Thread by @Joseph_wolfstar, #neurodiversesquad #ADHD #adhdautism you know that feeling after you've been hyper focusing [...]

#neurodiversesquad #ADHD #adhdautism you know that feeling after you've been hyper focusing on something where you feel dazed/irritable/disconnected, sometimes for hours afterwards?

I asked a bit ago if anyone wanted to hear my thoughts on why that happens and how to recover

From it and i got some positive responses, so here's that thread

Disclaimer: I've only discovered i could do anything in response to this a week or so ago so I'm still in the v early stages of learning these skills and don't have all the answers or tools.

Part 1: my theory of why this happens

Ok so for context here's a visual representation of ADHD working memory and why it's so hard. This'll introduce some of the concepts and skills at play

JOSEPH LINK VIDEO BEFORE TWEETING

Let's break down some of the ways ADHD affects us:

1. We don't automatically filter outside stimuli based on importance/urgency. In the video, the ADHD kid is in a HYPO focus state, meaning all the distractions get in and mess with their focus. We know...

HYPER focus has the opposite effect. Like if our working memory is a box, hyper focus crates a locked steal wall around the box, which means ALL OTHER STIMULI IS IGNORED

2. What's happening in our brains when we hyper focus is our dopamine deprived brains have found...

ONE THING that's generating a consistent well of dopamine. So we bore into that well and have motivation/attention/drive ONLY for that one thing

3) we're interest driven bc we need dopamine to regulate our ability to expend executive function (including action and inhibition),

Sustain focus, and regulate our moods.

4) filtering distractions, initiating a task, inhibiting an impulse are all executive functions. As such they're p much dictated by where our dopamine supply is coming from. Hence why we can do these easily when they're connected to the

Thing that has us excited and engaged, but find it near impossible otherwise

Ok I'm frankly not a fan of how i broke that down but I'm gonna call that good enough and just introduce my central theory cause otherwise I'll never get this thread published:

When we stop hyper focusing on a thing, our brain doesn't immediately register that we've stopped getting dopamine from that subject of focus. So even after we've finished using our working memory for that subject, our brain is STILL FILTERING OUT EVERYTHING ELSE

I think that state of disconnection from/disinterest in everything around us is the same way we respond (or fail to respond) to distractions when we're hyper focusing. The only difference is we don't have any source of active focus

You need your working memory to do even the most basic shit. When you can't access it everything feels foggy and impossible

On top of that, you need dopamine to regulate your mood. But since the dopamine from the hyper focus dried up and you can't get new things into your

Working memory, you get irritable/sad/cranky cause you're in a bad mood

And getting out of this state (or even recognizing at the time that you're in it) requires both executive function to initiate a response, plus working memory/focus to evaluate what's happening and

Make a plan of what to do, which... well yeah if you could do all that you wouldn't be in this state now would you

Result: you feel dazed, cranky, and lethargic, and any action that would help you out of that state is 10,000x harder to do bc of your current brain state

Part 2: what do you do about this?

Response A: make it easy/build awareness

Our first hurdle in tackling this problem is recognizing it in the moment. When I'm in this daze state i have a hard time becoming aware of my moods let alone figuring out why i feel a certain way

Which makes sense, as that requires a lot of working memory to gather info about my feelings and then manipulate that info into a theory of what i feel and why

It's not wise to require a dazed little brain that's bad at those skills in the moment to do all that

Diagnostic work. Even if you manage to do it, you're using mental resources you'll need to coordinate a response to this feeling

What i find works better is to do this work for myself in advance. I do this by identifying times when i tend to leave hyper focus states and

Assuming that I'll be in this post hyper focus daze, and prepping responses

Kind of like doing meal prep in advance. Past you does all the work so tired and hungry you can just grab something. Do the same for your brain

How does this work? For me i find its enough to just...

Have this awareness in my head then plan "after i hyper focus on x I'll plan afterwards to (response to daze state)"

If you have trouble remembering that, consider leaving reminders to yourself. Leave those reminders somewhere they'll be visible (for instance if you don't

Take many bathroom breaks while you hyper focus, how about a reminder note in your bathroom so you'll see it when you finally stop hyper focusing and realize how badly you need to pee?)

Response B: clear your cache

Trying to throw your brain right from hyper focus to another activity doesn't work well cause we register the activity as "distraction" and mentally block engaging w it

Instead of rushing to another activity, consider taking a pause where you let

Your brain rest. My theory is that gives it time to register "oh, subject of hyper focus is no longer giving dopamine" and remove the rigid barrier it put up against disruptions. That way when you're done with that pause you're free to reconnect w other things

So what does a "pause" look like? It can take a few forms and if none of these work for you try something else:

My preferred pause is meditation for about 10 minutes. When I'm meditating after a hyper focus i tend to be "worse than usual" at meditating in the "right way"

Meaning i have a harder time not losing focus part way through. But that's ok. I still get the benefit I'm looking for and that's way more important than following any prescriptive guideline of what meditating is "supposed to" look like

When i meditate for this, i find a couple minutes in my mind will start rapidly generating thoughts. I get restless, mentally hyper active, and find it really hard to stay still. But that's actually exactly the response i want, bc it signals that MY BRAIN IS LOOKING FOR

SOURCES OF DOPAMINE OTHER THAN THE HYPER FOCUS SUBJECT. That's literally the whole point of why I'd sat down to mediate to begin w. It's signaling that that wall stopping me from focusing on anything new is coming down

Added benefits of training yourself to meditate regularly

After hyper focusing is you'll gradually get better at 1) becoming aware of your body and emotions and 2) pausing to observe and inhibit reactivity. It may also help w the emotional regulation issues and irritability that can come post hyper focus

Last tweet preaching meditation before i move on: I've found headspace to be really ADHD friendly. There's tons of variety in what they offer so I'm not easily bored and I've been consistent w it even two+ months in. But i know mediation is hard for anyone let alone ADHDers so

No judgement/pressure if you don't feel ready to try that now/ever

Other ways you might pause besides mediation:

- taking a nap

- gentle movement or stretching. Like tai chi or yoga or just whatever feels good

- taking a shower

Response C: reconnect

After I've paused i think it would be good to have a means of gently easing myself back into awareness. The idea would be a short activity that brings you to notice what you're doing in the present (i think this is what a mindful activity is)

That could be anything that connects you to your body (esp wo over taxing your brain). It could be something soothing specific for that purpose, or it could be a mundane task like washing the dishes or letting your dog out that you do mindfully. I like singing cause it's fun and

It brings me back to expressing myself and sort of shifts me into acting and presence

Confession: i have yet to try this step consciously yet so more field research needed to see if it actually works

Part 3: area i need more experimentation/work

I've done the pausing thing a few times since i first recognized the need for it and I've generally found its v good at helping me unlock my working memory. But sometimes it's really really hard to get back the ability to refocus/

Initiate on a new activity/do anything other than lie around listlessly. Not cause my working memory is focus locked, but cause i struggle to summon the dopamine to refocus back at a new thing. I have a few things i think might be at play when this doesn't work well:

- i hyper focused for too long wo eating so now I'm hungry but Adderall makes it hard to identify hunger as hunger so instead i just feel lethargic and mentally depleted

- i hyper focused for a long time and did a lot that morning and it's unreasonable to expect myself to...

Sustain that level of activity all day. I'm a human being not a human doing - the fact that i gravitate towards resting isn't actually a problem to be solved all the time. Sometimes i just need a longer break

- i might have accidentally "sleep signaled" my brain a few times...

Ex using my sleep mask, lying down, and being so off schedule i was meditating while I'd normally be sleeping so my brain got confused and thought it was time to go to sleep

- giving myself too little simulation after i unlocked my focus so my brain was searching for

Dopamine, didn't find enough, and went into the hypo activity ADHD inattentive symptoms cause of that

This is the video i was supposed to link earlier but instead left my yelling at myself to link it in the thread. I did half remember but i hit the 25 tweet cap and wanted to keep talking cause otherwise I'd have forgotten:

Addendum: was just talking about this to my dad and mentioned some other stuff that helps me get enough simulation/cue to get into something new after hyperfocusing and pausing:

Scrolling Twitter - warning this can backfire if you get sucked into it for too long. But in

Moderation a few minutes of Twitter helps me get a little dopamine hit to power me up for the next thing so it restores some executive function/task initiation capacity

Music. Any music you like can give you a nice dopamine hit, but...

I also have a trick to use music to help shift my brains concept of "when to get up and do the thing" from "now" to "not now"

I trained myself that if I'm trying to get up and i put on a song w lyrics, the "now" of when to get up is "when the lead vocalist starts singing"

This helps cause it's an external trigger to move so my brain doesn't have to do as much work to activate for the thing

The music gives me an auditory representation of time that feels "real" (without relying on adrenaline response like a timer would). Cause music has

Beat/tempo/rhythm/time keeping etc. It's the same reason sea shanties and work songs have been used to coordinate action among laborers for ages. You can feel the tempo of the music, and if you know the song you know when the vocals will start meaning that instead of a

Rapid switch from "not now" to "now" you have a gradual build up that helps you anticipate when it'll be time to move. So instead of freezing then either freezing harder or flighting, your brain will be preparing to move before the now happens

I've been doing that for a few months and the more i do it the easier it gets cause i pavlov my brain into knowing that signal

Might be more effective if you always use the same song, but if you change it up that's fine also. I vary my song choice but my most frequent

Pick is Pray You Catch Me (Beyonce, lemonade). Love that whole album and often listen to it while I'm doing stuff

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