If he extended the analogy just a little I think it might make more sense to you?
The “freeze up” is when all those thoughts are competing for attention and you can’t focus on just one, so you either choose your favorite color (your current hyperfixation for example), or literally just sit there, not doing anything of value. The dysfunction literally is the inability to choose one of those thoughts and run with it, at least not without expending significant amounts of energy to do so (meaning we get tired out while doing less) or coming up with some system to trick our brain into choosing and focusing on something.
Neurotypical brains have many of the same traits that ADHD and autistic people have… just not as many, and they’re not as crippling. It’s like pain in that regard - everyone experiences pain, but someone with chronic pain may have difficulty doing normal tasks, or if the pain is bad enough, unable to do those tasks at all.
In the case of ADHD I can take some medication and sometimes my brain acts like a normal person. Without trying, I realize a couple hours later that I accomplished a bunch of stuff without doing or thinking any differently. I just… suddenly can do stuff. First time I tried medication it really was magical; I didn’t feel or think any differently, I just… did stuff. It was weird.
If he extended the analogy just a little I think it might make more sense to you?
The “freeze up” is when all those thoughts are competing for attention and you can’t focus on just one, so you either choose your favorite color (your current hyperfixation for example), or literally just sit there, not doing anything of value. The dysfunction literally is the inability to choose one of those thoughts and run with it, at least not without expending significant amounts of energy to do so (meaning we get tired out while doing less) or coming up with some system to trick our brain into choosing and focusing on something.
Neurotypical brains have many of the same traits that ADHD and autistic people have… just not as many, and they’re not as crippling. It’s like pain in that regard - everyone experiences pain, but someone with chronic pain may have difficulty doing normal tasks, or if the pain is bad enough, unable to do those tasks at all.
In the case of ADHD I can take some medication and sometimes my brain acts like a normal person. Without trying, I realize a couple hours later that I accomplished a bunch of stuff without doing or thinking any differently. I just… suddenly can do stuff. First time I tried medication it really was magical; I didn’t feel or think any differently, I just… did stuff. It was weird.
Thank you for the explainer