ADHD: Bad for us, but a boon for our ancestors?
ADHD: Bad for us, but a boon for our ancestors?
ADHD is commonly called a disorder. But new science suggests it may have helped our ancestors find food and survive.
You're viewing a single thread.
I think ADHD ancestors could have been innovators and problem solvers who dove heads down hyperfocused into some problem while the others hunted and gathered. They can also be helpful during crisis because their mind gets right into problem solving mode in any crisis. Similarly, I think OCD ancestors might have been good guards/trouble spotters since they're drawn to order and patterns to a great extent.
What are you talking about? I have ADHD and when I get into any crisis (usually they appear due to me procrastinating or not getting in the right mindset to do stuff correctly) I just get nervous and depressed. I absolutely don't get more productive in stressful situations, either I just lock up and try to ignore it until it inevitably bites me in the ass or I try to do it last minute after putting it off for as long as possible and do a shitty rush job.
But maybe that's just me getting the bad aspects of ADHD and Autism without most of the ones seen as more positive since I am also neither orderly nor able to form routines, things that are stereotypical of autistic people.
Have you never started working on reports or projects only when the deadline approaches? To be clear, I'm not saying ADHD people are immune to stress during crisis, but they thrive on that to an extent, because a normally dull task suddenly becomes exciting when there is a consequence to not doing it within a certain period of time. Not all crisis are suitable for ADHD people, I think. They do shut down when they come across certain crises that only creates dread without the benefit of creating excitement.
I hate projects with a long deadline because I start them way too late and then just do bad work in my rush to get at least something I can show off.
When I had to write a report on a school mandated internship I started a few days before the deadline and still had nothing when the time came to send it to the teacher. After he extended the deadline for me I still didn't manage to finish it on time. I really hate doing projects with a deadline of over a week. I still am currently procrastinating on a presentation and a seminar paper
not sure if that is the correct translationthat I have to present this friday and next thursday respectively but I have absolutely no clue how not to fall into suicidal ideation when thinking of them.Yeah it's a spectrum. Affects different people in different ways. Do you actually like the project? Could just be something you don't enjoy doing, so deadlines are not gonna help much.
I doubt that. I recon they were more likely to be the trial and error that others could learn from. Like the poisoned partner effect in rats for example. Most rats will avoid eating strange foods, but there will always be one who snacks on something without care. If it's poisonous, he'll get sick or die. The other rats keep track of what "that guy" ate and avoid the poison berries. This is why rat poison only shows sings after days have passed, after which it kills. It's so that the rats deem the poison safe to eat before it has an effect on them.
Recon ADHD is our poison eating "that guy."
Innovation takes skill and time to hone. The brittish museum has a lot of stone tools. Take the Jade Axe for example. It took days of working and polishing to make it so smooth and perfect. That ain't ADHD work. It would have taken a longer time than a few days of hyperfocus to become that skilled a stone worker in the first place. Let alone then repeat the craft enough to make the damn thing. At best, an ADHDer would have an idea, and someone else would make it a reality.
You're underestimating the ADHD hyper focus duration. As long as the problem is interesting, ADHD people can hyper focus on one problem and only that problem for days/weeks at a time until they solve it, or the problem gets boring, or they find a different shiny thing. Creating/inventing a jade stone tool is exciting. You can spend days trying to make it just perfect, finding ways to sharpen it that others don't know; that's an ADHD person's cup of tea. However once you make the first tool, it's no longer interesting. You move on to hyper focus on something else.