Posted by Ritch on April 17, 2002, at 0:03:46
In reply to Re: ADD diagnosis... OCD?, posted by mike21 on April 16, 2002, at 19:50:39
> I'm glad you pointed out that they were comorbid- it had never occured to me that they could be so closely related, just because they seem at opposite ends of the psychological spectrum. But after obsessing, I mean thinking, about it I've come up with some theories (see above post).
(snip from above post....) ....In the same respect, maybe a lack of attention could be due to a lack of positive feedback from certain dopaminergic pleasure centers of the brain. For example, social interactions are too variable to give a predictable reward, and the brain disengages itself. Like you, I find comfort in dealing with things in my own little contained world, like working on the computer. But after awhile, I get so locked in that groove, that getting out and interacting with others is difficult. I also get burned out and depressed- I think my brain just gets too tired from working at the same thing.
> From what you say about burning up too much energy on a task, I'd have to say that I do that already. It is more due to perfectionism than anything. Sometimes with a boring task, getting it as perfect as possible gives me a feeling of accomplishment and reward.
>
> I do have a hard time multi-tasking in terms of getting things done in the physical world- I tend to seek out things I am interested in, at the expense of other "boring" things that really *need* to get done.
>
> When you say you burn up too much energy than the task requires, does that mean you become perfectionistic?
>
> Mike
Fascinating post up there Mike. I have this awful mix of bipolar, ADHD, social anxiety/perfectionism, mild neuro probs. with mild LD (CAPD/dyslexia), and they are all intertwined together. It is interesting that amongst the symptoms of ADHD, perfectionism and shyness is commonly listed. My pdoc tells me that my social anxiety/perfectionism is the result of abnormally hypercritical parents that I could never please, and I have over-generalized my responses to them to everybody else in my environment-the trick is to understand that most folks are not as *perfectionistic* as my parents and generally don't give my achievements/behaviour that much scrutiny-so why not just chill out? Of course, genetic predispositions are there making it tough for me as it was made tough for my parents.Enough of that-what about the multitasking thing? SSRI's enhance my ability to multitask. Stimulants tend to hinder it. I think the "locked in a groove thing" is a good place to be if you are trying to study-read-listen-comprehend something new. When it bites you in the ass is when you are doing something that you are already very familiar with. When I get hyperfocused on something I am familiar with and I am taking a stimulant..I start seeing a lot of subtle permutations that I didn't seem to be aware of that somehow need to get "worked out". This is usually work-related logical minutiae (sp?), that really requires only a glossy summary at best-and I wind up burning double the time on it that it really warrants.
I think where the ADHD and OCD differ is the sense of "reward" that you speak about. With my ADHD problems I never seem to reach the *end* of anything. *Time* doesn't seem to have distinct start/stop points. I don't *feel* any kind of *reward* for *anything* that is task oriented. Everything tends to seem like a work in progress. If you give me too much to work on I freak out because I don't know where/what to start and what to finish first!
I think with the OCD there is a "reward" thing like you say that gets released when the "loop" is successful. And reward is related to dopaminergic transmission. I guess it could be possible that in OCD you may be "self-rewarding" yourself for something that doesn't *deserve* a reward: counting all your crayons, i.e.. SO... do you try to snip that circuit in two electro-chemically or find a way to *not* experience the REWARD reinforcement by not *feeling* the sense of reward for something that doesn't deserve that feeling? Sorry, if this is a little improvised.
Mitch
poster:Ritch
thread:101846
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020416/msgs/103302.html