Tuesday, January 17, 2012

THE ADD COACH IS BACK…THIS BLOG IS ABOUT STRESS

Having taken a recess for several months I’m back blogging about adult ADDers under stress. I am an ADDer and am currently moving from my big house to a condo. The buzz words are “decluttering and “ downsizing”, two terms I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. Up to a point I was hyperfocused and multitasking all the time, except when I was at work. But as the moving process continued and became more intense with greater stress, I became totally inattentive in many areas and did ridiculous things.

For example, I didn’t realize I had dumped a whole box of tissues into the washing machine, and you can imagine the result. Even with drying one load several times, clothes had to be thrown out. Not only that, but when I reached into the dryer, a trash bag full of paper balls came out, which kept happening no matter how many times I spun the dryer. As a result the duct system had to be fixed, etc.

There were other events that occurred such as pressing the computer button twice to buy an item, followed by calls to customer service which were useless. Then there was the temporary loss of my wallet in my pocketbook, which was found in my computer case. Did I look there for it? Of course, but I didn’t find it.

The message is that ADDers work well in a high arousal state until
Until we go over the top and the inattentive part kicks in.

2 comments:

Cheryl Rawson said...

Hi Dr. June. Thanks for your posts, this is a wonderful blog. I'm an ADDer too, although I've only recently been diagnosed. When I did find out, it was like: Finally! Everything makes sense now! I'm also fairly efficient at work, but when I come under stress, it's hard for me not to break down. I did find a great site for adults with ADD: http://onlineceucredit.com/edu/social-work-ceus-lb. It's a great resource. I'll be visiting your blog more often too!

Dr. June Kaufman said...

I really appreciated your comment on my blog Cheryl. Yes, the stress can get too great when multitasking and hyperfocusing occur. Also,the stress can be extreme when nothiing is happening, like in "leisure" time.

Dr. June Kaufman