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Cognitive AI for ADHD

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Re: Cognitive AI for ADHD

#111

Post by pseudalopex »

btilly wrote: post #58
worstname wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> 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.

What was effective or not in your search?

Re: Cognitive AI for ADHD

#112

Post by hirvi74 »

Aurornis wrote: post #79
ryanklee wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> but is prescribed off-label as an ADHD med Guanfacine is approved to treat ADHD in the United States and several other countries. Technically, extended-release Guanfacine is approved because that's what was used in the trials. The brand name is Intuniv and the generic is Guanfacine ER. The generic guanfacine (non-ER) can also be used, though technically off label. The only difference is that it must be dosed twice…

Can Guanfacine be taken pro re nata like stimulants? If so, how long is the duration on average?

One reason I have never considered the blood pressure medications is because, and correct me if I am wrong, if one takes them too consistently for too long, then sudden cessation can be dangerous and/or deadly.

> The non-stimulant medications are very good

Define very good. From what I have gathered during my browsing of research papers of varying quality, it seems that that non-stimulant options are perhaps at the level of "better than nothing."

If I remember correctly, those who do well on MPH tend to do better on Atomoxetine, but even then, it's no guarantee. I've also read plenty of anecdotal evidence from people using Atomoxetine, and it seems like a large majority either cannot even make it past a few weeks due to intolerable side-effects.

Also, the wikipedia page for Atomoxetine is not very reassuring with the statement:

A 2020 meta-analysis found that atomoxetine was associated with anorexia, weight loss, and hypertension, rating it as a "potentially least preferred agent based on safety" for treating ADHD.

What I really want to see if more head-to-head drug trials with all these medications and non-pharmaceutical alternatives.

For example, how much more effective on average are stimulants than non-stimulants? Are things like caffeine, nicotine, or both combined more effective than non-stimulants? What about compared to stimulants?

All I can ever find is research supporting if a medication is successful in reducing symptoms compared to a placebo. I just want to see them all ranked against themselves. Of course, I understand individual experiences would vary wildly, but I do think there is a potential for some utility in this data.

Re: Cognitive AI for ADHD

#113

Post by hirvi74 »

ryanklee wrote: post #100
beardedmoose wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was previously on Guanfacine in combination with Adderall for my blood pressure so I don't have experience taking it solely. I did learn I cannot take stimulants at all, it takes my anxiety to 1000 and makes me a complete a-hole around my house which helps nobody. Can you elaborate which ADHD symptoms it has helped the most? I'm currently not taking any meds but I can't focus or concentrate to save my life which ma…

Symptoms alleviated considerably: task avoidance, distractibility, hyper-fixation, reactivity, perseveration. I had already achieved quite a lot in the way of symptom management through cognitive behavioral tools and physical exercise, but consistent application of tools and discipline broadly are exactly what ADHDrs often struggle with. Clearly, it's problematic to rely on a treatment for unreliability which is itse…

Are you able to hyper-fixate on things you need to get completed? I rely on that heavily in my life. Without, I am as good as useless.

I've noticed that stimulants can make me hyper-fixate, which often times, can be very beneficial. I relied on hyperfocus prior to being medicated, and it seems like medication is just a on switch for hyperfocusing. At least, some of the time...

Re: Cognitive AI for ADHD

#114

Post by overnight5349 »

mattstir wrote: post #73
fragmede wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It seems to be an effort to game you into being a more productive worker, and not actually helping you live with ADHD. Where ADHD leads to problems being productive despite having the intelligence to do the job, and that jobs tend to, y'know, fire you if you're not productive, and you go homeless without money, which you get from having a job, isn't helping ADHD people be productive the same thing? As far as your t…

I'm quite curious about this sentiment because I've seen it more than a few times here on Hackernews. I have ADHD and have been very successful in my work life so far. I'm on a prescription medication for when my focus is necessary but that seems to be either dismissed or heavily frowned upon here. Is there a reason why the answer to ADHD seems to be "use AI to do your work" rather than "use the proven medications to…

A lot of people online have some really weird puritanical notions about medication that affects the brain. Basically all of them should be dismissed out of hand.

Medication is fine, it helps a lot of people, even if it doesn't work for everyone. For some, the effect is quite profound, even life changing. It's up to you, and anyone telling you it's somehow wrong isn't worth listening to.

As to AI, what I want is a LLM acting as a personal assistant fed from a database of all of my daily experiences. My brain isn't that great at organizing and recalling data, so I want to take all of the data I receive and feed it into a machine that can organize and recall it for me. I want a digital copy of my brain that I can search through.

The AI can pick up from my conversations that I promised Bill the TPS reports at 4. Because I'm bad at remembering and actioning on things, it can pop an event into my schedule. Or it can pick up that I said I'd work on encabulator designs in six standups but there's no reference in my commit history and nag me.

I could ask "what do I know about encabulation" and get every article I personally have read relating to mazelvanes and perfabulated amylite. Or "what was that book I read one time about time traveling dogs", or "what's my sister in law's favorite color?", or "what did Kathy say last week about her kid's audition?"

Better yet, it could scan through conversations and guess that Alice wants fancy German chocolates for her birthday because she mentioned it 18 times.

There's just some things my brain does badly at. Just part of the neurological lottery I guess. I want to make up for that by offloading cognitive effort onto a machine. That will massively improve my quality of life, which has the side effect of making me much, much more productive.

I feel like this is a more positive way to help ADHD people. It works with you to make up for the things you're deficient at, rather than making you work harder to compensate. It's actual helping and not "you can do better"

I think everyone could benefit from this type of thing, but right now I see enormous potential for actually helping ADHD and autistic people.

Re: Cognitive AI for ADHD

#116

Post by callalex »

tivert wrote: post #56
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 "tr…

>I’m sorry

No, don’t be sorry. The behavior displayed by this product and its creator can be at best described as offensive hubris, or more accurately I would describe the behavior as disgusting.

Re: Cognitive AI for ADHD

#117

Post by hirvi74 »

btilly wrote: post #84
fragmede wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It seems to be an effort to game you into being a more productive worker, and not actually helping you live with ADHD. Where ADHD leads to problems being productive despite having the intelligence to do the job, and that jobs tend to, y'know, fire you if you're not productive, and you go homeless without money, which you get from having a job, isn't helping ADHD people be productive the same thing? As far as your t…

People are more productive when they work with their strengths, instead of trying to address their weaknesses. Read https://www.amazon.com/First-Break-All-Rules-Differently/dp/... for more on that. In the meantime highly productive people from Thomas Jefferson to Richard Feynman appear to have had ADHD. Do you really think that this app would have made a positive difference in their lives?

> Thomas Jefferson to Richard Feynman appear to have had ADHD

Based on what behaviors other than being somewhat eclectic? I've seen people try to diagnose historical figures before, but I have never seen these two on any list that I can remember.

Re: Cognitive AI for ADHD

#118

Post by jamiek88 »

ughitsaaron wrote: post #95
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…

> it solves problems that I don't have, and ignores the ones I do have This is exactly what I suspect of virtually any kind of app, software, platform, etc. I’m advertised as intended to help me with ADHD. ADHD is expresses itself in such a broad variety of ways. I just don’t trust that any kind of app is actually so tuned into my experience of ADHD that it could actually be helpful. I hesitate to say this: but, it’s…

Yeah it’s way more than being scatter brained.

Re: Cognitive AI for ADHD

#119

Post by wombat-sauce »

fragmede wrote: post #63
overnight5349 wrote: post #61

The entire content of this website is six bullet points and three or four sentences. You really need to do a lot better than that. It looks like the cheapest, shadiest, slapped together "I hooked ChatGPT into google calendar" project, same as all the other "AI" projects coming out these days. You've offered no compelling reason to use this, nor explained what it does or how it can help me except in the vaguest of ter…

> It seems to be an effort to game you into being a more productive worker, and not actually helping you live with ADHD. Where ADHD leads to problems being productive despite having the intelligence to do the job, and that jobs tend to, y'know, fire you if you're not productive, and you go homeless without money, which you get from having a job, isn't helping ADHD people be productive the same thing? As far as your t…

> As far as your trust issues go, that's for each individual to decide. Some people are able to see past their cynicism and derive value from the products companies make.

Your attempt at framing consumer protection as trust issues undermine the emotional scope of being a human being. You should seriously evaluate why someone who asks for the right to privacy is being framed in your mind as having a “trust issue.”

AI, in its current iteration as a centralized technology, will encourage future rent-seeking by incumbents and impact those dependent on it. Open access to models and locally running offline AI technology will be critical to its long-term success.

Re: Cognitive AI for ADHD

#120

Post by callalex »

robbiet480 wrote: post #86

Recently found success in a similar way to what is offered here using Rewind.ai, specifically its Ask Rewind and instant meeting transcription features. For those in the comments here wishing for a on device solution, Rewind is fully on device and your data never leaves it except for Ask Rewind.

>specifically its Ask Rewind >data never leaves it except for Ask Rewind

This is why your comment is being flagged. You managed to contradict yourself with two sentences, while also presenting the tone of an ad.

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