Show HN: Shimmer – ADHD coaching for adults, now on web

Thank you for this comment and the text. I'm also curious about where this text comes from, I'd love to read the rest of it.

And yes, I agree. ADHD is not a "mental" problem, and cannot be "coached" away. ADHD Coaching is one part of a greater pie (e.g. I personally use both medication and ADHD coaching, and a mix of productivity tools). What ADHD Coaching uniquely offers, is to work with what you have, create systems around you and your life, and to get support from someone who gets it.

However, as you mentioned, it doesn't "solve" ADHD or "coach it away", that is not the purpose for sure!

I can personally (and our members too) attest to the fact that there definitely are benefits, perhaps not for every single person and every single coach out there. For me, I've become more productive as I work to manage my energy, align my days with my circadian rhythm, I've learned new techniques around time blocking, my coach has kept me accountable to things that are hard for me to pull through on, and my general quality of life has improved. Could I have gotten this a different way, on my own? Sure, most definitely. Tons of alternatives including self learning and experimentation! That route was just personally very hard for me.

>Where does this come from?

The book "Mind and Tissue" by Ray Peat, available on LibGen (and amazon, for $200 used).

>Are drugs like Adderall or Ritalin sufficient based on this view?

From the text,

> the observation that drugs which stimulate the sympathetic or adrenergic nerves (ephedrine or caffeine, for example) will relieve the symptoms,

So yes, stimulant drugs can treat ADHD insofar as they cause a greater supply of energy to be delivered the frontal lobes. Needless to say that stimulants wear you out over time though. A more sustainable solution is to optimize for brain/body bioenergetics generally. You can read more on his website, raypeat.com.

I'm not a shill, the man is dead, I just think this information is far too important not to share vigorously. It's how I resolved my lifelong depression nearly effortlessly.

The somewhat higher rate of mental illness among higher-IQ people (according to some studies), to me, also points to an insufficiency of brain energy as the principal cause. A more energy-hungry brain will fail more readily under an even slightly faulty energy supply.

Appreciate this question, it's one we've gotten a lot and quite frankly I agree we haven't nailed the best way to articulate it. To answer a few of your questions... - We don't use psychologists or psychotherapists as the front-line helper because there is a severe shortage of them and our main goal is accessibility. There is a provider shortage (psychologists, psychiatrists, therapists, etc.) in the US and most places in the world - Depending on someone's severity, helpers can include parents/teachers, peer support specialists, mentors, coaches, therapists, psychiatrists, the list goes on (I tried to broadly categorize from least to most intensive); our service does not aim to support the most severe. Anyone who screens with high degree of Mh impairment is not suggested to use Shimmer (and we have screening in the onboarding process) - Frankly, depending who you ask, you'll get a different answer for "are coaches respectable". Coaching is a modality that is "up and coming" because of (1) the need for more providers and subclinical support services, and (2) the credentialing / reimbursement models are evolving... see next point: - We align our model most closely to Health & Wellness Coaching, which is estimated to be reimbursed by next year: https://www.wellcoachesschool.com/post/medicare-moves-advanc...

Overall though, we use PhDs/psychiatrists/master-level coaches to supervise, create protocols, trainings, etc. and use coaches to deliver. (Not AI). Our coaches are either credentialed by ICF (International Coaching Federation) like BetterUp or Ginger or Lyra's coaches, NB-HWC (National Board - Health & Wellness Coaching), or have masters-level psych degree and go through our training.

Happy to expand on any of the above!

Appreciate this; curious your perspective on best-in-class solutions (aside from stimulant drugs) for insufficient brain energy? I'm always looking for holistic solution sets.

Also some of our members (for various reasons) can't or won't take medication (which is a whole other conversation) so any behavioral or natural solutions I love to be aware of.

What is your team's take on the theory of ADHD as a "survival strategy" of childhood/parent trauma, and healing it by working through the trauma instead of merely managing its symptoms?