^"Just Do it", Freeze and Forget: Time, Tasks and Attention
Deficit Disorder. -Kenneth Udut
"Just Do It!" can sometimes be terrible advice, especially to
someone with ADD/ADHD (the disorder is often undiagnosed,
especially in adults, and hiding behind mostly successful coping
skills).
It can set up a "fight or flight or freeze" response. The
amygdala kicks in, because your body's systems perceive a saber
tooth tiger coming at you and you have a split second to decide
what to do. If you can't fight or run, you freeze.
And freezing is the most common response in civilized society.
Freezing looks like procrastination. But really, it's a coping
mechanism.
It's not a rational response. You can't think your way out of
it. Brain chemicals are spilling all over the brain and making a
huge mess of being able to think clearly.
Because you can't think clearly, you go back to what you were
doing at the moment of interruption until everything clears up.
It takes a good 20-30 minutes for it go away and by that time,
you've forgotten what it is that you were supposed to "Just Do".
This pattern repeats itself over and over, with the person who
is trying to be helping (using THEIR coping skill of "Just do
it" - which works for them - and giving it to the person who has
a fast responding amygdala.
The work is delayed, often not getting done, the person is
perceived as lazy, needing a kick in the butt, and the task
giver says, "Just do it!" again, repeating the cycle.
The answer?
If possible, assign tasks where what needs to be done is made
clear, and be clear about when you expect it to be done. Writing
it down helps, as writing is less likely to set up the response
than tone-of-voice.
Of course this isn't always possible, as life is often an
aggressive, hurried world, but a good technique for
people/skills management.
Even if the amygdala response kicks in, there should be plenty
of tme to recover - it only takes about 20-30 minutes.
And once the person with ADD/ADHD has recovered, they have,
written down clearly, what's expected of them, and when the task
is expected by.
it's so simple but amazing how rarely it is applied.
Is it a cure-all? No. The person with ADD/ADHD might *also* be
lazy and a procrastinator, or get caught up in things that are
more interesting - or something else comes along to distract
them...
..but at least it's a step in the right direction, bypassing the
freeze/forget response by being clear of your expectations.
