Does ADHD Make You More Anxious?
Summary
TLDRThis video script delves into how individuals with ADHD leverage negative emotions like anxiety, anger, and shame to motivate themselves, contrasting with neurotypical motivation. It discusses the book 'Your Brain's Not Broken' by Tamara Rosier, which explains how ADHDers use intense emotions to compensate for motivational deficits. The script challenges the oversimplification of attributing these behaviors solely to ADHD, highlighting that these emotions are universal and serve as powerful motivators. It also addresses the potential long-term mental health impacts of using such 'dirty motivators' and the importance of differentiating between ADHD's direct effects and the consequences of growing up undiagnosed.
Takeaways
- đ The script uses the example of receiving compliments and criticism at a party to illustrate how ADHD individuals might focus more on negative feedback, using it as a motivational tool.
- đ§ ADHDers often use intense negative emotions like anxiety, anger, and shame to motivate themselves because they might not be able to rely on traditional motivators like interest or importance.
- đ The book 'Your Brain's Not Broken' by Tamara Rosier is referenced to explain how ADHD individuals use negative emotions to function daily, contrasting with neurotypical individuals who may have an easier time with motivation.
- đ« The script challenges the oversimplification of attributing all negative emotions to ADHD, noting that these emotions are common across all humans and serve useful purposes.
- âł Negative emotions are highlighted as stronger motivators than positive ones, which is why they have been conserved in human evolution.
- đ§ The script points out that the brain is more sensitive to negative stimuli than positive, which is why negative feedback can be so impactful.
- đšââïž An example of medical students is given to show how high levels of neuroticism, which includes a tendency to worry, can lead to better performance due to the use of negative emotions as motivation.
- đ€ The term 'dirty motivators' is introduced to describe the use of negative emotions like shame and self-loathing, which can lead to success but at the cost of personal well-being.
- đšâđ The script discusses how anxiety can be particularly useful for ADHD individuals to counteract forgetfulness and inattention, serving as a form of protection against these issues.
- đĄ Anger is noted as a common emotional response for ADHD individuals, but it's not necessarily an adaptive mechanism like anxiety or shame; it's more about emotional dysregulation.
- đšââïž The script emphasizes the importance of treating ADHD and the emotional consequences separately, as medication can address ADHD symptoms but not the emotional issues like low self-esteem that may arise from living with undiagnosed ADHD.
Q & A
How do people with ADHD often motivate themselves using negative emotions?
-People with ADHD often use intense negative emotions such as anxiety, anger, and shame to motivate themselves because these emotions can be powerful motivators. They might use anxiety to remember tasks, anger to push themselves to complete tasks, and shame to feel driven to succeed despite feeling unworthy.
What is the role of anxiety in ADHD as described in the script?
-Anxiety in ADHD serves as a tool to counteract forgetfulness and inattention. People with ADHD may develop a paranoid mindset to constantly worry about forgetting things, which ironically helps them remember because they are always anxiously thinking about it.
How does the book 'Your Brain's Not Broken' by Tamara Rosier explain ADHD motivation?
-The book explains that individuals with ADHD often struggle to motivate themselves in the same way neurotypical individuals do. Instead, they rely on strong negative emotions to drive themselves, focusing on interests more than importance and consequences.
What is the significance of the example given about wearing a fancy dress at a party in the script?
-The example illustrates the bias towards negative feedback. Even with multiple compliments, one negative comment can have a more significant impact and be more memorable, highlighting how negative emotions can be powerful motivators.
Why are negative emotions considered 'dirty motivators' in the context of the script?
-Negative emotions are referred to as 'dirty motivators' because while they can drive success, they often come at the cost of personal happiness and well-being. They can lead to feelings of being damaged, competent, or stupid, and can result in imposter syndrome.
What is the difference between the anxiety used as an adaptive mechanism in ADHD and the other negative emotions mentioned?
-Anxiety in ADHD is seen as an adaptive mechanism to compensate for forgetfulness and inattention, whereas the other negative emotions like anger and shame are not necessarily adaptive but rather consequences of growing up without a diagnosis or treatment for ADHD.
How does the script relate the experience of negative emotions to the broader human experience?
-The script emphasizes that negative emotions like anxiety, shame, and anger are not exclusive to people with ADHD but are part of the human experience. They have evolved because they serve as powerful motivators, even if they are often viewed negatively in society.
What is the role of the brain's bias towards negative information as explained in the script?
-The script explains that the brain is more sensitive to negative information than positive, which is an evolutionary bias. This bias makes negative feedback more impactful and memorable, thus making negative emotions strong motivators.
Why might treating ADHD not resolve feelings of self-loathing according to the script?
-Treating ADHD might not resolve feelings of self-loathing because these feelings are often a consequence of growing up without a diagnosis or treatment, and they need to be addressed independently, possibly through psychotherapy.
How does the script differentiate between the adaptive use of anger in ADHD and the emotional dysregulation experienced by some individuals with ADHD?
-The script suggests that while some individuals with ADHD might adaptively use anger to manage situations, emotional dysregulation, including difficulty with frustration tolerance, is more commonly a challenge for those with ADHD and not necessarily an adaptive mechanism.
Outlines
đ ADHD and Motivation Through Negative Emotions
The speaker begins by illustrating how individuals with ADHD might use negative emotions to motivate themselves, contrasting the positive feedback from many with the impactful criticism from one. The book 'Your Brain's Not Broken' by Tamara Rosier is referenced, which discusses how ADHD individuals often rely on intense negative emotions like anxiety, anger, and shame to drive themselves, unlike neurotypical individuals who are naturally motivated. The speaker critiques the oversimplification of attributing these behaviors solely to ADHD, noting that these emotions are universal and serve as powerful motivators due to their evolutionary significance.
đ§ The Power of Negative Emotions in Motivation
This section delves into how negative emotions, particularly anxiety, can be harnessed as a tool for motivation. The speaker explains that while these emotions can be mentally taxing, they are also a powerful driving force. Examples are given, such as medical students using anxiety to study harder or individuals with ADHD using anxiety to counteract forgetfulness. The concept of 'dirty motivators' is introduced, referring to the use of shame and self-loathing to achieve success at the cost of personal contentment. The speaker also touches on the idea of imposter syndrome being a consequence of using negative emotions as a primary motivator.
đĄ Emotional Dysregulation and ADHD
The final paragraph addresses the complex relationship between ADHD and emotions, particularly anger. It suggests that while anxiety can be an adaptive response to forgetfulness for those with ADHD, anger might not serve the same adaptive purpose. The speaker points out that individuals with ADHD may experience emotional dysregulation and have a lower frustration tolerance, which can lead to anger. However, this is not necessarily a learned behavior but rather a part of the condition that can be managed with treatment. The paragraph concludes by emphasizing the importance of understanding the emotional challenges associated with ADHD and the need for separate therapeutic interventions to address self-esteem and emotional regulation.
Mindmap
Keywords
đĄADHD
đĄMotivation
đĄAnxiety
đĄAnger
đĄShame
đĄNeurotypical
đĄEmotional Regulation
đĄImposter Syndrome
đĄForgetfulness
đĄSelf-Esteem
Highlights
ADHD individuals may use strong negative emotions to motivate themselves, as they might not be able to motivate like neurotypicals.
ADHDers are motivated by interest rather than importance and consequences, leading to reliance on anxiety to prioritize tasks.
The book 'Your Brain's Not Broken' by Tamara Rosier discusses how ADHDers use intense negative emotions for motivation.
Anxiety can be used as a tool for ADHD individuals to remember tasks, serving as an antidote to forgetfulness.
Anger is used by some ADHDers to fuel themselves to complete tasks, although it can be unhealthy and lead to exhaustion.
Shame and self-loathing can be intense motivators for ADHD individuals, but at a cost to their mental health.
The negative emotions used by ADHDers are not exclusive to them but are conserved across the human race.
Negative emotions are powerful motivators, often stronger than positive emotions, due to the brain's sensitivity to negative stimuli.
The bias towards negative emotions has evolutionary benefits, as it helps avoid harmful situations.
Cultural conditioning can influence the focus on negative feedback over positive, impacting self-perception.
ADHDers may develop adaptive mechanisms to cope with their symptoms, but these can be harmful in the long term.
The experience of shame and self-loathing in ADHD is not a direct consequence of the disorder but a result of growing up without diagnosis or treatment.
Anger in ADHD is not necessarily an adaptive mechanism but can be a result of emotional dysregulation.
People with ADHD may have difficulty with frustration tolerance, which can lead to anger and emotional outbursts.
The emotional challenges faced by ADHD individuals can lead to a high risk of depression and self-esteem issues.
Treatment for ADHD does not automatically resolve issues like self-loathing and anger, which require independent therapeutic approaches.
The video emphasizes the importance of understanding the connection between ADHD and emotions for effective management.
Transcripts
so for example let's say I get dressed
up and I go to a party and I'm wearing a
fancy dress and nine people walk up to
me and say Dr K that's a beautiful dress
you look great in it you're really
rocking the dress bro and then one
person walks up to me is like you look
absolutely ridiculous what on Earth are
you doing wearing a dress it looks
terrible you all need to hear this ADHD
ears use strong negative emotions to
motivate ourselves so I was reading this
book your brain's not broken by Tamara
Rosier and explains the most effed up
oh whoops
about how adhders motivate themselves
using intense mode emotions since we
can't motivate like neurotypicals as you
know we are motivated by interest rather
than importance and consequences so how
do we get the day-to-day stuff done in
order to function here we go anxiety we
rely on anxiety to tell us what needs to
be done did I lock my car what happened
if I accidentally unlocked it my stuff
would get stolen I can't buy a new one
lock car lock car lock car it is like we
inject strong emotions like fight or
flight into ourselves but the thing is
they can linger after oh wait I just
locked my the car right yeah oh I'm
worried oh gosh and that's mentally
taxing anger getting mad in order to
fuel ourselves to do the task the book
gives an example of this guy whose
mother was angered by his behavior and
when no one else else was around to yell
at me I learned to yell at myself as you
can imagine this is not healthy and it
leads to exhaustion and crankiness shame
and self-loathing an intense feeling of
flawed of unworthy of love to start I
imagine how disappointed my supervisor
would be if I don't finish on time she
will then she will realize she shouldn't
have given me the job in the first place
I have to get this right or I'll screw
up my kids for the rest of their life so
we are rehearsing different ways we are
damaged and competent and stupid there's
more like more in the book but these are
really the top three that I found crazy
we use anxiety anger and shame to fuel
the motivation deficit and neurotypicals
have naturally and it can come at a cost
so I really like this post for a lot of
reasons and there are some things that I
would sort of disagree with the first
thing that I really like is that it
shows how having ADHD and negative
emotions can synergize in some ways what
I dislike about it is that I think it
once again
oversimplifies into attributing all of
these things to ADHD so this isn't just
true of people with ADHD this is true of
everyone where if we kind of think about
it why do human beings have negative
emotions right let's just start there
let's start by recognizing that anxiety
shame and anger are not exclusive to
people with ADHD these are conserved
across the entire human race and why is
that it's because they are very very
useful emotions so in today's society we
tend to think about negative emotions
this is negative right it's like I want
to feel a lot of excitement I want to
feel a lot of Joy I want to feel a lot
of curiosity but I don't want anxiety I
don't want anger I don't want shame
those are bad emotions and those are to
be avoided but let's remember that if
they didn't do something for us we
wouldn't have evolved them and it turns
out that the negative emotions are
actually very very powerful motivators
in fact they're stronger motivators than
positive emotions so let's just
understand that for a sec the first
thing to get is that our brain is more
sensitive to negative things than
positive things this is a bias that's
baked in so for example let's say I get
dressed up and I go to a party and I'm
wearing a fancy dress and nine people
walk up to me and say Dr K that's a
beautiful dress you look great in it
you're really rocking the dress bro and
then one person walks up to mean it's
like you look absolutely ridiculous what
on Earth are you doing wearing a dress
it looks terrible hey Chad subscribing
to our YouTube channel allows us to help
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already reached thousands of people from
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subscribe wait they have to hit
subscribe and click a bell now now in my
mind I've got nine compliments and one
person has criticized which one do I
focus on I tend to focus on the
criticism right so I've also seen this
in in especially kids that are South
Asian or East Asian where their parents
will focus on like it doesn't matter
like how much I get right all that
matters is what I didn't get right or
that someone else does a better job than
I do it's like you got 92 on on the test
but our neighbor across the street their
kid got a 98. why can't you get a 98 why
do you have to get a 92 and so even like
culturally or can will be conditioned to
focus on the negative right we'll see
that a lot and so if you kind of think
about this where does this come from I
sort of use food poisoning as a good
example so if we weren't biased towards
the negative like let's say that like I
got food poisoning from eating something
right if I got food poisoning 40 of the
time but it was fine sixty percent of
the time I would be in a lot of trouble
if I kept eating it because even though
technically sixty percent of the time
I'm fine that's more than half on
average it's a good idea for me to eat
but the consequences of making that
negative mistake are so high that even
if you really think about it if you go
to your favorite restaurant you get food
poison once it's actually like hard to
go back there right and so we tend to
see is that the brain is biased towards
the negative that we weigh the negative
more powerfully than the positive and so
what this results in is some of us who
struggle with motivation have one really
powerful tool to motivate ourselves and
that's negative emotion and this isn't
just kids with ADHD so you'll see this
for example in medical students where
some Med students or most Med students
are high on neuroticism so this is one
of the five Factor personality
dimensions and neuroticism is the
tendency to worry and so people may
think like why on Earth would a tendency
to worry be a good thing like why would
we even have people who have a tendency
to worry well it turns out that if
you're worried about failing a test
you're going to study harder and that
fear of failing can make you actually
work harder and actually outperform
people who are kind of chill so on the
one hand we have the paranoid medical
student who's a or paranoid pre-med who
wants to go to medical school and on the
flip side we have our classic Stoner
personality plus or minus marijuana
whatever we've got someone who's like eh
everything will be okay right we're not
even saying that it's marijuana related
we've just got people who are like that
bad that personality and they're like
I'm just chilling like live for today
don't worry about tomorrow everything
works itself out and the pre-med is the
one who gets an a the person who's
pretty chill will get like a B plus B
minus right because on Friday night one
of them's out having a good time the
other one's actually at the library
study so we tend to see is that actually
negative motivators uh what I call the
dirty motivators so I kind of think of
them kind of like nuclear power or like
they harness a bunch of energy but
they're radio active and if you're not
careful they'll damage your life right
you can succeed but you won't be happy
or content in doing so I see that a lot
also in like the fields of like finance
and stuff like that where you'll see a
lot of imposter syndrome so people who
use dirty motivators will be will
experience a lot of imposter syndrome as
well so I'll give you a like let's just
take a quick look at this so if you use
shame or self-loathing oh my God like
I'm gonna do so bad at this let me try
my best even though I'm Unworthy of it
and then you end up feeling damaged and
competent or stupid but you do well
enough in school right because you're
beating yourself up all the time then
you'll actually succeed and you go to
medical school and then it when someone
has used shame and self-loathing to
motivate themselves and they get into
medical school or they wind up in
residency at Harvard what do they end up
feeling like they end up feeling like an
imposter an imposter is someone who has
shame and self-loathing on the inside
but performs well on the outside and
we're seeing a growing level of imposter
syndrome across society as a whole and I
think part of the reason for that is
because we're using shame and
self-loathing as motivator now out of
these three specific things I think the
anxiety one is the best that's ADHD
specific so the anxiety one really
illustrates how we can use anxiety as an
antidote to forgetfulness so in the
brain of someone who's got ADHD they're
highly distractible they also tend to be
forgetful but really if you look at it
it's not that they have memory problems
it's that they have attentional problems
so when I I forgot where my keys are
it's not that I knew where my keys are
and then my I had a memory problem what
actually happens is I'm not paying
attention when I put them down so it's
this is this is important to understand
but it's not the recall that is impaired
with people with ADHD it's the insertion
of the information it's the like you
know it we don't write it to the hard
drive well enough like that's where the
real problem is it's inattention not a
lack of not really a memory problem but
we can still see how anxiety can be an
antidote to that so when I'm anxious
if I've trained my brain to be paranoid
then I won't forget because I'm always
worrying about it because what can
protect me against forgetting if I'm
always worried about it and even if it's
okay I've trained myself to always worry
because I can't trust my memory so I'm
always worrying always wearing always
worrying and this is what you see in
people with ADHD is that they develop
adaptive mechanisms which are harmful to
them over the long term so this is why
for example ADHD people with ADHD have a
very high risk of depression children
with ADHD have a very high risk of
depression developing major depressive
disorder later in life so these kids
grow up and they struggle in school they
forget all the time things like that
they develop some self-esteem issues so
that too I think this isn't directly a
consequence of ADHD this is usually what
happens when you have a kid with ADHD is
they look around at other kids and they
realize I'm just as smart as these other
kids are they're told by their teachers
they're told by parents you're so smart
you have so much potential so they I
know I've got the IQ but then I can't
perform in school so I can't get an A
because I get distracted I can't pay
attention it's a really classic case
that I kind of think of which is that
teacher asks the kid are you paying
attention answer the question and the
kid wasn't paying attention they look
around they see a problem on the board
they look around everyone's looking at
them okay we're in math class there's a
problem on the board I see that these
other three problems have answers this
one doesn't have an answer let me answer
that question okay this is the answer
and they say it the teacher kind of
looks at them with skepticism writes the
answer on the board and moves on this
inattention makes it very difficult to
function in school everyone recognizes
your potential but you don't live up to
it and then everyone says oh you should
just try harder doesn't apply himself
doesn't apply herself doesn't live up to
her full potential and so then what
happens is you start to feel broken if
you have ADHD because you recognize that
I'm just as smart as these kids when I
pay attention I'm able to learn just as
fast as they do but I'm not able to pay
attention and no one recognizes that my
problem is a lack of attention it's it's
like exactly what happens imagine a
child who goes to school is super smart
but needs glasses and can't read because
they don't have glasses how would that
child feel about themselves if no one
recognized that oh the problems of the
kid needs glasses the child would
stumble adapt do all kinds of stuff to
just be average they exert so much
effort to just perform at an average
level and they end up feeling terrible
about themselves because what they see
is I'm trying hard I try hard every
single day I'm trying so so hard and if
the best I can do is average how screwed
up must I be because everyone says I
could do great but I can't do great and
I'm trying so hard so they develop
self-living now is this a direct
consequence of ADHD D I don't think so I
think this is the consequence of
untreated undiagnosed and untreated ADHD
and growing up in that situation so this
is important to understand that you've
got to differentiate those out a little
bit and the reason that's important is
because once you treat the ADHD some of
this may go away but this won't a
stimulant medication isn't going to fix
this this needs independent treatment
right in Psychotherapy or something like
that now anger is a really interesting
example because we do know for example
that emotional dysregulation is common
in people with ADHD people with ADHD can
sometimes have low frustration tolerance
they can kind of perseverate and if they
get Disturbed they can respond with
anger there's some evidence that given
the same stimuli people with ADHD will
feel more anger but that once again I
think you've got to be kind of careful
because I don't know that that's
necessarily an Adaptive mechanism like
the other two I think sometimes people
with ADHD just experience more anger and
frustration and have difficulty with
frustration tolerance that has something
to do with probably the way that their
frontal lobes strong struggle to inhibit
the negative emotional circuitry in the
brain so for a neurotypical person if I
experience some amount of anger there's
another part of my brain that's like
telling me okay calm down take a deep
breath let's not lose control and that's
the part of the brain that really
doesn't function very well in people
with ADHD or some people with ADHD now
what all human beings will tend to do in
that situation is like if I'm going to
be angry anyway let's make the most of
it so people with ADHD will develop some
adaptive strategies but I think anger is
a little bit different just to kind of
summarize I think it's really
unfortunate but oftentimes people with
ADHD will experience high levels of
negative emotion in the case of anxiety
sometimes that's almost an Adaptive
mechanism to make up for being forgetful
distractible or not paying attention to
things other examples of the negative
emotions they experience aren't
necessarily adaptations per se but are
consequences of frequently growing up
without a diagnosis or treatment of ADHD
and the important thing there is that if
we say that self-loathing is a part of
the Ada HD then treating the ADHD should
fix the self-loathing but in my
experience as a clinician it doesn't
work like that that you can treat the
ADHD but you need to deal with the
self-esteem and self-loathing
independently the last emotion is anger
which in my experience a lot of times
people just get dysregulated very easily
I don't know that it's necessarily
adaptive maybe a portion of that is
adaptive but understand that part of
ADHD is to be unable to regulate your
emotions and then as most people with
ADH do they'll adapt to those
circumstances as best they can maybe use
that anger to manage social situations
maybe use that anger to even beat
themselves up a little bit and then what
we do know is that people tend to
internalize the dialogue that is used
with them that has nothing to do with
ADHD that's just how we all work so you
can take a kid in an abusive situation
where they have ADHD or don't have ADHD
if they're given abusive language they
will internalize those thoughts and have
self-esteem problems later at the end of
the day I do think it's really really
important to understand the connection
between ADHD and emotions and hopefully
we've sort of Illustrated that a little
bit today if you found this video
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