Gaming with a messed up brain?

Lounge
1

Well, here’s my situation. I have ADHD/inattentive type. Along with the usual attention problems, many cases of ADHD inattentive are associated with sluggish cognitive tempo. Literally the brain processes information much slower than a normal person. I am one of those people.

For example, my morning showers take 20-30 minutes. My homework and tests take 2-3 times as long as a normal person, and that’s even while I’m taking ritalin. Ritalin, adderall, etc. do help with the concentration issues, but there is no drug out there that will speed up brain processing.

It’s not an intelligence issue. My IQ is 140. However, according to my psychologist who gave me the test, I scored very low in the speed department (I don’t think he gave me a number). Otherwise I would have gotten an even higher score. (I’m not trying to brag, I’m just stating the facts and what I’m dealing with).

I don’t have OCD. I don’t do things more than one time. I’m not a perfectionist. When I finish something, it’s DONE and I don’t go back over it.

Now this slowness of thought effects me most in social situations. I’m a terrible body language reader, and I forget to pay attention to my own body language. I’m just trying to think of what to say next, let alone look for hair flips or subtle IOI’s. Normally I still can’t think of what to say, and my conversations are left with many awkward pauses.

It’s not an anxiety problem. I’m comfortable around people. It’s just hard to process everything that’s happening all at once.

I’m not a total AFC. I’ve studied these techniques for a few years now, and they have worked fairly well. Problem is, progress is very slow because of the obstacles I have in building conversation skills.

Anybody else have a problem like this? Or just have attention problems in general? Things to remember that will help me think of things in conversations faster? Help would be much appreciated.

2

My son has ADD but not the same problems you have with thinking faster while talking to people. At least not that I am aware of. He is only on adderall to help him focus. Most ADD people have high IQ’s. My older brother has it and he is a scientist. He tells me Albert Einstein was believed to have it which is one of the reasons he had so many unfinished projects.

Have you tried TAF. Not to imply that it will be some kind of cure or something but it does seem to help my son quite a bit. It takes him a long time to do his homework because he cant focus on it. A fly on the wall is enough to distract him but if I spray on TAF before he starts and sit near him while he is doing it, it goes much faster and he seems to focus and enjoy it more. Its not the nightmare that it used to be. I only use 1 spray but he is 14 so I dont know how many a adult may need but I think its worth investigation.

Tisha

3

Even before the era of ‘routines’ lots of people who need to convey their interesting qualities efficiently (pundits and the like) have thought through in advance topics that might come up - possible hooks, tidbits and questions - as well as how to weave them into a story. If you’ve already internalised several different directions you can take the conversation, that frees up some more processing power to be in the moment.

Have you explored pharmaceutical solutions - Piracetam and the like? Brain training like Photosonix Novapro? (Others here have better knowledge than me of this tech).

Training.. Paul Ekman facial expression CDs. Peoplewatching in public places (Steveo is one of the resident experts on this). Meisner actor training - ask tacitus. Pua stuff - Juggler… T’ai Chi and other martial arts.

4

Acckk, I couldn’t stand Meisner exercises.

5

Lol. Why not? Were they worth it?

6

The life arts you need to master in order to win are rarely fun. Often they are tedious and drab in the doing… one must think in terms of long range payoff, not immediate gratification…