this post was submitted on 26 Jun 2025
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Forgive my ignorance, but isn't that how all people's brains work, except it's harder for ADHD peeps to regulate?
Pretty much every mental diagnosis that exists is a case of something completely normal which presents in too extreme (or too muted) a fashion in the given individual. The criteria for diagnosis isn't just whether you experience X, but whether X has a significant negative impact on your life.
That was my intuition, thanks!
I would say except "no thoughts, head empty" and "want to do nothing", the rest of the moods are failures to regulate.
If you can regulate, you don't get into a hyperfocus that lets you forget your own physical needs; or feel you want to do "all the things" but simultaneously none of them feels appealing/right.
Interesting, thanks! I'm asking because I definitely go through a lot of these, especially hyperfocus, but it doesn't feel debilitating in the way I'm sure it is for some.
Exactly. It's a matter of scale as well. The "No eat... only focus" isn't "Oh hey, I was having so much fun I'm having lunch an hour late". It's more like "I'm not sure I was even having fun, I was just FOCUSED. Now it's multiple hours past the time to eat, I'm in strong physical pain due to intense hunger and feel off balance/sick from the tanked blood sugar."
How often, how extreme, how much of it is a concious choice vs something you can't stop even if you are aware it's happening.
Much like other neurodivergences. Most symptoms will be stuff that even neurotypicals experience occasionally, which leads to "I feel sad sometimes too. Have you just tried being happy?".
Lol it's been 12 hours? It felt like two.
None of them feel right, and you know that the thing that would is something you're forgetting. Thereby, sapping even more satisfaction from whatever it is you're currently doing — including any shred in the barbed doubt you'll be able to find the "right" thing to be doing, instead. It's more than just exhausting, it's flat-out debilitating at times.
Think of gentle waves vs goddam nightmare storm.