ADHD: The Threat-and-Soothing Cycle of Procrastination

One of the great strengths of being neurodiverse is the skilled ability of divergent thinking. The terms convergent thinking (i.e., one defined solution to a problem) and divergent thinking were coined by psychologist Joy Paul Guilford in 1956. The exceptional divergent thinking of ADHD entrepreneurs involves a process of generating creative ideas to explore possible solutions and create efficient systems, alongside management skills.

Navigating the Emotional Regulation System

Paul Gilbert’s evolutionary model proposes that human beings switch between three systems to manage their emotions: the threat, drive, and soothing systems. Paul Gilbert further states that each system is associated with different brain regions and different brain chemistry.

Source: Adapted from Gilbert, P. (ed) (2005). Compassion: Conceptualizations, Research and Use in Psychotherapy. Routledge.

Clients with ADHD often report that they tend to thrive (excelling at navigating the drive system) in situations of rapid change and those that reward out-of-the-box thinking (e.g., a workplace situation that requires putting out spot fires). Positive traits of ADHD include warm-heartedness, hyper-focus, passion, honesty, compassion, curiosity, out-of-the-box thinking, being good in a crisis, intuition, and creativity.

Conversely, clients with ADHD often report that there are certain triggers of threat that lead to overwhelm and require a need to soothe (i.e., threat system to soothing system). Commonly reported triggers of threat that lead to overwhelm include:

• Completing an assignment that is unclear and/or uninteresting.
• Responding to text messages after a certain amount of time has passed (e.g., after a week has passed by).
• The expectation to complete convergent tasks in a timely manner (i.e., admin duties, responding to emails, prioritizing, etc.).
• Imposter syndrome.
• Choice paralysis.
• Rejection-sensitive dysphoria.

The ways in which people soothe can make a difference in their ability to move out of the soothing system towards the drive system. For example, it may be easier to initiate a task after taking a sensory or movement break, rather than scrolling on technology as a form of soothing.

A further important factor to consider is your self-talk. If you have attempted to do an assignment that led to overwhelm, it is understandable that you may have spent hours self-soothing. Even if you had only accomplished initiating a task that was overwhelming, it is an accomplishment within itself that you were able to achieve progression to the drive system in some capacity. Chastising yourself for not completing the task will likely re-trigger your threat system, and may lead to a perpetual cycle of feeling stuck between the threat and soothing systems.

The Protective Qualities of Self-Compassion

Self-compassion can help you navigate the emotional regulation system (i.e., threat to soothe to drive), without re-triggering the threat system.

A series of studies explored the protective qualities of self-compassion and self-esteem to uncover cognitions that serve to protect self-compassionate individuals from self-evaluative anxiety when their self-evaluation is threatened. One of the most prominent findings of the studies comparing self-compassion and self-esteem is that self-compassion is a stronger unique (negative) predictor of outcomes that are generally found to be correlates of self-esteem.

In a regression analysis, Neff (2005) reported that self-compassion accounted for more of the unique variance in public self-consciousness, self-rumination, unstable and contingent self-worth, and the need for closure than self-esteem did. While self-esteem is conceptualized as a state of self-acceptance that is based on feelings of self-worth, self-compassion is a conceptually distinctive process that is based on feelings of kindness and non-judgmental understanding as opposed to positive self-evaluations (Neff, Kirkpatrick, & Rude 2007).

Inducing a Self-Compassionate Mindset

The first component of having a self-compassionate stance requires that one is kind and understanding towards oneself when failure, inadequacy, or misfortune is experienced (Neff, 2005). The ability to view the self with kindness even in the face of failure or hardship is thought to provide the safety needed to see the self clearly without fear of self-condemnation and, therefore, avoiding the need to suppress feelings and providing a supportive outlook for growth and change (Neff, 2005). Neff argues that truly having compassion for oneself entails desiring health and well-being for oneself, which involves gently encouraging change where needed and rectifying harmful or unproductive patterns of behaviour (Neff, Kirkpatrick, & Rude 2007).

The common humanity component of self-compassion allows for the recognition of the related experiences of the self and other, in which pain and imperfection are acknowledged as an inevitable part of the human experience, as opposed to isolated occurrences that only happen to one alone (Neff, 2005). Recognition that some of the difficulties experienced by neurodiverse individuals stem from a society that at times is not sensitive to the needs of neurodiverse individuals is important.

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The third component of self-compassion, defined as "mindfulness," requires taking a balanced approach to our negative emotions so that feelings are neither suppressed nor exaggerated. Mindfulness requires a willingness to observe one’s negative thoughts and feelings in a non-judgmental receptive mindset of openness and clarity, without trying to suppress or deny them.

In summary, treating the self kindly, focusing on the interconnected aspects of experience, and the ability to have perspective on negative emotions are theoretically conceived to enable negative experiences to be seen without the loss of perspective that stems from excessive self-criticism, feelings of isolation, and over-identification with one’s experiences (Neff, Kirkpatrick, & Rude 2007; Neff, Hseih & Dejitthirat 2005).

A Functional Legacy Mindset

Blocking your emotions and masking (repression of emotion and camouflaging) can lead to burnout. A great tragedy is going through life disconnected from our brilliant minds because we see the self as broken. The theory of a functional legacy mindset approach is grounded by the therapeutic benefits of embracing the authentic self, to promote a sense of purpose, in which clients feel empowered to embrace their unique strengths and abilities to contribute to society in ways that feel authentic and meaningful to them.