high arousal state where the prefrontal cortex is less accessible. And there is the stereotype about the fact ADHD people often do well in situations of great stress such as emergencies and so on - surely a prime example of when a high arousal state is in fact advantageous.
Is there an explanation for this in the context of the underarousal theory? I would be really interested to learn more about this. Or am I pulling together unrelated things due to a misunderstanding here? This would be a really interesting follow up topic if you have the time and interest.
Hello Sir,
Is there any way to ask you questions and get them answered from you.
Thnx
one or two brief questions to my email address are fine but they cannot be requests for personal advice or help. just for information. thanks!
Thank you very much! So true!
I wanted to ask what do you think about doc Chris Palmer work about chetogenic diet. We feel better when we change our diet, pluss some suplements.
EEG = cortical, emotion = subcortical, amygdala activation inhibits cortical activity
Is ADHD linked with bad interoception ?
He has a video on that as well, or better many
By hypersensitivity refers to everything ie physiologically, physically, environmentally, emotionally, mentally, spiritually etc.
is hypersensitivity the same as HSP?
I‘m asking myself some questions now. For the last 3 weeks I’m listening to a binaural Delta wave track (the subharmonic world by The Power of You) during the night and I have to say I never slept so soundly. So is the ADHD brain more on the beta wave side during nights? Also I’m wondering if binaural alpha and beta waves during the day would help me with executive dysfunction?
Thank you Dr. Barkley. Gabor Mate’s theorizing is off the rails quite often.
Very welcome and correct.
Does this hold true for the people with migraine as comorbidity? According to what I have learned about migraines, a brain / neurons that reacts to intensely on stimuli is one of the main underlying mechanisms for migraines. Especially as there is a positive correlation between both diagnoses.
I don’t think that is quite the problem. migraines are often problems with the brain vascular system not with the underlying brain matter though vascular spasms do affect blood flow to brain regions and thus affect their functioning indirectly.
Good morning doctor😊. What is the video that talks about the relationship between parents and children with ADHD?
see my video next week on this topic.
So what I'd like to understand is why so many of us report overstimulation?
see the video tomorrow on this issue that hopefully provides some clarification. cheers!
Dit lijkt op een gevecht, niet op een zoektocht. De wetenschap, en de manier van meten over het menselijk lichaam is nog heel beperkt, je kunt dit niet verkopen als de waarheid. Zelf denk ik dat de kwaliteit van interactie tussen de moeder (primaire verzorger) en de baby en peuter van heel groot belang is voor de hersenontwikkeling van het kind. En natuurlijk speelt aanleg ook een rol.
I've had ADHD my entire life. I haven't had any "trauma ". Im a mechanical engineer.
My brother has had ADHD. Hes an industrial electrician
My dad had minor ADHD. He was an electrical engineer. He didn't have any trauma.
My paternal grandfather had mild ADHD and he didn't have any trauma as a kid. Although he did suffer a little bit of trauma in World War II in Papua New Guinea. Malaria starvation, and people shooting at you will do that.
That seems to be a pretty clear pattern for inheritance. And not to brag, but to make a point, we are all have IQs higher than average. My paternal grandmother was mind-boggling smart. With a photographic memory. She didn't have ADHD though.
Seems pretty clear that ADHD and general intelligence are pretty genetic. I'll admit we got lucky because when you have a high IQ, you can work around the ADHD, sort of.
The question. Why people, especially women with ADHD tend to have anxiety disorders and they are highly sensitive?
To my knowledge and also personal experience, women with ADHD get very easily overstimulated by internal and external stimuli with sensory processing sensitivity… This is very confusing information and I need to read more about these studies that were presented. I wonder if they were all done on male subjects only?
Could it be that overstimulation is caused by an inability to screen out unnecessary stimuli over a period of time? And that the feeling of hypersensitivity is actually an unregulated response to an unexpected stimulus? I have ADHD and I lose it if someone touches me unexpectedly when I’m busy, especially if the touch (from my husband, for example) is out of sync with the task at hand (something I despise, like dishes)?
It might also be related to cultural expectations and mental load, I’ve found that as a woman with adhd if I let myself have expectations from myself that are more in line with what we culturally expect from men then I am a lot happier (I don’t need to cook elaborate or fancy, I don’t need a spotless house/room, I don’t have to constantly mask and act like I care about inane things when I don’t, stuff like that)
Anxiety with adhd can come a lot from unfulfilled or unmet self-expectations. I think then anxiety contributes to high sensitivity, which would link it more to a trauma response than to being an actual factor of adhd.
That’s just my theory anyway! It absolutely could be something else
I wonder how complex PTSD affects sensitivity, maybe it causes hyper vigilance and hyper awareness rather than hypersensitivity? Along with inappropriate responses to stimuli based on past trauma?
@@nony_mation well said! 🙌
I like Dr. Barkley for his knowledge and scientific approach as well as his friendly personality, but I'm always a little bit taken aback by the animosity between him and Gabor Maté. It seems more personal than a professional exchange of opposing opinions should
Meanwhile, SmallHD is charging $500 for FX6 control and no FX3 control.
Wouldn’t it be valuable to compare brain scans of individuals with ADHD with and without medication? It would seem helpful in determining an individual’s ideal dosage.
ADHD is so hard to define and understand. How does the hyposensitivity of ADHD-ers presented here align with the commonly cited ADHD symptoms of rejection sensitivity (RSD) and sensory hypersensitivity (tags on clothing is often an example, but also loud noises, visually busy environments, etc.) and the feelings of overwhelm? I don’t doubt Barkley’s research here…just have so many questions.
Back in 1960-70s I suspect all the test subjects were of the hyperactive type. Definitions of ADHD (from real scientists and internet pundits alike) more recently have expanded to include inattentive types and also some overlap /co-morbidity with ASD, OCD, anxiety and depression. So the term ADHD has become very hard for me to pin down.
My doctor tells me I have ADHD- and I do- but I’m still confused about what that means.
see my video tomorrow on why greater emotionality is not hypersensitivity in ADHD. thanks!
Hypersensitivity sounds more like anxiety
Agreed. They are often hyper vigilant to potential threats and punitive outcomes but that is not ADHD.
Thank you so much, Dr Barkley. for continuing to disseminate science! :)
This is strange. I myself have a lot of ADHD symptoms, have Misophonia, light and sound-sensitive, AND slow in some things. Sometimes my sensitivity is increased or decreased, idk why.
En effet, si j ai bien compris, il y aurait hyposensibilite sensorielle au niveau environnement et hypersensibilité aux niveau des pensées reseau par défaut ?
Concernant le cortisol, il me semble que des enfants de personnes ayant connu un trauma grave type les camps de concentration ou bien les enfants de personnes ayant vecus les attentats de 2001 presente des taux de cortisol plus bas que la normal.
A l heure actuelle, il me semble difficile de faire l impasse sur l epigenethique meme si en l etat actuelle des connaissances cette derniere ne se transmets pas via les gametes. Il semble que des etudes parlent des micro arn comme mecanisme de transmission mais je ne duis pas assez calee sur le sujet.
Si on parle de l hypersensibilité émotionnelle, il me semble qu il soit possible d avoir une vulnerabilite au stress et donc a l anxiete et a la depression en plus du tdah. Genetique oui mais pas sans l epigenetique et l environnement
Importante aprender a administrar uma vida com o transtorno TDAH!
PARABÉNS! VOCÊ É EXCELENTE!
❤️🙏🏼🏆
Is the hypo sensitivity why some individuals are sensory seekers?
perhaps. some evidence suggests the hyperactivity can be a form of self stimulation in this way.
Dr. Barkley - Is the "warrior gene" linked to ADHD?
not that I know of but a migratory gene may be.
We are* hypersensitive. I can assure you of this. That's not to say everyone who is hypersensitive has ADHD. But I assure you we are HYPERsensitive to everything.
I wonder about the adhd and autism overlap or co occurrence with both. Is the autistic brain more on the "hypersensitive" side?
The term hypersensitive is used so often and I guess misunderstood by many.
ASD has both hyper- AND hypo-sensitive types. It's complicated...
Would you take part at the podcast Diary of a CEO if invited?
Yes, and also on Joe Rogan where Mate’ also appeared 1-2 years ago. I wrote to Rogan’s staff but to reply. Thanks!
I thought People with ADHD get easily frustrated
Easily frustrated, but may be unreasonably calm in situations where outhers would freak out. It doesn't mean that if you are calm in a crisis you have adhd. It means that people with adhd can be frustrated over things other people aren't easily frustrated over, but be remarkably balanced and clear facing a crisis or emergency. I mean... emergency is our way of life, no? :D
I always felt that was one of my strengths when I was in the military. Where others would freeze up and just stare in an emergency situation. That’s when I went into a mode where everything became structured in my mind. My mind quickly resolved the issue and I would dole out tasks to others. While also being calm as can be as if nothing scary was happening. In flight emergencies, on the ground losing control of gas turbine engines. No matter how dangerous the situation I was always cool as can be. But, leave me to pay my bills on time and I fell apart. Though, through experience and desire to make my credit better. I have learned to save and pay bills ahead of time.
Haha, yes, but constantly frustrated
I didn’t realize this for most of my life, but a major reason I get frustrated is difficulty focusing on tasks. It feels a bit like trying to thread a needle with heavy gloves on.
Beyond that - emotional dysregulation is a long recognized aspect of ADHD, though one that the DSM still hasn’t included. I’ve heard Dr. Barkley and other experts address that in webinars. The causes I’m not clear on, but since impulse control is impacted by weak executive functioning, I suspect emotional control may be also.
As far as cool in crisis, I believe adrenaline can improve focus much as stimulants do. But it’s also worth noting that, in addition to adrenaline, the adrenal glands secrete stress hormones, and if adrenaline stays up for a while, those hormones tend to rise - and unlike adrenaline, they come down slowly. This can lead to argumentative behavior until they lower.
I have a predisposition to high stress hormones that probably came from prenatal exposure to my mother’s high levels, and as near as I can tell, relying heavily on adrenaline to focus in a high pressure job is what massively dysregulated me. But even those with low to average standard levels of stress hormones might conceivably see effects at times. (This last is speculation on my part.)
yes, but see my video tomorrow on why this is so yet not evidence of hypersensitivity.
At the top of this comment I am going to caveat with my own journey away from Mate's view on ADHD. It's wrong, or at a minimum accounts for a minor fraction of diagnoses that are not genetically validated (which is another topic for discussion).
And now the but.
Is this not a matter of definition? Some of your examples speak to processing speed rather than sensitivity? Here's why I'm struggling with your point here - the model he uses is a bog standard biopsychosocial model (or the one I learnt via DBT) where emotional sensitivity in an invalidating environments leads to a pervasive emotional dysregulation. And circular logic applies because ED is a core symptom of ADHD? (In a no blame model the invalidating environment "just is" but obviously includes trauma events/abuse as possible factors, parental ignorance is probably the bigger challenge though).
When I talk about heightened sensitivity I'm also thinking Elaine Aron and the Highly Sensitive Person - which is not without its challenges given that the ASD community have suggested that HSP = ASD, but those of us with ADHD and are HSP without an ASD dx speak quietly to avoid offending 🙂
We could also throw in RSD and Justice Sensitivity - where the studies support the idea that a fair proportion of ADHD is inherently emotionally sensitive (and for the record I find RSD and JS useful only as situation labels whereas they are largely "manifestations" of emotion dysregulation).
It's the RSD in particular though that makes me wonder if we are talking about different ideas of sensitivity - and to be generous to Mate I'd argue that he is leaning on emotional sensitivity/dysregulation rather than stimulus response - but that also confuses me given that ED is a stimulus/response shortcut rather than stimulus/moderate/response that is the "normal" way of processing emotion? We go from trigger to outrage whereas an NT will go from trigger to moderate to response?
Hopefully this makes sense but this talk probably is raising more questions than answers for me.
PS I really wish people would stop taking advice on any disorder from Rogan, CEO and Huberman - their role is simply to facilitate the most outspoken or outrageous guests that speak to the current trends...
yes, it is partly definitional because Mate is not precise in his operationalizing of terms. not surprising given he is not a scientist. but see my video tomorrow that can help to clear up this confusion, I hope. thanks !
A quick perusal of google scholar shows plenty of research on hypersensitive ADHD and in particular, in females.
Maybe, but excess emotion is not hypersensitivity as I explain tomorrow. The issue in ADHD is not on the sensory side of the brain but on its motor inhibitory side so hyper reactivity might be a better though also inadequate term for this but it’s not a sensitivity issue technically. thanks !
I am.
So might autism explain adhd folks with sensory issues (audhd)?
it cannot be binary so to speak. ADHD plus sensory issues does not equal ADHD+ASD in general. Does it occur together - obviously
No. Very basically, he is saying that when a person with ADHD is at home, they have a lesser stress response, like they're even more likely to live in clutter, phone scrolling, be unmotivated etc, because they're hyposensitive(hypo = less) to the consequences of it.
Mate on the other hand was suggesting the opposite, that people with ADHD are just flat out more sensitive to everything which would mean including stress at home. This evidence shows that his theory is wrong.
@@wes1581ohhhh. Thanks for clarifying. I thought he meant we're less emotionally reactive, which really confused me, because dysregulated emotions is a huge feature of ADHD for a lot of us.
Boss I respect you and your work but using AI is not the vibe, it's untrustworthy and tarnishes your reputation for reading it out like it's accurate.
True in many topics but in this case it does accurately summarize the existing research and reviews of those topics in the scientific literature. Rather than cite multiple reviews underscoring my arguments, I relied on AI summaries but your point is well taken.
Does lower reactivity imply lower IQ?
This channel has video about IQ and ADHD. No statistically significant difference was faund when it comes to IQ in people with ADHD compared to neurotypicals.
please stop using AI i have great respect for you but i don't think its helpful to normalize using AI, i have a little less respect for you when you add it into your videos.
AI is a useful tool why not using it?
@@begumvural8114 if you dont know at this point idk what to tell you
@begumvural8114 is it useful when it's wrong so often. Also think about this drinking alcohol is fun why have an age limit or why not drink 6 drinks every day? If you are still not understanding what I'm trying to say, look into the energy and water usage of such LLMs, or look into copyright law and how that applies.
Yes, in some cases or topics, but in this case the AI summation maps very well onto the conclusions of reviews of the literature in these topics and rather than inundate viewers with reviews, the AI summary made the same point. even then, I did illustrate the summary with the graphic findings of actual research. thanks!
@@russellbarkleyphd2023 I'm not saying that it doesn't, the point I'm attempting to make is that as a respected member of the medical community when you use it as part of your presentation you are sending a message that using it in a medical context is ok. To me that's a red flag.
The underactivity images and studies seem to be made on children, likely male. Adult female brains would likely be different just due to sheer lived experience and hormone differences. My stress response is anything but hypo which makes me strongly disagree with your premise here.
Haha I had to laugh at how you pronounced the name GAY-bore. Not laughing at you, instead laughing at the pun it makes.
Quoting AI is not scientific. Sorry.
Did I understand it well: people with ADHD have decreaaed brain activity because of the deficit in noradrenergic and dophaminergic systems which also decreases their overall sensitivity and response time to various stimuli. There might me natural receptor upregulation or other compensatory mechanism that may increase their sensitivity to cathecolamines though, which may sxplain the ability to hyperfocus in highly rewarding or stressful situations.
I understand Dr Mate's theory a little differently. His book introduced me to the concept of inter-generational trauma. Other research has indicated genetic markers for trauma being passed down. As such, it seems to me that he is in line with a genetic vector of ADHD. Perhaps he is contradicting himself recently.
Does his book suggest epigenetics rather than genetics?
I googled "gabor mate adhd genetic". Second result (I am logged in):
In my view, ADD is not an inherited condition, contrary to the commonly held opinion, but originates in early childhood stresses during the first years of ...
When I clicked I see:
Rather than an inherited disease, Attention Deficit Disorder is a reversible impairment and a developmental delay, with origins in infancy.
If I understand epigenetics right, it is also inherited at basically biological level, just not at DNA level. It is not reversible in childhood nor adulthood...
@grzegorzp.1827 Mate does seem to be a little confused.
@@grzegorzp.1827 his book does not actually address the topic of genetics. He speaks of the trauma of his parents during the Holocaust and the effect that it had upon him. He seems to attribute the problem to parenting style. Perhaps he has missed the point. But the science is young.
@@dkdisme I believe that parenting style or abuse can aggravate ADHD, but it is not root cause