Danny Profile picture
19 Oct, 5 tweets, 2 min read
One of the first steps in managing your mental health is to learning to recognize your automatic, irrational thought patterns and spirals.

Instead of being dragged along by the emotional wave, learning to keep your head above water, breathe and slowly swim towards the shore. /1
So for me, one of my common spirals was when I faced failure.

I would AUTOMATICALLY (stressed because they start off completely subconscious and automatic) start thinking:

'Of course I failed. I'm a failure after all. This is why I should never try.' /2
These automatic spirals would drag me along and make me feel worse.

At first, I had to sit down and consciously work on them. Learn to recognize and stop the thoughts.

After a few years, it became automatic. When I start feeling bad, I habitually stop the spiraling. /3
Yes, this is a learned skill and we get better with practice.

So for RSD:

I start feeling bad, and my coping method kicks in.

I remind myself that I have RSD so it probably wasn't as bad as I think and start looking at alternative angles. /4

butthethingis.com/how-i-beat-bac…
For negative emotions in general, I remind myself that it will pass.

The intensity and our focus issues can mean we start hyperfocusing on the negative emotions.

Time blindness can make it feel like it has and will last forever.

But everything is temporary and will pass. /5

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More from @ABCsofADHD

17 Oct
ADHDers are incredibly likely to have other diagnoses separate to ADHD. These comorbid conditions, can masks issues, complicating treatment.

When I started managing my depression, my ADHD symptoms 'got worse'. Depression was 'suppressing' my ADHD issues.

butthethingis.com/adhd-and-comor…
Hell, I didn't even realize I had ADHD cause of the depression.

It really masked all of my more hyperactive symptoms. No interrupting, no rapid thoughts, no excitability, none of the ADHD chaotic-ness.

Inattentive symptoms were iffy cause depression can cause similar issues.
Looking back, ADHD with depression can really look like 'just' depression.

If I met the 'past me' now, I don't think I'd be able to tell that 'past me' had ADHD.

You can see how this would complicate diagnosis and treatment.
Read 5 tweets
1 Aug
I had a though.

I've always perceived/ described my meds as helping me focus. But that's not technically true.

It actually makes me much less likely to be distracted.

While the outcome is the same (increases attention), I think the framing is different and more accurate.
How we percieve and think about something is massively important as it changes our expectations.

Meds don't fix all of our problems. Saying it helps focus might cause a newly diagnosed ADHDer to think it could.
When I started taking meds, they weren't super effective.

Why? Cause meds just help you do what you want to do in the first place.

When I first started taking meds, I didn't know how to want to do things.

Self motivation coping mechanisms are needed to make best use of meds.
Read 5 tweets

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