Curious to hear what others think, as this definitely aligns with my own experiences.
Full text of the original study is behind a paywall. If anyone can provide a link to the full study, it would be greatly appreciated.
Anyone who knows how good we function in a crisis is able to extrapolate from there that this would be a thing.
As others have said it’s the burnout and the subsequent time it takes to recover that makes this basically unsustainable. Even when finding a balance there will still be burnout.
It’s not really surprising when one of the core things that motivies people with executive disfunction is urgency
When I’m in the zone (hyperfocusing), I can stay awake for 20+ hours doing something. But just because I’m not experiencing symptoms doesn’t mean I’m totally fine, lol. It’s incredibly stressful to keep up with the demands I make of myself even when I’m able to do it.
100% this. Coming out of an extended hyper focus is not only exhausting, it’s untenable. The burnout feels awful.
Disregarding your physical needs in pursuit of dopamine for 20+ hours is a symptom.
surprising
As a therapist with ADHD and lots of clients with ADHD, this is not a surprise to me at all, and I can’t imagine it’s a surprise to anyone else in the field (that would be surprising)
Any suggestions on ways someone might use this theory to better manage their symptoms? How can I make myself feel more busy when life isn’t keeping me busy enough?
I’ve tried asking my manager for more work, but they’ve instead shifted some of my work to other people. I’ve been considering looking for a second job, but I’m afraid that will swing things too far to the other side.
Oh lots of us try utilizing it, you’re gonna love the burnout
Get an EMT license and moonlight on the ambulance… it’s kind of amazing
It makes sense on the surface. ADHD is a deficiency of self -regulation. External pressures remove the “self” part of the equation. The scary part is the recurrence/remission cycle that makes it seem, to you and to everyone else, like you finally have your shit together.
You fucking people are really making me feel like I have this.
Although most ADHD symptoms are things that neurotypical folks experience sometimes, if it seems like a lot of these are familiar, or describe a lot of your experience, you might consider asking your doctor about it.
The more we understand about ADHD, the more we realize how many undiagnosed people have been struggling with it their entire lives without support.
I was just thinking that when I read:
“This might mean that people with ADHD perform their best in more demanding environments (perhaps environments that have stronger immediate consequences, like needing to put food on the table for a family or pay rent monthly). It also might mean that people with ADHD take more on their plate when their symptoms are relatively at bay.”
You mean the condition associated with dopamine regulation is affected by periods with a high density of short term goals with well defined, tangible outcomes?
Also, is it possible that environmental factors like high-pressure, work or death situations foster ADHD in adults? Like, high-pressure education, testing, and job markets increase the incidence of pathological emotional disregulation.
I’m moving and had a hard date of about 2 weeks to have the house ready for real estate pictures/showings etc. I was so worried I’d drown in the list of things to do, but just poured every ounce of myself into getting it ready. I didn’t have time to panic or freak out, just head first. When I was done, I was so fried I broke down and just cried.
I have had a few days to recover and I found myself cleaning, doing dishes immediately after cooking, picking up after myself, you know, normal things for a lot of people. I don’t know how long it will last, but for now, my symptoms are better than they have been for a long time. I hate deadline stress, but it forces me to get shit done.
I hope you’re doing alright now. I know moving can be extremely stressful, and hopefully your recovery time is enjoyable.
I remember once in college that I had a big paper to write, and I decided that I was going to get started on it “early” so that I could finish it early and avoid the deadline stress. I legitimately started it early, but somehow still managed to finish it at the very last minute. I spent my entire weekend in the library, and I don’t think the final product was significantly better than if I had procrastinated on starting. I just spent a lot more time on the research part of it, and didn’t really start putting anything together until the deadline stress kicked in.
Since that experience, I find it even more difficult to convince myself to start things early, since I’m afraid it will just mean spending more time on stressful tasks.
For me, it tracks, but the caveat is a high increase in burnout accumulation. No self regulation needed? No problem. Except when you can’t self regulate healthy work amounts / dealing with demands.
This 100%
There is a limit to how much I can excel under high pressure environments until everything falls apart and I spiral into what seems like incompetence.
It’s actually that fall that caused me to finally get diagnosed. It took a couple years, a pandemic, and multiple people at my job retiring in short order, but I finally couldn’t balance all the spinning plates any more.
So much this
70+ hour 5-7 day work weeks in a super high demanding job where people are basically hollering things for me to do that needed done in 2-5 minutes no-stop? I did that shit for 2 years. But man would I crash and burn out when I’d crash and burn.
Panic attacks, drinking like a fish, smoking pot like I was afraid of a non-smoke filled breath.
0/10 would not recommend.
Yeah, I think there’s definitely an ideal balance, and I don’t think consistent 70+ hour weeks is the right balance for anyone. If my work schedule is busy, but near 40 hours/week, burnout is probably not a major worry. Occasional weeks that demand more than 40 hours are manageable as long as they’re balanced out by easy weeks or vacation time.
I’ve been really struggling with my current job because my actual workload is closer to 15-20 hours/week most weeks. I end up having a ton of trouble getting started, and am always late on things. I’ve tried on multiple occasions to tell my manager that I actually need more work, but they instead keep suggesting that I learn to delegate things more.
Makes total sense to me. On a busy day, I get everything done with time to spare, on a slow day, I somehow don’t have time to do anything.
Same here! I’ve repeatedly tried to explain this to my manager, and their response is that I should learn to delegate more. I feel so lucky to have a job that demands so little of me, but it sucks because I end up underperforming and unhappy. Since it’s clear at this point that my manager won’t give me more work, I guess I need to find other ways to make myself feel busy.
Greater life demands for a limited time frame, sure.
Long term life demands become overwhelming when they are comstant and for long periods of time.
Yeah, my experience is that if I have too much free time, I somehow don’t get anything done. I’m much more productive and happy if I have a busy, but manageable to do list. Short periods of “too much” to do are also okay, especially when they have a clear end in sight, but they must be balanced out by a break of some sort.
Definitely not the case for me. I just stress out until I pop.
Yeah I’m great when I can hyperfocus. The problem is that it burns me the fuck out.
I just do a lot of little things per day, to accumulate at the end of week, to have a sense of completion. It’s just a loop of maintenance, until I crash and need to recover. Somewhere i need to fit in social time, to create balance to deal with the real world.
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