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Cognitive AI for ADHD

comigo.ai

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Re: Cognitive AI for ADHD

#51

Post by btilly »

ryanklee wrote: post #38
btilly wrote: post #13

I have moderately severe ADHD, and have good reasons to not use medication. My first response to this is that it solves problems that I don't have, and ignores the ones I do have. Organizing my day on paper is trivial. I'm also married to someone with a good partnership, and we offload different types of tasks to each other. She might enjoy having software assistants to be more productive, but I don't need that. I ha…

I'm hesitant to make any assumptions about your decision to not medicate, but if it has anything to do with addictive properties, you should look into guanfacine. I have very severe ADHD and was unable to use the common medications for the reason listed. This last year I stumbled upon guanfacine, which is usually a blood pressure reduction med, but is prescribed off-label as an ADHD med. It has no noticeable effects…

I have not tried guanfacine.

My problems are loss of appetite, trouble sleeping (leading to sleep deprivation that itself causes loss of executive control), and irritability. This is in addition to the fact that I have high blood pressure, and would rather not have to increase the cocktail of medications that I'm taking for that.

Re: Cognitive AI for ADHD

#52

Post by kalupa »

ThinkBeat wrote: post #40

As a person with ADHD I hate these fancy high tech super slick promo products / sites. They all appear to made by people who are do not have ADHD (might be wrong) but they figure they know what such people need. And that is yet another calendar / task list with some spices. they can use to go after grants / stipends etc. Aside from a privacy nightmare. Yeah I am giving a presentation to the board about this new confi…

"all you need to do is focus" is what I read when I see an "ADHD help" tool/article/lifestyle/pleasegiveusmoneyscheme about 90% of the time.

not just that it's made by people that don't have adhd, but people that haven't even read the modern science literature on the treatment and condition itself.

it's frustrating!

Re: Cognitive AI for ADHD

#53

Post by worstname »

btilly wrote: post #13

I have moderately severe ADHD, and have good reasons to not use medication. My first response to this is that it solves problems that I don't have, and ignores the ones I do have. Organizing my day on paper is trivial. I'm also married to someone with a good partnership, and we offload different types of tasks to each other. She might enjoy having software assistants to be more productive, but I don't need that. I ha…

This hits the nail on the head for me and why productivity apps usually aren't worth much.

> This involves a lot of managing of my emotional state, and a lot of REJECTING of outside demands by the world that I conform to how the world wants me to be.

A hallmark of ADHD is emotional dysregulation and impulsivity, so what exactly does rejecting "outside demands" look like? How exactly are you managing emotional state if not with medication? Ironically the only way I've managed my emotional state off medication is by conforming to outside demands and ignoring my individual desires/motivations as much as possible.

Re: Cognitive AI for ADHD

#54

Post by btilly »

brianjking wrote: post #24
btilly wrote: post #13

I have moderately severe ADHD, and have good reasons to not use medication. My first response to this is that it solves problems that I don't have, and ignores the ones I do have. Organizing my day on paper is trivial. I'm also married to someone with a good partnership, and we offload different types of tasks to each other. She might enjoy having software assistants to be more productive, but I don't need that. I ha…

I'd love to hear how you get around not taking medication and if you're comfortable sharing why you choose not to.

See my other answers for more on that.

I will say that it isn't easy. But the flexibility that can come with being a programmer really helps.

Re: Cognitive AI for ADHD

#55

Post by btilly »

MisterTea wrote: post #48
btilly wrote: post #13

I have moderately severe ADHD, and have good reasons to not use medication. My first response to this is that it solves problems that I don't have, and ignores the ones I do have. Organizing my day on paper is trivial. I'm also married to someone with a good partnership, and we offload different types of tasks to each other. She might enjoy having software assistants to be more productive, but I don't need that. I ha…

Do you have any comorbidities with ADHD? My issue is moderate ADHD with severe anxiety. Wonderful combo.

My son has anxiety. That's no fun. I'm glad I don't have that.

I'm sure a psychologist could load me down with some list of diagnoses if I was particularly curious. I haven't been curious, and I'm rather skeptical about the current state of psychology.

Re: Cognitive AI for ADHD

#56

Post by tivert »

jasoncurry wrote: post #2

Hi, we just started building a few weeks ago but have about 700 beta users. We are building the most effective specialized AI for ADHD. We're in private beta but feel free to see our site that links to our Chrome extension and try it out if it sounds like something you need.

> Hi, we just started building a few weeks ago but have about 700 beta users. We are building the most effective specialized AI for ADHD.

I'm sorry, but that statement just irks me. If you're only a few weeks into development, how can you honestly say what you're making will be the "most effective specialized AI for ADHD"? It's an unrealized aspiration stated as an inevitability. I don't think stating that you're "trying to build" or you're "goal is to build" would be so irksome.

Re: Cognitive AI for ADHD

#57

Post by ilc »

btilly wrote: post #13

I have moderately severe ADHD, and have good reasons to not use medication. My first response to this is that it solves problems that I don't have, and ignores the ones I do have. Organizing my day on paper is trivial. I'm also married to someone with a good partnership, and we offload different types of tasks to each other. She might enjoy having software assistants to be more productive, but I don't need that. I ha…

In reading your replies.. you've got it straight, from another long time ADHDer.

Tools are useful in as much as they help you control your attention.

The only ones I've found truly useful are ER4SRs. (In ear monitors, -35DB to the environment. I listen to music while I work, at ~70DB. If you do the math about the only thing I can hear is a fire alarm... and that's about right. :) )

Re: Cognitive AI for ADHD

#58

Post by btilly »

worstname wrote: post #53
btilly wrote: post #13

I have moderately severe ADHD, and have good reasons to not use medication. My first response to this is that it solves problems that I don't have, and ignores the ones I do have. Organizing my day on paper is trivial. I'm also married to someone with a good partnership, and we offload different types of tasks to each other. She might enjoy having software assistants to be more productive, but I don't need that. I ha…

This hits the nail on the head for me and why productivity apps usually aren't worth much. > This involves a lot of managing of my emotional state, and a lot of REJECTING of outside demands by the world that I conform to how the world wants me to be. A hallmark of ADHD is emotional dysregulation and impulsivity, so what exactly does rejecting "outside demands" look like? How exactly are you managing emotional state i…

An example of rejecting outside demands is seeking out work environments where I can cooperatively seek out tasks, rather than having someone try to order me to do what they want me to do. If I encounter someone who wants to order me around, I'll ignore if possible. And if not possible, I'll change jobs before complying.

Trying to do things because someone is pushing me to do them will result in my becoming resentful, and losing my ability to get into an effective state of flow. But enough places in tech provide enough flexibility that I've been able to find places where I can be productive. And, in a virtuous cycle, productivity can make all sorts of oddities acceptable in an employee.

As for emotional dysregulation, let me address that. ADHD is caused by weak executive function. People with ADHD are slow to realize that we SHOULD do X, and the SHOULD is fairly weak. Therefore it becomes hard to resist emotions telling us we want to do Y instead.

I have two tools to address that.

The first is that at a purely emotional level, I strive to be fairly balanced. I work to address things that cause me negative emotions, like resentment, so that I don't have negative emotions to fight against.

The second is that I attach my "shoulds" to my understanding of what I actually want and care about. As a result the idea "I should X" is reinforced by a DESIRE to do X. And this emotional reinforcement makes it easy to do it.

Ironically, it is always easier to motivate myself in the short term with negative emotions. But the effect of doing so is a breakdown of the positive feedback loop that I'm using to maintain myself. Thus forcing myself only works for a limited time, and then falls apart. And so that short-term solution is toxic for me. I suspect that it is toxic for most people - but my ADHD makes it harder to deal with for me.

That said, everything that I do for me involves doing the opposite of what society pushes me towards. This makes for an interesting balancing act.

Re: Cognitive AI for ADHD

#59

Post by burnte »

notjoshjames wrote: post #50
burnte wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in the middle of some AI startup telling me my clinicians don't need to do their own notes anymore if I pay $1000 a month for a Chrome plugin that records the session and runs it through some unnamed, unknown, undetailed LLM they run in Google Cloud, and they're acting like I'm stupid for having issues with it.

A project of mine is evaluating Rev AI for HIPAA-compliant transcription for case notes. https://www.rev.com/blog/rev-spotlight/announcing-rev-ai-hip...

This isn't just transcription, it's also summarizing the entire 30/60 minute visit. Well, supposedly. I just have a hard time seeing how this small company is so far ahead of everyone else, while being able to run on Google Cloud and AWS.

Re: Cognitive AI for ADHD

#60

Post by burnte »

ianbutler wrote: post #35
burnte wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in the middle of some AI startup telling me my clinicians don't need to do their own notes anymore if I pay $1000 a month for a Chrome plugin that records the session and runs it through some unnamed, unknown, undetailed LLM they run in Google Cloud, and they're acting like I'm stupid for having issues with it.

I tried that idea back in 2015/2016 and physicians were just as skeptical then, with good reason mind you.

I WISH my clinicians were skeptical. One thinks it's perfect and is trying to overrule IT's reservations about the system.
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