I used to be like this until I burned out. do not recommend. - ThreadSky

wagatwe.com • 134 days ago

I used to be like this until I burned out. do not recommend.

Reposted from Please Follow the Official Guardian Account

Some people with ADHD thrive in periods of stress, new study shows

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lookitup.baby•134 days ago

That part 😭

dbsmasher.com•134 days ago

Ow??? Well good morning. 😐

siropsalot.bsky.social•134 days ago

I'm convinced that everyone who can last more than 6 months in an SRE/Ops role has some level of ADHD. But when things get bad, we are not remotely equipped to realize how fucked up the situation is.

uzmab.bsky.social•134 days ago

"Thrive" is definitely not the word I would have chosen. A state of abject doom, frenzy, and desperation is not thriving.

dwerkoppimhimmel.bsky.social•134 days ago

I do, too. But this period needs to be limited to a few days. And I need to be in complete control of the situation.

not-alice.bsky.social•134 days ago

Most “successful” people I know with ADHD employ this #1 Lifehack because it’s the only way they can keep up with the expected pace of life without adequate accommodations, support or resources.

not-alice.bsky.social•134 days ago

That said, I’m in a new job and it’s NOT stressful and I have no idea how to be productive without the crushing pressure

robinjohnson.bsky.social•134 days ago

I'm trying to get my head around the implication that there are people with ADHD who have periods of no stress

zenodotus.bsky.social•134 days ago

That, "my anxiety helps with my impulsivity" thing is really fucking with me. But that also seems the ADHD way: Better Productivity Through Persistent Emotional Turmoil

sdefenestration.bsky.social•134 days ago

Like, kinda reads as, at best, hyper-inhibition through deleterious self-talk. Or, like: Impulsive? Have you tried the benefits of a Functional Freeze state?

mx0x20wednesday.bsky.social•134 days ago

y'all can freeze??

pyslexicdharmacist.bsky.social•134 days ago

Y'all can unfreeze?!

elakdawalla.bsky.social•134 days ago

One of my kids has ADHD and anxiety and when she started an anti-anxiety med she discovered she’d been using her anxiety as a tool to overcome her executive dysfunction. Also not a recommended strategy, even if it was a clever weaponization of one condition to combat another

elfofdoriath.bsky.social•134 days ago

I got through a PhD "thriving" like this, until it caught up to me less than a year into my first job after grad school and I had to quit because the resulting depression got so bad I could barely function. "Thrive" my ass.

samcrut.bsky.social•134 days ago

For me, it was ad agency work. Those bastards will suck every ounce of life out of a creative. Made it 1 year and said I needed a vacation. They said, "Oh, no. Now you start to ACCRUE vacation days. You have no vacation yet." I quit on the spot and said I'll see you Mon at my freelance rate.

mckelvie.bsky.social•134 days ago

Yep. And I still haven't recovered, 5 years on.

wagatwe.com•134 days ago

same. it sucks.

mckelvie.bsky.social•134 days ago

It does. Sorry you're going through it too.

megablandfox.bsky.social•134 days ago

I wish people would stop trying to pass toxic coping mechanisms as legitimate strategies.

momof3gngrs.bsky.social•134 days ago

I am currently sick with a sinus infection because I was running on stress and adrenaline. I definitely do not recommend.

exmaahal.bsky.social•134 days ago

The whole premise of the research is questionable. Functioning well with ADHD is not a "recovery" it's being able to cope in particular circumstances. And the coping takes a major effort, that will inevitably come at the expense of something else.
I'm sorry to hear that you paid such a price.

wagatwe.com•134 days ago

agreed. interested what the paper says in its own words, too. I don't usually trust media interpretation of research

exmaahal.bsky.social•134 days ago

That's a good point.

kennyspade.bsky.social•134 days ago

The other side of this is functioning well with ADHD is always presented as fitting us into their ideal instead of accommodating the differences that would enable us to excel. I will do more with a flexible thirty hours than a rigid forty hour work week, for example.

exmaahal.bsky.social•134 days ago

I'm not sure about that. A lot of people with ADHD end up in jobs that have flexibility and are more suitable in other ways.
I'm not saying there's no problem or that accomodations are not needed, just that you will likely find high functioning people with ADHD in situations that accommodate them.

kennyspade.bsky.social•134 days ago

I remember my first year at Microsoft as a Developer Evangelist at an offsite I mentioned that I was ADHD, and we soon found out that more than half of the team were as well, so you’re totally right. Great environment for it.

It did mean that our team was terrible at expense reports, though.

exmaahal.bsky.social•133 days ago

LOL I can imagine the reports.

My university is the best because there's someone in accounting who does the reports for you. They probably realised it's the only way to get them.

kennyspade.bsky.social•133 days ago

The hours I spent to filling out paperwork justifying less money being spent than the amount that they paid me for the hours spent justifying the money I spent are gone forever. I mean, if I buy a laptop, sure, I’ll do the paperwork, but lunch at a customer site for $15? Let it go.

maaikeverbruggen.bsky.social•134 days ago

This is completely accurate

raantuva.fyi•134 days ago

I think the person who did this study is doing this on the take because I don't know anyone with ADHD who thrives in periods of stress without becoming insufferable.

raantuva.fyi•134 days ago

I have sadly had to cut a couple of friends loose lately because they totally shut down and took it out on everyone around them including my autistic ass.

wagatwe.com•134 days ago

I also wonder how they measure "thriving" because is it just about getting tasks done? or dissociation from our anxiety? I'd go find the OG study but won't bother bc i know it'd piss me off lol

raantuva.fyi•134 days ago

Productivity of course.

I have friends in law and accounting with ADHD. They tend to get very sick after big jobs because they're burnt out. It's disturbing to say this and we should bully the scholars who wrote this out of the field. I'm sure the data's a crock of shit too, tbh.

kennyspade.bsky.social•134 days ago

Absolutely it has to be measured in productivity. If I have a huge event or deadline with a bunch of deliverables, especially if they require some heroics, I will do the work of three or four people, but my family won’t see me for the duration.

raantuva.fyi•134 days ago

My wife's ADHD burnout is destroying our marriage tbh. I'm literally super close to a second divorce because of it. The idea that anyone thrives under stress is patently absurd.

bownie.bsky.social•134 days ago

Yes I can hyperfocus but if I'm on call as well as busy all day, living with colleagues and then using alcohol to chill me out then I'm going to burn out in six months.

davemwilburn.bsky.social•134 days ago

Well... well great.

I guess I understand a bit more of myself having read this article...

Like my spurts of academic and professional success driven by bursts of artificially high-stress cramming, followed several decades later by my hard crash burnout.

Great.

evenicholls.bsky.social•134 days ago

Oh, yes, I was totally thriving under pressure with undiagnosed ADHD. Massive academic high achiever, doing incredibly well, until I caught flu and that disabled me severely for life.

WHEN I WAS NINETEEN.

Nobody should be permanently burnt out before they're out of their teens.

evenicholls.bsky.social•134 days ago

Also now that I've read the article, it's even worse than expected. They talk of a lifelong neurotype as potentially curable, for instance by giving us deadlines, and think that anxiety is good for us. They are literally suggesting we should add an illness which causes severe suffering.

wagatwe.com•134 days ago

yeah it's really bad lol I am curious if it's the original research that sucks and/or the media is doing that thing when they misinterpret what it actually means

evenicholls.bsky.social•134 days ago

I'm wondering about the political backstory, yeah. There was that hatchet job on private ADHD clinics not long ago.

The idea of curing ADHD by giving us deadlines is ridiculous, but then so are standard "sleep hygiene" lists given to people with serious sleep disorders.

https://bsky.app/profile/evenicholls.bsky.social/post/3l7bowfaxto2x

kennyspade.bsky.social•134 days ago

I had a manager who either could not or would not understand the concept of deadlines. I told her how I work, explained ADHD and how I can ensure every project is completed, so she started assigning trivial tasks arbitrary deadlines so they’d get done sooner and giving no reasons. It did not work.

kennyspade.bsky.social•134 days ago

Like, instead of saying this report needs to be presented to the team on Monday so I need it by Thursday so I can review it on Friday, she’d say this report should take four hours to finish, so it should be finished by Tuesday, so that’s your deadline, which means you’ll be motivated to get it done.

ladyjek.bsky.social•134 days ago

Same. It worked until menopause made sure it didn't. No regret about the crazy first half of my life, but honestly it's a relief to now be off the rollercoaster.

kassiadesign.bsky.social•134 days ago

It's interesting to me that the article talks about the heightened focus in the periods of stress but nothing of the crash after from your system going 100mph. Like yes. I am great in a crisis. But there is always a cost.

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