ADHD Paralysis Definition
ADHD paralysis is a term given to the total lack of motivation that a person with ADHD feels when overwhelmed. This phenomenon is one of the most common things that holds my clients back from being more productive. It’s a real thing with a biological explanation!
ADHD paralysis occurs when there is too much stimulation from situations all around us. It could be because:
- Our senses are overwhelmed
- A task is too difficult for us at the moment
- We have too many choices to make
Stimulation Problems
When most people hear the word “stimulation”, they think of good, happy, positive things. Stimulation is usually associated with dopamine filling our brains, and dopamine is a feel-good chemical that makes us happy. So any stimulation is a good thing…right?
Dr. Ed Hallowell describes ADHD as being full of paradoxes and contradictions. ADHD paralysis is contradictory because it seems like over-stimulation should motivate us more, but it winds up zapping us of all motivation! It’s kind of like having too much of a “good” thing.
There’s an old joke going around the internet about how ADHD brain is like a browser window with 27 tabs open, looking up 12 different topics, while also playing games. Most of us ADHD’ers think we are great at “multi-tasking”, but the human brain actually can’t pay attention to more than one thing at a time.
Humans can only pay attention to one thing in any given moment of time. Simply put, if we have too many single things to bounce between, we won’t last long before we crash out! If we have too much of any single thing, that can be just as bad. We might crave stimulation, but too much of it is too much for us!
Too Much of a “Good” Thing.
Here’s an example from my life: I love to mix sound for live bands. I think it’s interesting and fun, and I love the feeling of control in my strongest sense – hearing. BUT, if the drummer is too loud for too long, I can’t take it! I’ll leave the venue wide-eyed and shaky and drained, and I’ll need to isolate in a quiet place very soon to calm down.
We live in a rural area, and my son is part of the 4-H skeet-shooting team. I also experience overwhelm when I take him to his practices, but I’ve learned to bring good hearing protection. Altogether, the team members shoot their shotguns about 800 times in a practice, and that’s way too much for me!
So, I’m faced with a paradox. How can I love the sound of a good drummer hitting a well-tuned snare so much and also hate that same sound after a while? How can I have so many fond memories of shooting skeet with my family as a child and also feel so overwhelmed after 800 shots? It’s because I’ve gotten too much of a “good” thing.
ADHD and Finishing A Task
ADHD paralysis doesn’t just come from sensory overwhelm. It can also come from having to do a task that is too difficult or from having to make too many difficult choices. Us folks with ADHD are often masters at getting started…but finishing is probably not our strong suit. I’ve known several entrepreneurs with ADHD who made a career out of starting businesses and selling them before things got boring.
Sometimes it is the act of getting started that is too much for us. (Again, it’s paradoxical!) Getting started means we have to shift our brains into “Do Mode”, and that takes dopamine that we don’t have. It’s like not having enough transmission fluid in a car.
Remember that we get dopamine from tasks that are INCUP. If the task that we have to complete isn’t Interesting, New/Novel, Competitive, Urgent, or something we are Passionate about, we will very likely not do it! In these cases there’s only one way to get it done:
True Grit.
Shoulder down. Push through. Get it done. Commit. That’s the only way. By taking the approach that we need to grit our way through this, we have taken back control. Now the grit gets to become the interesting or new factor. Now there’s dopamine in the process again.
Using grit to plod through a difficult task can teach us that we can do more than we thought we could. Grit challenges us to more strictly manage emotion in the moment to regulate ourselves.
Disclaimer: You’ve probably already realized that you can’t just grit your way through sensory meltdowns or other more volatile forms of overwhelm. That’s OK, there are more ways.
Sometimes we have to understand the problem in a different way. The problem isn’t that we are lazy or don’t want to do the hard thing. Sometimes the problem is that we are avoiding getting started.
Task Avoidance
Task Avoidance occurs when there is a demand or need for us to do something but we can’t seem to make ourselves do it. When this happens, there is likely an emotion that is holding us back. In the moment, it feels like we are paralyzed or just can’t seem to muster up enough energy to do the task. However, an objective look at the larger picture will show us that we have a strong emotion keeping us from doing the task.
The good news is that once we identify the emotion we can more easily overcome ADHD paralysis. Fear is the most common culprit that holds us back. Fear of failure, rejection, disapproval, looking foolish, or many other fears can create a lack of confidence and/or stop us from taking initiative.
Once we label the fear we have, we can tell ourselves the truth that counteracts that fear.
- “I CAN do that.”
- “It doesn’t matter what they think of me.”
- “It’s OK to make mistakes.”
- “If I never try, I never will!”
Wrapping it Up
The first step in managing ADHD paralysis is to figure out what factors are paralyzing you.
- Is it a sensory problem causing overwhelm?
- Solution: Isolate and regulate your senses however you need.
- Is there a task that is too difficult for me right now?
- Solution: Take a break, re-assess the problem
- Am I overwhelmed with choices?
- Solution: Take a break, make a list or a chart
- Am I avoiding starting because of a strong emotion?
- Solution: Identify the emotion holding you back and apply the truth.
Get Help with ADHD Paralysis
I work with creative professionals across Georgia who deal with Anxiety, ADHD, or Autism (Level 1). If you’d like help with these or related issues, give me a call at 770-615-6300.
You can also schedule a session here. I offer both telehealth and in-person sessions, and I’m in-network with Aetna insurance and Lyra EAP. I also provide paperwork if you want to file with your out-of-network insurance.