Attention

I was wondering who here has attention problems and if it's related to your mood, anxiety or something else? Only if you feel like sharing of course. I honestly feel like I have ADHD sometimes. Like my mind can be so busy and scattered, but it's not just related to my mood. I guess sometimes it's quieter than others, though. I've noticed this is an issue when someone will ask me what I was thinking about and I'll have been thinking 10 things at the same time and don't even know the answer. I have to constantly redirect my brain. I am working on mindfulness of this fact and how to manage it. Just curious if others can relate?

I ave attention issues, too. Mine may be different from yours. I need my environment to be very quiet in order to be able to concentrate. when I become more tired in the evening, my thoughts are all over the place.

I just forget things a lot so thats my problem with attention. I even do that in person.

Hey @yellow_fleurs have you ever been evaluated for adhd? Adhd and bipolar are often comorbid with each other.

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Originally Posted by yellow_fleurs I was wondering who here has attention problems and if it's related to your mood, anxiety or something else? Only if you feel like sharing of course. I honestly feel like I have ADHD sometimes. Like my mind can be so busy and scattered, but it's not just related to my mood. I guess sometimes it's quieter than others, though. I've noticed this is an issue when someone will ask me what I was thinking about and I'll have been thinking 10 things at the same time and don't even know the answer. I have to constantly redirect my brain. I am working on mindfulness of this fact and how to manage it. Just curious if others can relate?

I struggle with my racing mind a lot. Generally I can handle numerous things happening at the same time, but then there’s that last bit added and I crumble.

My T said he can see a lot of ADHD traits and struggles in me. My Pdoc agrees. I said ad that label if you want doesn’t matter to me.

Personally any medications that could be tried are ones that I honestly refuse to try for a variety of reasons.

I’m really working hard on mindfulness.

When I’m in overload I mentally curl into a ball and either escaping into a certain book series I love or a few Tv shows.

I struggle with concentration a lot, especially when I have depressive symptoms. Which is a lot. I have a tough time focusing at work and can be easily distracted. I have a tough time reading or watching TV a lot.

One of the things I really struggle with is concentrating on what people are saying to me. Very very common for me not to hear it and have to make people repeat themselves because my mind was somewhere else. My poor son knows this all too well. Actually makes me feel bad to struggle with this because it makes people feel like I don't care what they have to say. It's not true. I just can't concentrate on the words.

I wish I knew how to answer this, because I wonder about it. My mind usually goes 100 miles a minute, but I'm a pro at multitasking. So it seems that I'm doing 5 things at once, but jumping from one to the other, yet they all get done.

I have attention/concentration problems, and allegedly "severe" combined ADHD (hyperactive-impulsive and inattentive). I'm not so sure I have "severe" ADHD, though. I think it gets worse when I'm manic, so I can see how my attention/concentration problems can be "severe" at times. Then on top of that, I have bad anxiety and psychosis, both of which impact my attention/concentration as well. And even then, depression does it too.

In your case, it really could be anything, but it sounds like you're having racing thoughts. Anxiety can cause racing thoughts if it turns out ADHD isn't the cause of them. In fact, anxiety can cause fidgeting, restlessness, inattention, etc. just like ADHD can. So they can look pretty similar sometimes, and many therapists will tell you that. Plenty of people with anxiety are misdiagnosed as having ADHD, FWIW. So look into anxiety as well. Maybe get a psych evaluation to figure out what the root cause of these symptoms are.

I’ve been assessed for ADHD. I have traits of the illness, but don’t meet the criteria for diagnosis. That being said, I found the medication useful, though I only took it when in college.

Hey @Merlin- I do not know how old you are but did you outgrow your adhd? Is that why you only took meds in college? If anything my adhd has gotten worse as I have aged. Unmedicated I am a disaster.

I’m 35. I still have the traits of ADHD, but I can mitigate them well enough with behavioural therapy when I’m not in school, whereas I find it difficult to focus on homework and studying without the meds.

@sarahsweets several years ago I saw a psychiatrist who put me on a low dose of adderall, but said based on a questionnaire it probably wasn't ADHD. He did think I had attention problems, but wasn't sure why. I do relate to several of the symptoms of ADHD, except am not super impulsive. I can also hyperfocus for very long periods of time if I get in the zone, that's kind of the only way I can work. Other times if I can't get focused I am alll over the place and so frustrated. I will say the adderall helped me, but made me more irritable so I stopped taking it after maybe 6 months. In a weird way I was happier and less anxious because I felt I could focus, but was also too keyed up. I do have anxiety issues so maybe my attention problems are just related to that. I will say in middle school I had a hard time with all the organization and focusing in class to the point that I failed classes. I have since learned how to compensate and I do well in classes/work, but it's a struggle sometimes. Because I mostly cannot focus I learned to just teach myself outside of class for the most part.

Yes, I am trying the mindfulness, too. I think it will help me a lot of problems but it's a LOT of work to get good at!

Depression does make my concentration worse, too. Yes, auditory stuff is hard for me, I am always struggling too and then forgetting what people told me. I do feel bad, too.

Thanks for the response. Yeah I do have OCD my therapist thinks which I think can be quite distracting with all that anxiety. Sometimes my brain feels foggy even when not stressed, but then there's depression which can cause some of that, too. I might considering talking to my therapist about a psych eval.

How do you do in groups? Social situations? Are you able to read and process the emotions of others effectively? What about noise or other things that stimulate the senses?

Your tendency to hyperfocus had me wondering...

I think I do okay with emotions, I'm usually good at reading them. I'm just overly sensitive to others emotions at times.

I'm not good in social situations especially groups. I had a hard time socially as a kid and was always told I was weird and sometimes picked on. I still struggle socially and I'm not sure if it's anxiety or what. I'm okay with close friends though. I have a very hard time with sensory stuff from light to noise to touch. I have to go to the airport today and it might cause me to panic. I have to find a corner away from people and distract myself with music.

I was asking because I thought maybe you might be on the Aspergers spectrum somewhere. I have some of the same things going on and I've taken a few tests that show I might be somewhere on the spectrum. I show a decent amount of atypical processing, but most people experience me as 'normal'. I think I mostly just learned how to adapt and blend in. Like you, I process emotion well and have great empathy. I really struggle in crowds though and my senses are easily overloaded. I also have a tendency to hyperfocus. I love teams, but I don't really like social groups. I do better with one or two people at a time.

Just food for thought. I'm not trying to diagnose you, but a couple of things you mentioned made it cross my mind.

I think a psych eval would be a great idea if you've got the money for it. I've done multiple, for various things.

If you can afford a general evaluation that includes an IQ test, I personally think you should go for that, rather than doing a small evaluation and just filling out a bunch of questionnaires. Even though I personally don't think an overall IQ score can accurately describe one's intelligence (because intelligence really is multifaceted and not everyone is a good test taker), I do think IQ is useful in describing your overall level of functioning at that moment and identifying areas in your life where you struggle. Heck, certain parts of IQ tests themselves can even assist in identifying Parkinson's, "clinical clumsiness," or things you wouldn't expect they could identify. Not saying you have Parkinson's of course, but my IQ test included fine motor movements, impulsivity checks (for ADHD), etc..

I can't just " sit their and do nothing". when I'm watching tv or listening to music, or what ever, my mind always has to be somewhere else (not completely unfocused,), but enough to let me focus on something else if I get bored (my attention span is very short)

I usuually say: if something doesn't grab my attention in the first 5/10 minits, it's not worth my time

but if it is good, and I like it, if I make an effert I can focus my attention on it (but it does require a real effert)

I sat through the whole downton abby movie, even I was impressed with that (even if I had candy next to me taking my attention away a bit)

Thanks for sharing Fern. That's interesting you have similar symptoms. Was finding out you might be on the spectrum helpful in any ways?
I never really felt like I met the criteria as I have a cousin who does and I function quite differently, however of course it is a spectrum.
It's interesting though, because when trying to determine if some repetitive behaviors I do were due to OCD, someone mentioned they actually seemed more like stimming. I realize this doesn't mean anything necessarily, just thought it interesting you're the second person who brought this up when I mentioned my behaviors/symptoms. As I haven't brought up all of these symptoms with my therapist I will probably go ahead and discuss them.

Thanks! It probably is a good idea. It gives me anxiety for some reason, having a formal test like that to diagnose me. It might be useful to understand what's going on, though.

It gave a possible explanation of why I've always felt a little different. Like you, I do not meet a lot of the criteria and specifically the social criteria. For whatever reason I have adapted on that front. I am an empath though and I deeply feel the emotions of others. I don't have trouble connecting to others, but I do recognize I process emotion slightly different than most. There's an strong analytical component to it. Irrational emotional displays confuse me sometimes. I feel them, but I don't always understand what motivates them. Mania was a real brain twister for me because it made zero sense rationally. I had to really dig to understand the connections between some of the things I processed at that time.

My perception and thinking patterns are however more in line with those on the spectrum. Essentially, I process data similarly. I also struggle with overstimulation from a sensory perspective.

None of this has ever affected my ability to thrive. I have just always been a thinker that sees in ways most others don't and I never knew why. Knowing my brain works differently helped make sense of that. I don't often tell people I tested out with several traits of Asperger's. I don't identify with a lot of it. I just noticed that you have some of the same traits I do and you diverge in some of the same ways I do.

My best advice would be to stop looking for a label. You're a special blend of awesome and you have some really amazing gifts. Learn to work with what you can and try to find ways to turn your quirks into powers. For example, I tend to hyperfocus. This means I can get stuck way down in the details, but it also makes me a really good analyst. At the same time, I am also hyperfocused on figuring out the big picture. This makes me a strategist. Most analysts I've worked with are really good at one or the other. My atypical brain does both at the same time. On the one hand you could say I'm obsessive. On the other you could say this helped make me a really excellent system designer and I'm great at puzzles

Like I mentioned, I don't like crowds. Too many variables and too much chaos. I love teams though. I am able to use empathy to tap into what they are feeling individually and as a group. I'm then able to blend that together and process it in ways they might not see to help them step around roadblocks to create a better bigger picture.

Just a few examples of how I take my strange and use it for good

Thanks Fern! That's great you've been able to find ways to make things work for you. I actually kind of relate to some of the experiences of individuals with Asperger's, however, I agree searching for a label might not be particularly helpful. I do want to figure out how function better with the way my brain works whatever the reason, though, and make it work for me. I feel like I've been trying to fight against it and also internalized that something is just really wrong or weird about me. I think this has given me some food for thought on things I can work on. Thank you!