---
id: 7484046e-a123-4c02-a67a-1822184aed23
title: |
  noboilerplate/scripts/35-adhd-a-left-handed-brain.md at main · 0atman/noboilerplate
status: ARCHIVED
tags:
  - read-later
date_added: 2024-03-25 17:37:48
url_omnivore: |
  https://omnivore.app/me/noboilerplate-scripts-35-adhd-a-left-handed-brain-md-at-main-0-a-18e77555f9a
url_original: |
  https://github.com/0atman/noboilerplate/blob/main/scripts/35-adhd-a-left-handed-brain.md
---

# noboilerplate/scripts/35-adhd-a-left-handed-brain.md at main · 0atman/noboilerplate

## Notes

Another examples:

- Hyperfixation and the struggle to let go of the thing I'm doing, even if it meant to have problems with other tasks/people
- The procastination to start doing something
- The craving for "multitasking", which is more searching for dopamine in distraction while working.
- The meltdowns and struggles when I loose the structure in life: coronavirus lockdowns and the meldown in the institude, when I'm on vacations, now that I don' have a job
- The search of dopamine on other places in class.
- The hurry of doing stuff
## Highlights

* They're not intentionally disruptive in class, they're choosing dopamine-rewarding behaviours.
* They're not greedy when eating, they're choosing dopamine-rewarding behaviours
* They're not unable to listen to you when you talk to them, they're choosing dopamine-rewarding behaviours
* They are not constantly distracted, they're constantly engaging in dopamine-rewarding behaviour, just as evolution has taught us all to do. 

[source](https://omnivore.app/me/noboilerplate-scripts-35-adhd-a-left-handed-brain-md-at-main-0-a-18e77555f9a#4d4650e0-de8d-4038-87de-030d07d5b550) 

---

I no longer could get by on smarts, everyone's smart here 

[source](https://omnivore.app/me/noboilerplate-scripts-35-adhd-a-left-handed-brain-md-at-main-0-a-18e77555f9a#d5939abe-d36f-4fcd-b709-883d979d1237) 

---

Web development might be the best job in the world, it certainly was the best job for me: It's naturally structured, with the work often agreed upon by the team, and divided up into byte-sized tasks. ^2f688b

The prevailing organisation system, scrum, had clear goals and structure that really worked for me, at least at first, it was like solving a puzzle or playing a video game, but every day.  ^b121ff

[source](https://omnivore.app/me/noboilerplate-scripts-35-adhd-a-left-handed-brain-md-at-main-0-a-18e77555f9a#be183259-2e7d-4ff0-bba2-4ce1ef8e7b88) 

---

If you, like many folks,

* wake up to an alarm,
* commute to your job for 8 or 9am,
* do whatever work your boss tells you to do,
* commute home and eat and then sleep,
* only to do it all over again the next day.

You might never notice you have ADHD.

Symptoms like executive dysfunction and inattention might not affect you in the 9-to-5 grind.  ^183e58

[source](https://omnivore.app/me/noboilerplate-scripts-35-adhd-a-left-handed-brain-md-at-main-0-a-18e77555f9a#b594529e-a544-4475-8996-3880700e369a) 

---

Right when I needed to be self-directed, to decide for myself what to spend each day doing. 

[source](https://omnivore.app/me/noboilerplate-scripts-35-adhd-a-left-handed-brain-md-at-main-0-a-18e77555f9a#e5c4e121-b329-4c65-9534-a3d98fa50305) 

---

not whatever random thoughts popped into my mind 

[source](https://omnivore.app/me/noboilerplate-scripts-35-adhd-a-left-handed-brain-md-at-main-0-a-18e77555f9a#e4454351-e4ee-4e0b-89ba-3aca2f501018) 

---

Though illegal drugs famously can boost dopamine, so can caffeine and chocolate. 

[source](https://omnivore.app/me/noboilerplate-scripts-35-adhd-a-left-handed-brain-md-at-main-0-a-18e77555f9a#670219c7-995d-4877-80f6-b6de27776e27) 

---

## Original

<style> :root {--r-code-font: "FiraCode Nerd Font";} .reveal .hljs {min-height: 50%;} </style>

## ADHD: A Left-handed Brain

[](#adhd-a-left-handed-brain)

## (in A Right-handed World)

[](#in-a-right-handed-world)

---

!\[\[logo-head-half-digital.png|300\]\]

## In a Right-  
handed World

[](#in-a-right-handed-world-1)

notes:

Hi friends my name is Tris and this is No Boilerplate, focusing on fast, technical videos.

This video is about ADHD.

Despite not being left-handed, I do have a great deal of empathy for our left-handed cousins because of my ADHD.

A surprising number of left-handed people are ambidextrous, they are equally skilled with either hand.

This makes a lot of sense, in our world there are many manual interfaces that are explicitly right-handed, from scissors, to mice, to industrial machines.

Some tools, like scissors, you can get a left-handed version of, of course. You can fill your house with physical coping mechanisms that help you function. But when you walk out into the world, you will find that nearly everything isn't designed for you.

It's not fair, but

* if you are left-handed, you must learn to be ambidextrous.
* And if you have ADHD, you must learn to cope in a neurotypical world.

---

!\[\[cc-logo.png\]\]

## Public Domain Videos

[](#public-domain-videos)

<https://github.com/0atman/noboilerplate/>

notes: Everything you see in this video: script, links, and images are part of a markdown document available freely on github under a public domain licence.

---

!\[\[tris-fake-wikipedia-contents.png|600\]\] (My very real Wikipedia page)

notes:

As I mentioned in my coping mechanisms video, I have ADHD.

I was diagnosed in school in the early 90s, and have recently started taking medication after an adult diagnosis.

---

## I Am not a Doctor

[](#i-am-not-a-doctor)

### I'm Hoping that Hearing My Story Could Be Helpful for Folks

[](#im-hoping-that-hearing-my-story-could-be-helpful-for-folks)

notes:

#todo

* screenshot this slide My adhd has profoundly shaped my life as a child and through to adulthood.

I made this video to tell you my story, but also to share everything that I've learned along the way.

---

!\[\[becca-champ-headshot.png|300\]\]

[patreon.com/rebeccachampuk](https://www.patreon.com/rebeccachampuk/)

notes:

In addition to drawing upon my own experience of ADHD, I must thank my friend Rebecca Champ, who is currently researching better treatment of ADHD in adults as part of her PhD.

This video has been much improved by her involvement, do check out her Patreon where she posts about ADHD and her cutting-edge research.

Let's start with the big question:

---

## Why Does it Seem Like

[](#why-does-it-seem-like)

## Everyone Has ADHD

[](#everyone-has-adhd)

## These Days?

[](#these-days)

notes:

Why Does it Seem Like Everyone Has ADHD These Days?

I think it's partly just the slow march of medical and diagnostic progress:

The same proportion of the population have ADHD who have always had ADHD, but because we're able to diagnose and treat it so much better than even a decade or two ago, people are more aware of it.

---

!\[\[left-handedness-graph.png\]\]

notes:

## Left Handed Analogy

[](#left-handed-analogy)

It feels to me similar to the suppression of left-handedness in many countries around the turn of the last century, where children were forced to write with their right hand, despite more than a tenth of them favouring the left.

This sinister practice died out in the 50s and the graph has been flat ever since, likely showing the true proportion of actual lefties.

It's important to note that the number of naturally left-handed people didn't actually increase, the number of people learning to be left dominant increased because _we stopped persecuting them_

---

#### The Number Hasn't Increased

[](#the-number-hasnt-increased)

## We just Stopped

[](#we-just-stopped)

## Persecuting Them

[](#persecuting-them)

(maybe this explains other trends...)

[![|200](https://proxy-prod.omnivore-image-cache.app/0x0,s-DI0-b-dOyhJ8rf1_FfhM8rbJ5IMjmQWoU8HvZsNqu8/https://camo.githubusercontent.com/a5559bf8874fbc651ac1cdc6b96301f3f5724f88860cd26f9cb9e91bfdd0598c/68747470733a2f2f7777772e7072696465666c6167732e6f72672f7374617469632f7365617263682f646174612f696d672f70726f67726573735f70726964655f666c61672e737667)](https://camo.githubusercontent.com/a5559bf8874fbc651ac1cdc6b96301f3f5724f88860cd26f9cb9e91bfdd0598c/68747470733a2f2f7777772e7072696465666c6167732e6f72672f7374617469632f7365617263682f646174612f696d672f70726f67726573735f70726964655f666c61672e737667)

notes:

This attitude shift for both left-handedness and ADHD is huge. And perhaps you can think of a few others that fit this pattern too.

Instead of "Here's Timmy, he's a troublemaker" it's "Here's Timmy, he has ADHD"

One of those comments is judgemental, and one of them is constructive.

---

## My Experience

[](#my-experience)

## Childhood

[](#childhood)

notes:

I am extremely lucky. You can kind of reverse-engineer that from the knowledge that I'm a YouTuber. A lot of things had to align for us to be talking today.

As a child I had extremely severe ADHD, then called ADD, as well as Dyslexia, plus the wildcard of Autism. What a winning hand!

But in addition to those three interesting cards that fate dealt me, I had an ace. Or, two, up my sleeve:

---

!\[\[superman-and-wonderwoman.png\]\]

(artist's impression)

notes:

Both my parents, in addition to being wonderful supportive people, taught in primary school.

This experience meant that when their first-born son wasn't making eye contact as early as he should, and seemed more disruptive and distracted among other children, they took FAST action.

And it saved my life.

---

_"Tristram spends most of his time organising his desk and looking around at what other students are doing. This doesn't affect his work **because he doesn't do any**."_

### — My Childhood Report

[](#-my-childhood-report)

notes:

My parents got me to a childhood psychologist who observed me in class, noting hilariously, that (quote)

After the diagnosis of ADHD, my parents lined up all the help I needed, fighting council budgets in our small rural school.

I didn't learn foreign languages as a teenager, I left my friends in these subjects and took lessons in the special education department, and had a dedicated Ancillary teacher to keep me on task in every lesson.

I needed all this guidance to help align my left-handed ADHD brain into the right-handed Neurotypical world that was not set up for people like me.

What's astonishing is that despite attending a state school, this was all provided for me for free.

When I ask my parents how they managed it, they say that they simply would not take no for an answer.

How lucky am I?

---

## So What is ADHD?

[](#so-what-is-adhd)

notes:

If you have a broken leg, there's a clear underlying condition that explains your symptoms. But with mental health, you can't always see the source of the problems.

ADHD, like many mental health conditions, is a classification of groups of symptoms that respond to common treatment, rather than a fixed underlying cause.

There are many hypothesised causes of ADHD, and the most dominant model is a Dopamine imbalance.

---

## Dopamine Imbalance

[](#dopamine-imbalance)

notes:

Dopamine is my favourite brain chemical, and yours too. It is part of the reward system in the brain. Dopamine encourages us to do activities that the brain thinks are good for us.

Our brains give us a huge dopamine hit in anticipation of positive primal activities: eating fatty foods, exercise, sex, entertainment, and so on.

But it also rewards us with a smaller amount of dopamine for doing more cerebral activities:

* Cleaning your house,
* getting an early start on that paper that is due next month
* daily practising art and music, or
* raking up leaves in the yard

In short, non-urgent tasks that you could just ignore. Until you can't.

When we are children, our dopamine system, and understanding of the world, is not developed yet. Our parents and teachers have to persuade us into doing non-primal but important tasks.

Because we are rewarded by our parents and teachers for doing a Good Job in these endeavours, our brain, and dopamine system, learns this, and we start to build autonomous positive habits for ourselves.

But what if this system works in an atypical way?

---

## The ADHD Child

[](#the-adhd-child)

notes:

Imagine a child, like a young Tris, who doesn't get enough dopamine from doing good tasks.

Even before they can speak, they are learning through constant chemical feedback that when they eat a lot, they get loads of dopamine - they feel good. Same with running around and playing, loads of dopamine there. FANTASTIC!

But sitting quietly because mummy told us to? No dopamine. No positive chemical re-enforcement.

And this is a powerful teacher.

We are slaves to our brain chemistry, Dopamine especially, and children especially.

So by the time the ADHD child goes to school, there is a marked difference in behaviour, and they ALL might be because of an atypical dopamine system:

* ==They're not intentionally disruptive in class, they're choosing dopamine-rewarding behaviours.==
* ==They're not greedy when eating, they're choosing dopamine-rewarding behaviours==
* ==They're not unable to listen to you when you talk to them, they're choosing dopamine-rewarding behaviours==
* ==They are not constantly distracted, they're constantly engaging in dopamine-rewarding behaviour, just as evolution has taught us all to do.==

The problem is: The system is not working in the same way as the other children.

---

## Graduation

[](#graduation)

notes:

With all this support, both in-school and outside, by the time I was 16, I was awarded "Most Improved" in our graduation ceremony, an award I felt was somewhat of a back-handed complement! And two years later. I was off to University.

How did I get to university? To paraphrase Dave Lister, from Red Dwarf:

---

!\[\[lister-milkshake.png|800\]\]

— Dave Lister (AKA Lister of Smeg, Cloister the Stupid, Sebastian Doyle, Skipper, Cinzano Bianco, Spanners)

notes:

> The normal way you get into University. The same old, usual, normal, boring way you get in. I failed my exams and applied.

But now I was on my own, no-one could tell me to pay attention in class, they couldn't even force me out of bed to go to class.

And self-direction is a nightmare for someone with ADHD.

---

## University Experimentation

[](#university-experimentation)

notes:

Starting university, in 2004, I had access to broadband internet for the first time - imagine that!

This allowed me to easily research ways to organise myself, what I would later come to know as _coping mechanisms_.

At this stage, I thought I was cured. I had that 'most improved' award, after all. I was making eye contact like a champ, and my university grades were good.

However, I knew that I was only scraping by. I was legendarily forgetful, missing both social and school appointments regularly.

I started researching as much as I could, reading early Lifehacker articles and blog posts. I started building more coping mechanisms.

* I had built enough of them for school, but not university
* ==I no longer could get by on smarts, everyone's smart here==
* But with the ADHD diagnosis, I was able to use the university's systems set up for people like me to just about get by.
* By the end of university, fresh coping mechanisms in hand, I once again thought I was cured, and I began my career as a web developer.

---

## Professional Life

[](#professional-life)

notes:

==Web development might be the best job in the world, it certainly was the best job for me:
It's naturally structured, with the work often agreed upon by the team, and divided up into byte-sized tasks.==

==The prevailing organisation system, scrum, had clear goals and structure that really worked for me, at least at first, it was like solving a puzzle or playing a video game, but every day.==

And they were paying me to do it!

I became senior very quickly, then team lead and everything was looking up.

However, what I was experiencing was masking, not pure victory as I thought. And it happens to millions of people:

---

## ADHD Doesn't Present Strongly in a Structured & Deadline-Filled Environment

[](#adhd-doesnt-present-strongly-in-a-structured--deadline-filled-environment)

notes:

==If you, like many folks,==

* ==wake up to an alarm,==
* ==commute to your job for 8 or 9am,==
* ==do whatever work your boss tells you to do,==
* ==commute home and eat and then sleep,==
* ==only to do it all over again the next day.==

==You might never notice you have ADHD.==

==Symptoms like executive dysfunction and inattention might not affect you in the 9-to-5 grind.==

But guess what happened in 2020.

---

## THANKS CORONA

[](#thanks-corona)

## I Hate it

[](#i-hate-it)

notes:

Suddenly, your boss begged you NOT to come into the office, working from home became mandatory. And even after the lockdowns lifted, we discovered that in many cases, we didn't need the offices at all.

It suddenly seemed like insanity to go from your home, where you have an internet connection and a computer, to sit in a noisy office where you have an internet connection and a computer.

The collective dillusion of the Victorian workhouse was shattered by the coronavirus lockdowns.

The world experimented, just briefly, with pausing infinite growth and grind:

* Smog lifted in Beijing and Delhi,
* Venice's canals ran clear, and
* Working from home became the new standard.

But this new-found autonomy, freedom, and self-direction was like a tsunami tide, first withdrawing and exposing all the rocks that were so carefully covered, and then returning, crashing down with the realisation that millions of people can't work outside the old frameworks.

---

## Let the Past Die

[](#let-the-past-die)

## Kill it if You Have to

[](#kill-it-if-you-have-to)

notes:

The solution isn't to pack the people back into the workhouse again. We're past that, for all the sabre-rattling of CEOs to get back to the office, that boat has sailed. The leases on the offices have been given up, and white-collar worker's eyes have opened to the fact that they were being tricked into giving away hours of their life commuting for literally no reason.

And the free market, darling of the very CEOs who demand the return to work, has seized upon this efficiency, and will not let it go.

---

## 2020

[](#2020)

notes:

In 2020 I survived the apocalypse, literally and figuratively, though many people did not. Both figuratively and literally.

Wfh did not seem to affect my ADHD like it did for so many others. I think this was because I was already working in an asynchronous highly structured way, my structure came from systems (like JIRA and Trello and scrum), not the physical office, and so didn't affect me much.

The change for me came 2 years later:

---

## Self-Employment

[](#self-employment)

### Or

[](#or)

## Rust Ruined Everything

[](#rust-ruined-everything)

#### (In The Nicest Way)

[](#in-the-nicest-way)

notes:

* THIS is where it fell apart for me, when I went full-time on this channel.
* I created my first rust video (link) to show to a few colleagues who couldn't make my in-person unhinged sermon about this incredible language I'd found.  
   * I uploaded, sent the link to them, and it got 10 views and I thought nothing of it.  
   * 2 weeks later, my email stopped loading one sleepy Sunday because I received so many comments overnight.  
   * The algorithm gods had chosen me, and I started writing more videos.
* After a whirlwind 6 months, I went full time on this channel, supported by my generous patrons.
* I can't thank you enough, by the way

---

!\[\[patreon.png|200\]\]

notes:

It's just me running this channel, and I'm so grateful to everyone for supporting me on this wild adventure.

If you'd like to see and give feedback on my videos up to a week early, as well as get discord perks, and even your name in the credits, it would be very kind of you to check my Patreon.

I'm also offering a limited number of mentoring slots. If you'd like 1:1 tuition on Rust, Personal organisation, creative production, Web tech, or anything that I talk about in my videos, do sign up and let's chat!

Back to my story:

---

## Executive Dysfunction

[](#executive-dysfunction)

notes:

* But again, my ADHD caught up with me.
* ==Right when I needed to be self-directed, to decide for myself what to spend each day doing.==
* I found that I had a problem, and I needed more help.

---

## So how Do We Fix This Dopamine Imbalance?

[](#so-how-do-we-fix-this-dopamine-imbalance)

notes:

If the common cause of ADHD might be so simple, can we just take a dopamine supplement and solve this all?

Surprisingly, for mental health, yes, that's almost exactly what you can do. The medicine is simple, with few side-effects, and if you live in a developed country, available for free, but you must be diagnosed by a specialist.

---

## Adult Diagnosis

[](#adult-diagnosis)

For my UK friends, I went with [ADHD-360.com](https://www.adhd-360.com/)

(not sponsored, obviously)

notes:

By this time it was September 2023, there was almost nowhere you could get an ADHD diagnosis, and those that were still accepting patients had multi-year waiting lists.

After exhaustive research, I found a provider that was still accepting patients. They did this with a clever little hack of being extremely expensive.

After sleeping on it, I decided that I might be repaid many times for my investment, and took the plunge.

The next week I was diagnosed and had medication.

---

## Medication

[](#medication)

notes:

ADHD medication can work wonders if you are being affected by the same dopamine imbalance as affects me.

* They START you on medication for ADHD before much else.
* Which is weird because in other conditions medication is usually the last resort.  
   * You typically try therapy and CBT before antidepressants, for example.
* But ADHD meds are GOOD.

---

## ADHD Meds

[](#adhd-meds)

## Are GOOD

[](#are-good)

notes:

#todo

* re-take and re-record this slide

The path onto ADHD meds can run a lot smoother than when you first start taking other similarly wonderful, life-saving medicines. It is easier to find the right ADHD drug for you, there are fewer side effects, and you don't have to take them for long periods of time to let them build up slowly, unlike (say) antidepressants.

As there is no pill for autism yet, ADHD is my first personal experience with daily medication.

Some of my friends take antidepressants, and it sounds tough. Worth it, let me be clear, but tough at first, before they start working for you.

This is nothing like my experience with ADHD meds.

---

## Properties of ADHD Stimulants

[](#properties-of-adhd-stimulants)

* No dependence/withdrawal
* Lower the dose some days to suit you
* Start and stop whenever suits you
* Treatment holidays encouraged
* Side effects are very slight

notes:

* There's no withdrawal symptoms apart from your ADHD symptoms returning
* Some days you don't need a full dose. It is safe to dial your dose up and down, after initial titration (the week or two at the start where you and your doctor are figuring out the right dose for you).
* Some days, perhaps lazy Saturdays, you can skip the meds altogether, and take a break to watch cartoons on the sofa all day.
* Treatment holidays every year or so are encouraged because with the space the meds gave you, you might have built enough coping mechanisms to function well enough, like I did until this year. If so, you can stop taking them, or reduce their frequency.
* Though your doctor will talk to you about your specific medication's side effects, for me, I only experienced two:  
   * Headache for the first few days,  
   * and euphoria.

The headache was due to dehydration. I felt like in the first week as I was getting used to them, I needed to drink a little more than usual, perhaps a litre more per day. But after a few more weeks that settled down.

The second side effect, euphoria, was very funny.

---

## ADHD Medication Made Me Feel Fantastic

[](#adhd-medication-made-me-feel-fantastic)

notes:

I noticed I was feeling really positive, energized and happy, and I also noticed the word 'euphoria' in the side effects list for what I was taking.

Though I knew that the medication was so low dose that this probably wasn't some chemical high, it did make me wonder!

I mentioned it at my monthly catchup call with my specialist, as we made sure the medication and dose were working for me.

He laughed and confirmed that I wasn't getting high, but nonetheless, it was a common side-effect of taking ADHD medicine.

---

## Imagine

[](#imagine)

## Being in Control of Your Life

[](#being-in-control-of-your-life)

notes:

The happiness I was feeling was that I could finally focus!

To retrain my behaviour from desperately seeking dopamine in distractions, to quietly working on what I want to do:

* Long hours of script writing for these videos, or
* Long hours of focussed music composition, or
* Long hours of quality chats with friends, where I actually talk about what I intend to talk about, ==not whatever random thoughts popped into my mind==

I wish this quiet focus for everyone with ADHD, but getting diagnosed is not just difficult because of the medical system overheads.

A big problem is the stigma about seeing your doctor in the first place.

---

!\[\[south-park-drug-free-treatment.png\]\]

'Drug-free ADD treatment' in S4E3 of _South Park_, 2000

notes:

Treatment of ADHD, or ADD as it was known when I was first diagnosed in the 90s, is plagued by stigma, still.

When I was growing up, most media portrayed ADHD kids as loud troublemakers or inattentive slow-wits. The medicines are in the amphetamine family, a word that is more often associated with ravers, not doctors, despite it being an enormous category of common medicines that all do very different things in the brain.

---

## If Your Body Doesn't Make the Chemicals You Want

[](#if-your-body-doesnt-make-the-chemicals-you-want)

## Store Bought is Fine

[](#store-bought-is-fine)

notes:

We now know better, and we have really excellent treatment options.

My medication is one-a-day, slow-release, and with such a small dose that I barely notice a difference when I'm taking it. I have to look back on my day and think "yeah, that was a good day, I got a lot of stuff done!" before I notice.

There are many medicine options to choose from if you don't like the first one you and your doctor try out.

If it's half as affective with you as it has been for me, it'll still be incredible.

---

## Lessons Learned

[](#lessons-learned)

* This is all very new
* Drugs are good
* Deadlines are good
* Checklists are good
* Study your Triggers and Habits  
   * Then improve them
* Routines are good
* Breaks are important

notes:

ADHD is a modern diagnosis of a challenge that people have been dealing with as long as there have been people. The diagnosis has been available to Boys for the longest, but girls and women and adult men are now finally allowed to have ADHD, as a little treat.

It was only in 1994 that the first conference to discuss gender differences in ADHD was held. And the Adult diagnosis was only agreed-upon and formalised in 2013.

---

## "Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder"

[](#attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder)

notes:

The name is still a problem, and names have power. "Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder"

It sounds very judgemental, doesn't it? As someone with Autism, I don't have a deficit of social skills, or whatever. The name is non-judgemental.

Our understanding is still evolving, and even the dominant Dopamine model I described today is subject to criticism and new research.

(check out Rebecca Champ's published work for details there)

---

## ADHD and Societal Problems

[](#adhd-and-societal-problems)

notes:

It's possible we evolved these ADHD behaviours because of wider population benefits. It might have been bad for the individual, but in pre-historic times, perhaps good for the whole to have a mix of neurotypical and neurodivergent folks.

We're past that now, we don't have to take one for the team any more!

There is a troubling trend that ADHD behaviours are dramatically over-represented in prison populations. Perhaps spiralling dopamine-rewarding behaviours can get out of hand in some people, or, simply, that if you don't fit in to neurotypical society, you can fall out of it.

==Though illegal drugs famously can boost dopamine, so can caffeine and chocolate.== You don't have to look very far for behaviours that increase dopamine that are not always good for you.

When getting a diagnosis, even for the newly-recognised adult ADHD, pre-existing childhood symptoms are essential to find for the medical professional because otherwise it could represent a recent, new condition, and that could be an emergency.

Don't let this historical requirement put you off. If you have ADHD today, you very likely had it as a child. Your doctor will help you.

---

!\[\[coping-video-thumb-build-habits.png\]\]

_"[Hack Your Brain With Elaborate Coping Mechanisms](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUZ9VATeF%5F4)"_

notes:

I couldn't fit all my advice in this script today: I talked about 18 of my elaborate coping mechanisms in a previous video, pinned here and linked in the description, do watch that for more detail on what I do to manage my life day-to-day.

If some of what I've said has struck a chord in you, talk to your doctor.

I was very fortunate to be able to pay for a quicker diagnosis than many of my friends.

But even if I couldn't afford that, my advice to my past self would be the same as to anyone: The wait is worth it, start the ball rolling today.

---

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## Thank You

[](#thank-you)

notes:

## OUTRO

[](#outro)

If you would like to support my channel, get early ad-free and tracking-free videos, vip discord access or 1:1 mentoring, head to patreon.com/noboilerplate.

If you're interested in transhumanism and hopepunk stories, please check out my weekly sci-fi podcast, Lost Terminal.

Or if urban fantasy is more your bag, do listen to a strange and beautiful podcast I produce every full moon called Modem Prometheus.

Transcripts and compile-checked markdown sourcecode are available on github, links in the description, and corrections are in the pinned ERRATA comment.

Thank you so much for watching, talk to you on Discord. \`\`