Russell Barkley on ADHD and Emotions

In this excellent interview by Jeff Copper of Attention Talk Radio, Russell Barkley explains what emotions are, why they should be included in the official Diagnostic and Statistic Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).

Of course, who doesn’t like statistics (he stuttered).

Here are some brief notes I took listening to Copper’s interview with Dr. Barkley:

Emotion = Short term change in the state of our body and mind:

1. Level of arousal – heart rate, blood pressure, breathing. More active state than a few minutes ago.

2. Evaluative – Is something threatening or reinforcing to us.

3. Change in behavior. Do we pursue or approach something we find interesting or rewarding, or do we withdraw from something we find threatening to us.

Important for human survival as they allow us to rapidly evaluate what is going on around us, pay attention, and change our behavior as needed.

An emotional experience can be broken down into 4 stages:

1. A situation or event that happens to us.

2. We pay attention to that situation.

3. Appraise (evaluate) the situation.

4. React to the situation. This is the emotional reaction you experience.

Humans and non-humans go through this 4-stage process of emotions. With humans, the difference is that we are self-aware and can monitor and do something about our emotions. No other species has the level of self-awareness that humans do or can manage their emotions like we do.

Response to an emotion can also be broken down into 4 stages as well:

1. Inhibit (or stop) the automatic level of emotions. We are not left at the mercy of our environment and emotional reactions to it – we can intervene.

2. Calm self down (self-soothe). Down regulate strong emotions.

3. Re-focus attention away from event itself. Distract self, look away, close eyes, etc. Divert attention away from stimulating event.

4. Organize a new emotional experience to replace the old one. This new experience will be more consistent with long-term goals, welfare and what they hope to achieve.

This was an excellent interview. Click below to listen to the full interview – just over 45 minutes.

[audio http://www.blogtalkradio.com/attentiontalkradio/2011/03/10/the-importance-of-emotion-in-understanding-and-managing-adhd.mp3]

Russell Barkley: Executive Function’s Critical Role in ADHD

A brilliant interview from Attention Talk Radio with Dr. Russell Barkley on the critical role of executive function in ADHD. Executive function, in fact, is so critical according to Dr. Barkley that ADHD would be more aptly named EFDD – executive function deficit disorder – rather than ADHD. However, doing so would be complicated as so many laws, legal protections and entitlements have been built up around the name ADHD.

Dr. Barkley outlines a number of important concepts. Some of the most important concepts are six components of executive function that people with ADHD struggle with:

• Self-restraint – impulsivity
• Self-awareness
• Difficulty accessing visual images to re-imagine / re-visualize the past (problems using hindsight)
• Lack of self-talk – the internal dialogue that helps most people self-soothe and consider the consequence of own actions
• Issues with emotional self-regulation – this can lead to acting inappropriately in social situations and make it difficult to maintain friendships
• Challenges with self-directed mental play – the ability to manipulate information in your mind helps in problem solving

Dr. Barkley also offers 6 things you can do to more effectively deal with ADHD:

• Stop relying on working memory – use externalized systems, reminders, apps, etc.
• Due to deficit in executive functioning make time physical – you can’t rely on your internal clock, instead use alarms, visual reminders, programs, etc. to keep track of time
• Make motivation external – create rewards and consequences outside of yourself instead of relying only on yourself to get things done
• Break future into manageable chunks in order to fight difficulty of anticipating future
• Rely on manual methods to solve problems – file cards, computer programs, apps, etc.
• Re-fuel your executive function tank – exercise, meditation, small rewards, pep talks, goal / reward visualization, drink glucose rich drink such as lemonade or Gatorade before engaging in a task which will require extended concentration as this will provide fuel to the part of the brain that controls executive function

Listen to the full interview below. Highly recommended.

Related articles

• What We Know About ADHD (capeadhd.wordpress.com)
• ADHD Executive Function and School Success (denvercogmed.wordpress.com)
• Breaking the Silence of ADHD Stigma (psychcentral.com)
• Adult ADHD 101 (everydayhealth.com)
• Reframing ADHD (psychologytoday.com)
• Respite Services and ADHD (capeadhd.wordpress.com)
• Top 3 Reasons to Hire an ADD Coach (vdavisrucker.wordpress.com)