Is the psypost.org link paywalled for others? Or just the link to the original study?

100% this. Coming out of an extended hyper focus is not only exhausting, it's untenable. The burnout feels awful.

Disregarding your physical needs in pursuit of dopamine for 20+ hours is a symptom.

You fucking people are really making me feel like I have this.

I was just thinking that when I read:

“This might mean that people with ADHD perform their best in more demanding environments (perhaps environments that have stronger immediate consequences, like needing to put food on the table for a family or pay rent monthly). It also might mean that people with ADHD take more on their plate when their symptoms are relatively at bay.”

You mean the condition associated with dopamine regulation is affected by periods with a high density of short term goals with well defined, tangible outcomes?

Any suggestions on ways someone might use this theory to better manage their symptoms? How can I make myself feel more busy when life isn't keeping me busy enough?

I've tried asking my manager for more work, but they've instead shifted some of my work to other people. I've been considering looking for a second job, but I'm afraid that will swing things too far to the other side.

I hope you're doing alright now. I know moving can be extremely stressful, and hopefully your recovery time is enjoyable.

I remember once in college that I had a big paper to write, and I decided that I was going to get started on it "early" so that I could finish it early and avoid the deadline stress. I legitimately started it early, but somehow still managed to finish it at the very last minute. I spent my entire weekend in the library, and I don't think the final product was significantly better than if I had procrastinated on starting. I just spent a lot more time on the research part of it, and didn't really start putting anything together until the deadline stress kicked in.

Since that experience, I find it even more difficult to convince myself to start things early, since I'm afraid it will just mean spending more time on stressful tasks.

This 100%

There is a limit to how much I can excel under high pressure environments until everything falls apart and I spiral into what seems like incompetence.

It’s actually that fall that caused me to finally get diagnosed. It took a couple years, a pandemic, and multiple people at my job retiring in short order, but I finally couldn’t balance all the spinning plates any more.

So much this

70+ hour 5-7 day work weeks in a super high demanding job where people are basically hollering things for me to do that needed done in 2-5 minutes no-stop? I did that shit for 2 years. But man would I crash and burn out when I'd crash and burn.

Panic attacks, drinking like a fish, smoking pot like I was afraid of a non-smoke filled breath.

0/10 would not recommend.

Yeah, my experience is that if I have too much free time, I somehow don't get anything done. I'm much more productive and happy if I have a busy, but manageable to do list. Short periods of "too much" to do are also okay, especially when they have a clear end in sight, but they must be balanced out by a break of some sort.

Same here! I've repeatedly tried to explain this to my manager, and their response is that I should learn to delegate more. I feel so lucky to have a job that demands so little of me, but it sucks because I end up underperforming and unhappy. Since it's clear at this point that my manager won't give me more work, I guess I need to find other ways to make myself feel busy.

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