An ADHD Academic's Answer to the Dopamine Detox

But with ADHD, the solutions often proposed (remove all distractions, embrace boredom) don’t always work

You find yourself in a familiar position. You know what you need to do, but you don't want to do it. 

The report is right there, and you can imagine every single agonizing moment of writing and checking!

 It would probably be over in a few hours,  and you could even reward yourself with a piece of dessert and a break. 

But right now, the idea of starting any work makes you feel almost physically uncomfortable. A strange, internally itchy feeling that you’ve never even tried to explain to anyone because of the incredulous looks you’ll probably get. 

You just know that, for now, you won’t be able to write that report. 

This story is autobiographical. There have been many days in the past when completing something, even something I knew was important, felt impossible.

But I'm happy to report that since learning about ADHD and diving into the research, I've been able to develop a system that means when I resist starting a task, and even when my inner dialogue yells, "I don't wanna!” I now have a simple solution to that struggle.

And that’s what I want to share with you in today’s chapter. 

ADHD and Dopamine

 So why do we struggle with this almost physical discomfort when we have to do deep or boring work? Well, according to the research, when you have ADHD, your brain does not absorb or process neurotransmitters like dopamine in the same way as neurotypicals [1-3]. What that means for us is that we won’t experience as many of the positive, pleasurable emotions associated with starting that report. 

As an aside, If you’d like to know more about dopamine in ADHD, check out an upcoming episode of the ADHD Skills Lab, where we'll discuss it in more detail.

The Transfer Deficit Theory

So you might think, ‘Okay, well, let me reward myself for finishing the task.’ But there’s an interesting theory that might explain why promising yourself this is unlikely to help. In their Dopamine Transfer Deficit Theory (DTD), Tripp and Wickens argue that while in neurotypicals, the reward spike you get from finishing a task can transfer to cued dopamine spikes, if you have ADHD, this cued dopamine fails to occur [4]. 

This means that for those of us with ADHD, even though finishing the report may make you feel good or at least alleviate some stress, it doesn't connect in our brain to the earlier cue of starting the report. 

So, if the report doesn't provide an immediate positive response or takes too long, it can be difficult for us to do it at all.

An Unconventional Answer to the DTD.

So what can we do about this? After all, we still need to finish that report. 

One of the things we can do is wait until the report is due in a few hours and use that boost of dopamine from the rushed time frame to get it finished.

Effective?

Sometimes!

But not great for our health long-term.

 So what else can we do?

Well, the first thing we need to do is accept our ADHD brain.

We do NOT want to do the thing.

And that makes sense!

 After all, we’ll experience fewer neurological rewards for doing it. 

But what if we could give our brain a hand and add a few rewards of our own?

This is where the Dopamine Distraction Dial comes in.

To avoid the physical discomfort that comes from doing something that doesn't provide a reward, we must create our own. 

But at this point, you might think to yourself, “I don't want to suddenly start eating copious amounts of chocolate or playing hours of video games; I've got work to do!"

And I agree. 

Although I will point out. How many minutes or hours have you lost trying to start this task? 

How about we give ourselves half of that time to get started in a way that feels good? 

The Dopamine Distraction Dial

Take a look at this image below. On it, you will see a specific kind of dopamine sense (we don’t have time to go into that today, but remember you can use all five senses!) This sense is scaled from highly distracting on one side to less distracting on the other. 

Now, I want you to look at this image and imagine you need to go sit down at your desk to start the task. Which level of dopamine distracting activities would be enough to get you to move to your desk?

Got it?

 Great!

 Now, let's imagine you chose TV or YouTube. You’re sitting at your desk watching a video. You feel… good, not too uncomfortable, but definitely not ready to start work yet!

So, instead of turning off all distractions, you dial it down, which on this dial means switching to a podcast or audiobook.  

You look around for a good podcast while you finish watching the video and turn on the podcast before turning off the video itself. Congratulations!

You just went down a distraction dial. 

 Still feeling good?

Excellent.

And while you’re listening, why not write down some thoughts about the report? 

What's so frustrating about it? Who do you need to speak to about it?

Once you've done that, you might find yourself struggling to write while you listen to the podcast episode. No problem. This sounds like the perfect time to keep turning down the dial. Eventually, you find yourself at a low enough bar that you're able to focus on what you need to do. 

The Unconventional Answer to the Dopamine Detox. 

So what has happened here? Well, rather than leaving you to start a task with no reward, we've given you an initial reward (the YouTube video) and then turned down the dopamine distraction dial slowly until you find yourself at the bottom or at a level where you can concentrate on what you need to do without that physical discomfort.

Several researchers and thinkers have written about the idea that we have too many distractions [5]. Too many things in our lives provide dopamine, which makes it hard for us to experience those surges of pleasure from doing deep work. These spikes are getting lost amongst the cacophony of coffee, social media, and other stimulants we now have so easily to hand. 

And I agree. These distractions can make it harder to focus on and enjoy deep work. But with ADHD, the solutions often proposed (remove all distractions, embrace boredom) don’t always work because the discomfort of that boredom is so acute. 

So, instead, I suggest we dial down the distraction. Ultimately, that will lead to the same conclusion but involve a lot less pain and procrastination. And after all, why not get the solution you want and feel good? 

Hopefully, this article helps you better understand how dopamine works and gives you another method to manage your ADHD. If you'd like a printable infographic you can use to set up your own Dopamine Distraction Dial, click here.

Wishing you fun and focus, the Unconventional way.

Skye.

P.S. If you're curious how I used the distraction dial to draft this article, I’ve written my steps below:

1. Headed to a coffee shop and ordered a mocha (decaf, but it comes with a mini chocolate fish 🙂)

2. Ate my chocolate fish while 'googling' a topic of interest 

3. Switched to a favorite playlist and drank the rest of the coffee while writing a VERY rough draft.

4. Finished the draft in a single sitting with only the sound of the coffee shop. 

5. Repeated the process on a different day to edit the article. 

P.P.S. Whenever you’re ready to grow your business without ADHD overwhelm, here’s how I can help:

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References

1. Volkow, N. D., Wang, G. J., Kollins, S. H., Wigal, T. L., Newcorn, J. H., Telang, F., ... & Swanson, J. M. (2009). Evaluating dopamine reward pathway in ADHD: clinical implications. Jama, 302(10), 1084-1091.

2. Volkow, N. D., Wang, G. J., Newcorn, J. H., Kollins, S. H., Wigal, T. L., Telang, F., ... & Swanson, J. M. (2011). Motivation deficit in ADHD is associated with dysfunction of the dopamine reward pathway. Molecular psychiatry, 16(11), 1147-1154.

3. Del Campo, N., Chamberlain, S. R., Sahakian, B. J., & Robbins, T. W. (2011). The roles of dopamine and noradrenaline in the pathophysiology and treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Biological psychiatry, 69(12), e145-e157.

4. Tripp, G., & Wickens, J. R. (2008). Research review: dopamine transfer deficit: a neurobiological theory of altered reinforcement mechanisms in ADHD. Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, 49(7), 691-704.

5. Desai, D., Patel, J., Saiyed, F., Upadhyay, H., Kariya, P., & Patel, J. (2024). A Literature Review on Holistic Well-Being and Dopamine Fasting: An Integrated Approach. Cureus, 16(6).