Why ADHD Doesn’t Respond to Consequence
A lot of folks who have ADHD have had the folks around them trying to adjust their behavior through punishment. And the person with ADHD is trying their best and still receiving punishment or being told that they’re not trying hard enough. There’s a completely different way to approach this, that is less shame-based and far more effective - looking at nervous system motivation.
The nervous systems of neurotypical folks are Importance-Based. This means that tasks are sorted in order of importance (primary/secondary) and potential consequence/reward. Meaning that neurotypical folks are able to find motivation to complete tasks based on what is most important and what has the highest potential to be rewarded or highest potential for consequence, if not completed. Due to this, traditional motivation techniques may be adequate.
In contrast, folks with ADHD have Interest-Based Nervous Systems. Motivation comes from the neurotransmitter dopamine, which is depleted in folks with ADHD, which means that importance and consequence/reward is not enough to stimulate motivation in folks with ADHD. Dr. William Dodson identifies the characteristics of motivating factors for ADHD with the acronym - INCUP (Interest, Novelty, Challenge, Urgency, Passion).
Interest is what just feels interesting to do. If an activity is interesting, you don’t need a huge amount of dopamine to get yourself to start. A way to harness this for tasks that are less interesting, is to find ways in which you do have interest in them. Maybe reading is challenging, but you can use different color pens to underline aspects of the reading you find interesting or think will be necessary for your upcoming test.
Novelty is the inherent interest in doing something new. If you have the same walking route every day, you may find yourself getting bored with the predictability of the sights along the way. But, if you do the route in reverse or change directions through the walk, you will see a completely new area, which is interesting. How to use this to your advantage: when a task starts to feel boring/repetitive, try to find a different way to complete it, instead of forcing you to continue. Some examples include, changing up your movement routine (starting a new exercise class when your workout routine feels stale), doing your homework in a different environment or at a different time of day, completing your task in a different order, etc.
Challenge is a huge factor for ADHD and can be a little tricky. The tasks need to be challenging enough that they are interesting, but attainable. If a task feels impossible, it is hard to find the motivation to do it. If a task demands your focus and you can see incremental change, you’re more likely to stay at it. Ways to add challenge to your task include, creating competition with yourself/others (can you do the dishes faster than you did them last time?) or trying something a bit harder. To minimize overwhelm of tasks that feel too challenging, it can be helpful to break down the task into smaller steps - instead of focusing on how much you need to clean your entire bathroom, you can identify what areas need to be cleaned and focus on one at a time. Wiping down the sink feels easier than cleaning the bathroom, but that action gets you closer to a clean bathroom.
Urgency is a factor in why folks with ADHD tend to procrastinate. Urgency creates the anxiety that acts as a motivator to finish a task. Because this is stress-based and stress has long-term impacts on our health, we don’t want this to be the primary way we motivate ourselves. That being said, deadlines with external accountability can be a helpful way to utilize this. This can look like telling someone who you trust to follow-up with you what you need to do and when you plan to have it done by.
Passion has potential to be a factor in the other issues folks with ADHD have with concentration - hyperfocus. ADHD doesn’t just mean trouble with sustaining attention, it is trouble with controlling attention. This means that when folks with ADHD have a task that they are passionate about, they can have a tendency to get lost in it. For example, if someone is really interested in drawing, they may sit down to draw and realize that six hours have passed and they haven’t ate or gone to the bathroom, because they’re so focused on their drawing. So, in this way, passion can be a great motivating factor for folks with ADHD.
Instead of trying to force yourself to just be motivated, you can start to look for ways in which you can activate INCUP. Another acronym for this is PINCH - Passion/play, Interest, Novelty, Challenge/Competition, Hurry (Urgency). Whether you prefer INCUP or PINCH, keeping these motivating factors in mind can help you to complete daunting tasks.
As always, take what is helpful and leave the rest. I hope you have the week you need.
Learn more about Interest-Based Nervous Systems
Learn more about INCUP
