Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Cognitive AI for ADHD

comigo.ai

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

151–160 of 240 posts

Re: Cognitive AI for ADHD

#151

Post by Doxin »

claviola wrote: post #42
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…

> If I have positive motivations to do X, distractions are easy to set aside. If motivations are negative, I will be unable to resist creating distractions. And a straightjacket that prevents that leads to insanity. How do you deal with chores?

not OP, but what works surprisingly well for me, is doing chores when I am in the mood. That does sometimes mean cleaning out the dishwasher at 3AM, but at least it gets done sometimes instead of never.

Just keep an eye out for productive moods. Keep checking with yourself if you feel like doing chore X and if the answer is "yeah I guess" drop everything and do the chore.

Re: Cognitive AI for ADHD

#152

Post by albert_e »

kalupa wrote: post #52
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!

So...

ATTENTION is all you need?

Re: Cognitive AI for ADHD

#153

Post by scns »

krono wrote: post #108
acchow wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Learning to create motivation is the ultimate hack for insufficient executive function. People tend to think of motivation as some innate property of your person. But it's actually an emotional response to inputs.

ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder. The symptoms of this disorder are caused by physical differences in the brain, right there in the prefrontal cortex where those responses to inputs are generated. It sometimes happens that I just physically can't bring myself to complete some simple but important chore. That's not because I'm mentally weak, but because my ADHD brain does not provide the right amount of dopamine…

> ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder.

At first i wanted to disagree, then i realized why. Disorder means wrongly ordered or sickness. ADHD is classified as such, and if you want treatment, you need to get yourself diagnosed.

I really dislike the pathologizing of every neurotype that deviates from the imaginary normal person. I'm pretty sure, if you look closely you'll find something "broken" in everybody.

Other perspectives are possible. ADHD can be an advantage. A survey in a network of CEOs found over 60% have it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdT4DIiX7Nk

Some become a Rockstar: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ElaL9Zo_Oes

Re: Cognitive AI for ADHD

#154

Post by lacrimacida »

klausa wrote: post #46
lacrimacida wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Keep an notepad file open; only when you remeber add stuff to it. At some point it will become a hardened habit and honestly much better than some AI crutch. There are better uses for AI in my opinion..

> At some point it will become a hardened habit and honestly much better than some AI crutch. One of the symptoms of ADHD is borderline impossibility of forming habits, in the way that neurotypical people think about them.

Not true at all, and obviously im on this thread because im not neurotypical. ADHD is about misfunctioning emotional regulation and nothing to do with inability to form habits, as a matter of fact coping strategies is basically habits that work with disfunction. With ADHD I can focus extremely well, hyperfocus actually but not on the things that I find boring.

Re: Cognitive AI for ADHD

#155

Post by scns »

btilly wrote: post #142
Robotbeat wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you be more specific about what you do?

Not in a comment, sorry. I could write a book, and it would still feel vague. And what I do for myself, isn't going to work the same way for you. I will say that my path involved a lot of work on self-honesty. A lot of work on body awareness. (A lot of emotions show up in your body.) A lot of work on building empathy and gratitude. Meditation played more than a small role. All of that just to get to the point where I…

Once here on HN, someone wrote that meditation helps him/her better than all medication. Well, it strenghtens the "minds muscle" if you will, calms down and teaches handling distractions.

[edit] The best book on meditation might be John Yates - Mind Illuminated. Got it after a recommendation here on HN.

Re: Cognitive AI for ADHD

#156

Post by Osmose »

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…

It really does vary wildly from person-to-person. I know folks for whom atomoxetine did wonders, but 4 months on it for me had almost no improvements in my symptoms but a bunch of minor side effects.

Like lots of medications, you really do just have to try out several until something works well with your particular body.

Re: Cognitive AI for ADHD

#157

Post by ddmf »

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…

Started on atomoxetine in February - I was 47 - the difference it has made with regards to staying on task, and short term memory is staggering. Doesn't really help with motivation though, sadly.

I wasn't aware of the long term positive changes, perhaps this is what my psych should have said instead of giving me an analogy of floating down a river and wanting me to carry on down that same stream without the meds...

Re: Cognitive AI for ADHD

#158

Post by flir »

krono wrote: post #133
gmadsen wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ADHD is diagnosed by the occurance of defined symptoms. like most things in the DSM. Many things can manifest psychologically to give the collection of symptoms. Its not purely or even needs to be structural differences in the prefrontal cortex

The specific set of symptoms and the diagnosis they would lead to according to the DSM, are in fact rooted in a set of interconnected structural neurological differences in the prefrontal cortex. The ability to recognise when someone might be thirsty, doesn't mean dehydration no longer exists. They go together.

> in a set of interconnected structural neurological differences in the prefrontal cortex.

Can you prove that? Because my understanding is that ADHD isn't diagnosable by imaging the brain. If there was a structural difference, presumably it would show up on scans? Or at least post-mortems?

Re: Cognitive AI for ADHD

#159

Post by throwaway60707 »

btilly wrote: post #128
gmadsen wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ADHD is diagnosed by the occurance of defined symptoms. like most things in the DSM. Many things can manifest psychologically to give the collection of symptoms. Its not purely or even needs to be structural differences in the prefrontal cortex

I prefer the procedure from 20 years ago. Where ADHD was defined by having the systems, and then testing every other thing that it could be. It took my son 2 months to be officially diagnosed. A real pain? Sure. But a heck of a lot better than the situation today where kids with chronic sleep deprivation are given an ADHD diagnosis, then sent home with a medication that masks the sleep deprivation while giving them i…

My ADHD medication (yes, stimulants - and a pretty high dosage in my case) causes me to slow down and sleep. Then I wake up about an hour or so after taking it and am a normal person. I was diagnosed as an adult, but this was always the case for me - as a teen I drank 3 redbulls in the evening and went to sleep, because I finally could as my brain stopped keeping me awake with millions of thoughts.

Re: Cognitive AI for ADHD

#160

Post by fragmede »

overnight5349 wrote: post #72
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…

> isn't helping ADHD people be productive the same thing? Sure, if you believe the meaning of life is working as hard as you possibly can for no benefit until you die. Real people in the real world have passions, desires, hobbies. Chores, relationships, responsibilities. We have lives . If you've ever met someone with severe ADHD, you'd see that it affects your life deeply and can greatly decrease your quality of lif…

I'm not sure which part of what I wrote got you so triggered. I have ADHD, among other things. My ADHD isn't the same as your ADHD. Medicated, I'm able to do things and have a life. I have hobbies. Without it, my apartment's a mess and my life is in shambles and all I can do is scroll Reddit. I'm not sure why you took my comment so poorly, could you help me understand why?

I'm sorry you have it too.

Post reply on HN