this post was submitted on 06 Sep 2023
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Showerthoughts

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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. A showerthought should offer a unique perspective on an ordinary part of life.

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or ADH-Wheee! if you really want to put a positive spin on it.

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[–] Madrigal@lemmy.world 95 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I like “Executive Function Disorder” as it actually describes the underlying issue and not just the symptoms that other people can see.

[–] BloodSlut@lemmy.world 36 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The problem is that there are many other mental disorders that have a profound effect on executive function as well

[–] uniqueid198x@lemmy.dbzer0.com 13 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I was watching a video from dr berkely and he said its the only disorder that hits all factors of executive function.

Then he said adhd people can't do digitspan backwards so e went to try it and I was like 😦

[–] DerpyPlayz18@lemm.ee 9 points 1 year ago

Just tried it and can't even get it right forward. Shit.

[–] nieceandtows@programming.dev 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] LetKCater2U@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] Amir@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I don't have ADHD and my upper limit for digits seems to be around 6.

[–] z500@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

It took a few tries, but if I memorize the numbers in chunks of 3, then 3, then 2 then it's a lot easier.

[–] uniqueid198x@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 year ago

I believe 6 or 7 is the average across the whole population

[–] canihasaccount@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I would be surprised if he said that, because that's blatantly incorrect:

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00328/full (Table 2, for example).

Schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder all produce or are associated with executive function impairments that are more severe than ADHD, and across various forms of EF. ADHD is the only one of those with its specific pattern of attentional and reward-related abnormalities, but broad EF deficits are common across forms of psychopathology.

[–] Madrigal@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This is true, and suggests maybe a broader recategorisation is in order.

I’ve heard one expert suggest that while many disorders feature executive dysfunction, ADHD is executive dysfunction.

[–] canihasaccount@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

We've known that this isn't true since 2005:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S000632230500171X

In addition, plenty of other disorders show worse executive function than ADHD:

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00328/full

If executive dysfunction is your primary issue, that is not indicative of ADHD. ADHD is driven by reward processing dysfunction and slower information processing:

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1087054714558872

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41398-021-01758-0

[–] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 5 points 1 year ago

This is what I would vote for if there was a vote on it.

[–] whyNotSquirrel@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

It's a disorder in our society, because it require you to do task you've been ask to do, but if you would just live your life I don't think you would call it a disorder, more like a different way of processing tasks

(edit) I'm not saying that changing your environment would resolve the problem, since I'm under medication I can clearly do more things on my free/personal time than before. Hmmm yeah, I kinda lost the track of my thoughts now, can discard as it's an edit. stop.

[–] Someology@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Well, in the wild, if you couldn't concentrate on one thing long enough to hunt/gather/fish, then you wouldn't eat, and would weed yourself out of the gene pool.

[–] explodicle@local106.com 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's the other way around - ADHD exists because there's a bunch of cool stuff worth noticing in nature. Not everyone in the tribe needed to concentrate on fishing.

It's the same with colorblind people. Just one colorblind person is at a disadvantage, but while hunting they might notice the animal camouflaged for normal color vision. In a tribe, the different perspective is helpful.

[–] NightAuthor@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Russell Barkley, the worlds leading expert on ADHD (as far as I can tell) has a video where he shows that this is not likely to be true.

Rather, the continued presence of ADHD in our gene pool has to do with how many factors genetic factors can cause it, and basically the mutation rate causing ADHD is now balanced with the rate that we die off without reproducing.

[–] explodicle@local106.com 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] NightAuthor@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Lol, I responded to your message, and then went to look for the links to add. But my meds hadn't kicked in yet, and I got distracted.

These 2 videos are him discussing this topic, be warned, they're 20 and 15 minutes. Personally I find his delivery and information engaging enough to watch, but only somtimes.

Is ADHD Good for Something? ADHD as an Adaptation - Part I
Is ADHD Good for Something? ADHD as an Adaptation - Part II

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[–] NightAuthor@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

@slotos@feddit.nl

I saw a notification and read half your comment, but then you deleted it.

Did you end up watching the vid and changing your mind? It’s been a minute since I watched it, and also only caught part of your comment, so I don’t know if your concerns were addressed.

I’m always open to constructive discussion .

[–] nyoooom@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

Except we would be the ones hyperfocusing on making that fucking fire that Steve gave up onto after 2h of trying, or we would stay up late to keep the tribe safe when everyone else starts to fall asleep. A lot of the disfunction is just an incompatibility with our current lifestyle.

[–] myplacedk@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

if you would just live your life I don't think you would call it a disorder, more like a different way of processing tasks

The more I learn about ADHD, the less I see it as a disorder. I see it more as a personality trait. Unfortunately most of our society is based on people not having that personality trait, making it harder to fit in.

On the other hand, if you're lucky enough to find a lifestyle that fits your personality type, that personality type is actually very helpful, the opposite of a disorder.