Alright well last night I'd typed out a long post, but my computer glitched and I lost it... So I'll just give you the short version. I'm 19 years old, a Psychology major at the University of Montana. I was diagnosed with ADHD at 6. I took ritalin through elementary school, but stopped in Junior High and High School. Due to worsening social anxiety and failing grades I ended up droppoing out of high school. My home life was always very unstructured, but circumstances outside of ADD inflated the problem, driving me to the edge of sanity. Through the help of my mother's boyfriend, I was able to my GED and apply for college. Over the years when things were looking very bleak he was my main support. It was a devastating blow to me when a few months before I was set to enter the university, he had a heart attack.

Now I am struggling to break old habits, and it feels like I have nowhere else to turn. Burt was one of the few people I've ever met who understood me. He was there to see all that was happening in my life first hand. I sought counseling after coming to college but after 3 months the counselor explained that the counseling program I had been using required that I switch to a paid provider. This is through the college. I couldn't stand the thought of going to another counselor and having to explain it all again, so I just forgot about it.

I am currently addicted to World of Warcraft. Addictive enough to people without ADD, it has consumed my social life and hurt my grades. With other games in the past, I would focus on them to forget the problems that plagued my teen years. They effectively numbed the psychological pain I experienced whenever I let myself think about the situation I was in. Now I need to moderate my game time and I can't. Hours slide into days, and projects and tests get pushed into the hours preceding their due date. I stop eating, I ignore my friends. It has to stop but the control is just too strong. Making it into Graduate School is very important to me. I can pull B's right now by slacking off but my classes are getting harder. I know I'm capable of A's but I just can't seem to stop procrastinating. I don't know where to start fixing this.

I wish I had an answer for you, but I'm struggling right now, too.

What I CAN tell you, as an instructor an PhD student in Cognitive Psychology, is that you CANNOT ignore the problem. Getting into grad school is very competitive in our field. Grades, GRE scores, and research experience are vital. If you let the grades slide now, it will be very difficult to recover.

My advice (and the advice I'm giving myself): get help and, if they recommend it, get back on meds.

B. Drescher

I have strattera and lexapro but the strattera's side effects are hard to deal with... the first 2 days I take it it makes me fall asleep.. completely knocks me out. If I forget to take it one day, I fall asleep again. It also subdues my appetite.

I have strattera and lexapro but the strattera's side effects are hard to deal with... the first 2 days I take it it makes me fall asleep.. completely knocks me out. If I forget to take it one day, I fall asleep again. It also subdues my appetite.
Have you tried to get past the first couple of weeks? With reuptake inhibitors, usually the side effects are gone after a week or two.


Barb

The sleepiness goes away within the first 2 days... its just frustrating that if I take it in the morning on those two days I sleep all afternoon.

I understand the "addiction" that takes over around games and t.v. My solution? I have no games, and no t.v. Seriously....it sounds impossible, but once you just get rid of them...you have time for books, music, and even chat rooms. I am a college student also...well between degrees now technically...and I could not have been successful with a bunch of temptations around me. It does an alcoholic no good to hang out in bars, a fat person no good to hang out at McDonalds, or a video game/t.v. addict to have those things in their home. It worked for me. I don't know of a drug that can make you practice self-control....do you?

of temptations around me. It does an alcoholic no good to hang out in bars, a fat person no good to hang out at McDonalds, or a video game/t.v. addict to have those things in their home. It worked for me. I don't know of a drug that can make you practice self-control....do you?
Well, there are two sides to almost every addiction. One CAN be a psychobiological one (isn't always), the other a psychological one. Drugs can help you GAIN self control, but they certainly can't do it FOR you.

You are very wise, I think, to avoid those things you know will distract you.

Barb

For years I've used gaming as an escape. the stuff that went on in the few years before I came to college was enough to give me nightmares last year before thanksgiving (the first time I was supposed to go home after coming to Uni). There have been instances when just talking to my mother has caused my body to completely shut down from the stress. I was getting over this need to game to escape but then I had to go home for the summer and I ended up gaming every waking moment unless I had to work or I was with friends.

Now I've got two late projects I'm struggling to get done. Every time I try to sit down and do them I just sit and beat myself up over them, hating myself for not getting them done on time. I'm so stressed out about it that I can't attend class and my grades are going to start falling if I don't get this fixed. I'm trying to get this stuff done but all I can think about is how I've screwed up and worry about failure, a self-fulfilling prophecy at this point.