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Cognitive AI for ADHD

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Re: Cognitive AI for ADHD

#91

Post by code_runner »

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…

Oh my god you’re describing all of my days every day. I’ve thought maybe I had ADHD or something but I’ve never read a more accurate depiction of my day to day.

Re: Cognitive AI for ADHD

#92

Post by btilly »

anoojb wrote: post #83
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.

Seems like you're describing motivation as a psychological skill that can be cultivated beyond some innate baseline. How does this work?

It is. I've been trying to offer tips on how it works in my comments in this discussion.

If you want some personal books for yourself, try Meditations (by Marcus Aurelius), The Gentle Art of Not Giving a F_ck, and Atomic Habits. If you want some management books to help with your team, try Peopleware (a classic), First, Break All The Rules (much better than the title suggests), and Tribal Leadership.

Re: Cognitive AI for ADHD

#93

Post by jrflowers »

This is a good idea. A constantly available distraction with unknown usefulness is exactly what people with ADHD need. It really makes you wonder why “a bot that you can drop what you’re doing and chat with in the middle of any task” wasn’t invented earlier.

Re: Cognitive AI for ADHD

#94

Post by copperx »

acchow wrote: post #77
simplemts wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You nailed it on the end for me as an Adult with ADHD diagnosed in my 30s. Motivation has been my biggest A-Ha with ADHD and trying my absolute best to align what I do with what I want to do otherwise I am setting myself up for failure and others for disappointment with me.

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.

I'd like to subscribe to your newsletter, if what you say is true. Can you expound on that idea?

Re: Cognitive AI for ADHD

#95

Post by ughitsaaron »

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 hard hard not to feel offended at times by the ways in which ADHD appears to be radically oversimplified to fit into a narrow product specification and pitched to people who might really need help.

Re: Cognitive AI for ADHD

#96

Post by callalex »

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…

Based on my experiences on this forum and how my vote counts seem to go, it seems the majority of readers are not anti-medication, but the people who ARE tend to be highly vocal and combatative about it. There’s also the whole vocal contingent on here of people that insist that our disease isn’t real and that we should just try harder and have some discipline.

For me personally, I am interested in exploring every avenue available to me to help me get away from medication, because I kinda hate it. The results I get make it worth it, but every medication I try makes me feel bad physically, and I hate the extreme ups and downs throughout the day that stimulants can cause.

Re: Cognitive AI for ADHD

#97

Post by ModernMech »

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…

> 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.

This is precisely why I chose academia. My whole day is mine, no one tells me what to do except which class to teach, and even then I can teach it how I please. It’s perfect for my adhd. They just let me loose and I do science and bring them money. Perfect arrangement. Sometimes I can be a stereotypical absent minded professor tho, but that doesn’t ever really cut against me. Students complain sometimes but I do my best for them and get high reviews, so I think I’m managing okay.

Re: Cognitive AI for ADHD

#98

Post by ModernMech »

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?

Automate as much as possible. I cannot live without a washing machine, dryer, and dishwasher inside my apartment. I tried once and I just had dirty clothes and dishes all the time. Beyond that I just pay for it! I love in an hoa so I don’t have to do yard work or trash, so cores are minimized as much as possible.

Re: Cognitive AI for ADHD

#99

Post by btilly »

cstoner wrote: post #85
claviola wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 I give myself a little reward. Specifically, I "X" out the task on my daily task list. I take this so far as to add items I just completed to my list just so that I can mark them off. It's stupid, but it works. At least for me. I think it comes down to 2 different types of positive reinforcement: 1. It feels good to mark a task done. 2. It feels good to look at a list of all of the things I did that day,…

Yup. Reward early, reward often.

50 small rewards works better than one giant one. Even if the 50 small rewards were just + points TOWARDS getting the one giant one.

Re: Cognitive AI for ADHD

#100

Post by ryanklee »

beardedmoose wrote: post #78
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…

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 itself unreliable. So good results, but inconsistent.

The guanfacine has been much more stably effective at reducing the general baseline tendencies. For me, like I said, it was a miracle, since like you, but for a different reason, I can't take simulants.

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