"Hit the Reset Button in Your Brain"The New York TimesBy Daniel J. Levitin, Aug 9, 2014This article describes the brain's attentional system, breaking it down into 2 parts; the focused mode (which he calls the "central executive") and "daydreaming mode." The attentional filter is a third component determines when we need to be using the central executive or when it is safe to ignore what's going on around us and daydream.They indicate summer vacations, and taking breaks in general, are an important way to hit the reset button on the brain and allow the daydreaming system to take over. The daydreaming system is important because:"This brain state, marked by the flow of connections among disparate ideas and thoughts, is responsible for our moments of greatest creativity and insight, when we’re able to solve problems that previously seemed unsolvable. You might be going for a walk or grocery shopping or doing something that doesn’t require sustained attention and suddenly — boom — the answer to a problem that had been vexing you suddenly appears."They go on to say that multitasking fatigues the attentional filter. While not an article about ADHD, the recommendations echo those given for adults with ADHD to help cope with distractibility. In particular, focus on a single task for relatively short block of time instead of jumping from email, to Facebook, to a report, to whatever. The author recommends 30-50 minutes, but people with ADHD may find shorter periods more effective. The harder the task is to start or focus on, the shorter the block.To read the full article, use the following link: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/10/opinion/sunday/hit-the-reset-button-in-your-brain.html
Productivity, efficiency, and Peter Drucker
“Nothing is less productive than to make more efficient what should not be done at all.” — Peter DruckerJust a quick post with a quote from Peter Drucker. Not necessarily directly related to psychology, though I did see the quote on "Rescue Time," a productivity application. This app installs on your computer and tracks how much time you spend on different websites and programs and scores your productivity based on that. It really helps you see where your time goes. Given how much distractibility and lack of "time sense" affects adults with ADHD, it's a worthwhile program to try.It also has a "Get focused..." feature that will selectively block access to things you find distracting for a period of time. I have not tried this feature, but clients of mine have and have found it helpful. It's free, though you have to pay for the "Get focused..." feature. I feel it's a valuable tool even with just the features in the free version.
NY Times: "Exercising the Mind to Treat Attention Deficits"
Exercising the Mind to Treat Attention DeficitsBy Daniel Goleman, New York Times, May 12, 2014This article published in the New York Times earlier this month has gotten a lot of attention from my patients and colleagues. I have provided a few quotes below but you can find the full article here."Poor planning, wandering attention and trouble inhibiting impulses all signify lapses in cognitive control. Now a growing stream of research suggests that strengthening this mental muscle, usually with exercises in so-called mindfulness, may help children and adults cope with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder""According to a recent report in Clinical Neurophysiology, adults with A.D.D. were shown to benefit from mindfulness training combined with cognitive therapy; their improvements in mental performance were comparable to those achieved by subjects taking medications.""Mindfulness seems to flex the brain circuitry for sustaining attention, an indicator of cognitive control, according to research by Wendy Hasenkamp and Lawrence Barsalou at Emory University."But if medications also work, why bother with mindfulness?"In a large study published last year in The Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, researchers reported that while most young people with A.D.H.D. benefit from medications in the first year, these effects generally wane by the third year, if not sooner.'There are no long-term, lasting benefits from taking A.D.H.D. medications,' said James M. Swanson, a psychologist at the University of California, Irvine, and an author of the study. 'But mindfulness seems to be training the same areas of the brain that have reduced activity in A.D.H.D.'"
Ever-So-Slight Delay Improves Decision-Making Accuracy
This article from the Columbia University Medical Center describes research showing that postponing the start of the decision-making process by a fraction of the second can improve the accuracy of those decisions. People with impulsive symptoms of ADHD are often told "think before you act", but this research shows that there is evidence supporting this idea and that even a slight pause can make a measurable difference.The following is an excerpt, but you can read the full article here.
“Decision making isn’t always easy, and sometimes we make errors on seemingly trivial tasks, especially if multiple sources of information compete for our attention,” said first author Tobias Teichert, PhD, a postdoctoral research scientist in neuroscience at CUMC at the time of the study and now an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh. “We have identified a novel mechanism that is surprisingly effective at improving response accuracy.
Learning to Drive with ADHD
This 2 min, 18 sec video from NBC news looks at the relationship between ADHD and teen driving. Teens with ADHD are 2-4x more likely to have an accident than their non-ADHD peers. But they also go over some common-sense techniques people are using to increase safety.
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'Love drug' makes group members lie more
BBC reports that administering the 'cuddle hormone' oxytocin makes members of a group lie more often. But the results are not really as counter-intuitive as they sound. The research believe that the results, "suggest that individuals in closely bonded groups are more likely to lie when it benefits the group than when it only benefits the individual"http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-26771703
Depression: 'Second biggest cause of disability' in world
BBC reports that depression is the number two cause of disability worldwide, second only to back pain.http://www.bbc.com/news/health-24818048
How running 'may preserve thinking skills'
BBC reports "Activities that maintain cardio fitness - such as running, swimming and cycling - led to better thinking skills and memory 20 years on" ... "even after adjusting for factors such as smoking, diabetes and high cholesterol."The article goes on to say, "People who had smaller time differences in their treadmill test 20 years later were more likely to perform better on the executive function test than those who had bigger differences."Exercise has many benefits, and one I've seen over and over again with my ADHD patients is how exercise can help reduce restlessness and improve concentration and focus. Some find that the time exercising is made up for by the improved productivity during the rest of the day.http://www.bbc.com/news/health-26841988
BBC: "Ketamine 'exciting' depression therapy"
BBC reports that Ketamine (considered a "dissociative anesthetic") has been shown to have some very rapid and dramatic effects on depression in early research studies. As the article describes, there are also potential side effects that are quite serious and "it's not about to replace prozac" anytime soon. They believe that in the future Ketamine itself will not be used, but understanding how it affects the brain will yield new medications with fewer side effects.
"Head line": Botox for depression?
Scientific American reports on a depression treatment study published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research. The “head line” was that injecting Botox into facial muscles involved that are in frowning decreased depressive symptoms by 47% compared to a 9% decrease in the placebo group. But don’t go to your psychiatrist asking for Botox just yet. The results would need to be replicated and the treatment would undergo a rigorous process before it could be approved by the FDA.However it is an intriguing, if not surprising, result. Our emotions are not just how we feel subjectively. They are composed of our thoughts, physiological response, action urges, facial expression, and more. Changing one part of the system feeds into the rest of the system, changing the emotional experience. It is the idea behind cognitive therapy. If you can change the way you think, it can change the way you feel.Read the article here.