Category: Strategies and Skills

Research-proven, ADHD-brain-friendly strategies and skills to start, sustain, stop and shift attention and action.

For an anxiety group this time…

Why anxiety/stress? Evolution of the Human Mind (Russ Harris video). Understanding the stress response. And Why Am I Like This?/Where Does Our Stress Come From?.

nicabm-infog-howthenervoussystemrespondstotrauma-pfDownload

Mindfulness for anxiety and stress: Free Guided Meditations (various languages, lengths, subjects) And Dartmouth Student Wellness Center (relaxation practices and more).

Challenging Unhelpful Cognitive Biases: How Your Brain Tricks You into Negative Thinking (Above The Noise, PBS, video); Free Training Possibility

Foundation of Health/Life Force (Stutz clip): Sleep (https://www.newharbinger.com/9781572246270/quiet-your-mind-and-get-to-sleep/); Exercise/Movement Video Tutorials on Exercise and More from John Medina, author of Brain Rules books; Nutrition Greater Good Science Center Article on the Best Diet for Mental Health; Harvard Health Blog: Your Brain on Food

Time, Motivation: BBC Idea How to Do Less but Get More Done and How to Feel More In Control of Your Time; Deep Motivation via Values Exercises

Exposure: Fear Less

Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills (videos): Opposite Action, Communication, Mindfulness

Self-Compassion: exercises (guided meditations, research-proven practices from K Neff’s site); what you practice grows stronger (Ted Talk by Shauna Shapiro, PhD); being kinder to yourself (3-minute video from Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley).

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For an ADHD Group, from self-regulation to procrastination

The Nature of Willpower (aka Self-Regulation aka being the Captain of your Ship)

If you want a condensed version:

Episodic Future Thinking (to remember intentions and follow through with them):

Research Study on Mechs & Fxns: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29130061/

Scholarly Explanation: http://www.its.caltech.edu/~squartz/files/atance.pdf

Understanding, and Responding to, Procrastination

Additional Resources (for all three posts on an ADHD groups)

https://askjan.org/index.cfm (for accommodations, free consults)

https://selfcontrolapp.com/ (for sinking your ships/designing a “no-temptation button”)

https://freedom.to/ (ditto)

https://students.dartmouth.edu/wellness-center/wellness-mindfulness/mindfulness-meditation/mindfulness-sessions-drop-ins-and-classes

https://www.uclahealth.org/marc/audio

https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/a_five_minute_breathing_exercise_for_anxiety_and_mood

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For an ADHD group, from overview to optimization

Understanding ADHD

Video: What is ADHD? https://www.understood.org/en/articles/what-is-adhd

Videos: https://howtoadhd.com/

Cutting-Edge Research on ADHD:

https://mcgovern.mit.edu/research-areas/adhd/

Cool Comics: https://www.adhddd.com/comics/

Multitasking

https://news.stanford.edu/2018/10/25/decade-data-reveals-heavy-multitaskers-reduced-memory-psychologist-says/

To sum up the Stanford research: “In about half of the studies, the heavy media multitaskers are significantly underperforming on tasks of working memory and sustained attention. The other half are null results; there’s no significant difference. It strikes me as pretty clear that there is a negative relationship between media multitasking and memory performance – that high media multitasking is associated with poor performance on cognitive memory tasks. There’s not a single published paper that shows a significant positive relationship between working memory capacity and multitasking.”

But, see more for factors that influence multitasking:

Media-multitasking and cognitive control across the lifespan

“Collectively, the findings suggest that higher levels of media-multitasking are associated with better multitasking performance (as assessed in cognitive tests), but only for individuals aged ~ 7 to 29 years.”

“Interestingly, in our data the sign of the relationship between multitasking costs and multi-media use also changes with age from positive in young participants to negative in older participants, suggesting that the demographic composition of participant groups may have significantly influenced the pattern of results observed in previous studies.”

The study authors concluded, “These findings suggest that age is an important moderator of the relationship between technology use and cognition.”

Dopaminizing

Book: THE WILLPOWER INSTINCT by Kelly McGonigal

Ted Talk (See First Part on Reward Substitution):

Optimal Brain Functioning, Setting Up for Effective Self-Regulation

Talks at Google (see first intervention)

Article: https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/what_is_the_best_diet_for_mental_health

Video (see the two on exercise): https://brainrules.net/video-tutorials/

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Recent Resources for ADHD

Understanding ADHD

Brief, fun video on what it is that accurately reflects the latest and greatest understanding.

Getting what you want when you have it

Effective interventions and therapies This gets you to the blog of the American Professional Society of ADHD and Related Disorders, which was partly formed to spread the word about evidence-based practices.

Practices Christine Carter, who’s connected to the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley, offers a free ebook on ways to play the short game to win the long game. Go back and click on Practices to get to her site and the ebook link.

Coaches We still need good research on ADHD coaches, but what research we now have suggests high satisfaction from those who use them. Thing is, they can cost many quite a bit. A coach through Edge, for example, costs $400 for an initial session and then $125/week (if interested, go back and click on Coaches).

More Click on More for two resources that I previously posted. They remain awesome.

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Stepping over dollars to pick up pennies: What works for optimal cognitive functioning

Hot news out of Israel (Bar Ilan University) and Los Angeles (UCLA):  There’s a way to increase cognitive functioning among children with ADHD that is FREE and leads to BIGGER change than other non-chemical interventions.

What is this magic they speak of? Exercise.

Researchers searched through studies published between 1980 and 2017 on various non-pharmacological interventions for cognitive functions among children with ADHD and narrowed these down to the most trustworthy studies. One of the requirements the researchers had was that the study included an objective measure of cognitive functions.

They examined the effects of several non-pharmacological interventions–neurofeedback, cognitive-behavioral therapy, cognitive training, and physical exercises (aerobic)–and found all the interventions associated with desired changes. Physical exercise, however, rose to the top with the largest average effect size. Granted 18 studies across four interventions is small; however, the results are consistent with tons of research on the association between exercise and optimal physical, emotional and cognitive functioning.

The study.

So this is what my title is about…we often step over the dollars of optimal functioning and well-being to pick up pennies. The dollars are regular physical exercise (aerobic), enough sleep, and healthy eating. The pennies are the skills, strategies, games we may play with ourselves (fun or otherwise) that we often seek instead. The pennies matter; I’m just suggesting you pick up the dollars first.

My two cents. Or dollars. : )   

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The Future and Finances

The “golden years.”
https://quincemedia.com

With ADHD, you’re likely to give up a bigger reward for a smaller one if the smaller one comes NOW and the bigger one LATER. NOW wins time after time. Why? Partly because our future selves are strangers to most of us, and we feel little for them. What do we owe this stranger? For many of us it turns out, “Nothing.” We see this when it comes to money. Specifically, saving it.

I know this can be a bleak subject, but part of the remedy is facing reality. Let’s start with the state of the union on this. I, for one, was blown away.

In the U. S., post-retirement we live 17-20 years on average, and over 50% of us have less than $25,000 saved for these years. This means, apart from social security, over half of us have less than $123/month to live out our “golden years.” More like copper years, right? See https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3764505/.

Sure, for some, this is a continuation of pre-retirement poverty (it’s hard to save living hand to mouth), but for many this goes back to the present winning over the future. At a great cost.

With ADHD, the cost is likely to be higher. Recent research examining the financial status of adults with and without ADHD (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31343233) went beyond confirming prior research noting bad financial news, on average, for those with ADHD. The researchers looked at some of the reasons why this is the case. That is, why less income, less savings, and more debt?

Here’s what they found. Compared to adults without ADHD, adults with it reported more often buying on impulse and more often using “an avoidant or spontaneous decision-making style” (e.g., I will avoid looking at my bank account before buying). On top of this, adults with ADHD scored lower when given measures of financial competence and capacity (e.g., being able to evaluate financial problems and understand bank statements).

But there is good news is. If you struggle with money, things can be better.

Here are some antidotes to an impoverished future (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3764505/):

1) Episodic Future Thinking, or EFT (https://tonyalippert.blog/2019/03/19/what-gets-us-to-change/),

2) Focus on the “cool” versus the “hot” aspects of what you want NOW (e.g., on the color and shape of a cinnamon roll versus the anticipated taste),

3) Sinking your ships by giving yourself no way out (or in) by, for example, leaving money at home when you are out and about apart from what’s needed–no credit cards, Apple Pay, etc.–on hand)–see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPQhj6ktYSo starting where Dan Ariely talks about self-control contracts for more–, and

4) Connect to your future self (https://ggia.berkeley.edu/practice/best_possible_self).

For more examples on the above antidotes, go to https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3764505/.

Here’s a toast to your future self! And to your present one who cares.

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Social Skills Training and ADHD: What Gives it the Best Shot at Working?

A short supply of self-restraint and other characteristics of ADHD can hurt relationships.  Social skills training is one of the interventions used to prevent relationship damage and increase relationship repair.  But does it work?

The results of a fresh-off-the-presses study on social skills training support Russell Barkley’s argument (Understanding ADHD) that skills presented and practiced away from real-life situations at the moment of trouble (e.g., as one is about to curse someone out) may be of little value.

Social skills training had “limited efficacy” according to Canadian researchers reviewing social skills training for kids and teens with ADHD (study here).  Nonetheless, they identified “two promising” ways to increase its usefulness.  First, offer “increased reinforcement and reminders of appropriate social behavior at the point of performance to youth with ADHD (e.g., in vivo, in real life peer situations as opposed to in the clinic).”  Second, encourage “peers to be more socially accepting and inclusive of youth with ADHD.”

In other words, go to the youths’ environments to work on what’s happening there (looking at both their actions and the actions of others toward them).

Maybe some day, we’ll send kids to mental health clinics less often and start going to them, where the action is.  And where science suggests we need to be.

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