Happy Memories anticipate Reward.

Today I have severe amnesia.
I know why: Worry.
I’m struggling hard to write.

Psychologists say it’s totally unproductive to engage in intellectual activities when burnt out, better rest and make out at a later time.
Not always an option.

I shun weakness.

It is not that I never feel weak, I don’t accept to be weak.

Parental education plays a major factor, I come from a military family.
It implies shame and guilt towards weakness and defeat.

My psychiatrist tells me I m too unforgiving with myself.
I don’t buy that, the longer inactive the weaker I get.
Put it bluntly, I can’t afford to be sick.

Amnesia is the most common outcome of Burnout to me.
ADHD makes it all the more frustrating.

Routines are partners in crime with Comfort.
The sarcasm comes from the realization that Routines are not permanent.
Soon or  later, Changes will come. 
Age is the most obvious natural progression to Life changes.

The challenge with ADHD is that Time virtually doesn’t exist, while building Habits is more rewarding and realistic.

We get into a habit, to say we craft it to our convenience.
Conversely, we adapt to imposed routines.

An habit is never imposed, therefore flexible.
A routine is always adopted, turning Stress into Comfort, henceforth re-adaptation to stressful changing circumstances.

ADHD and Autism are highly co-morbid, see AUDHD, despite predominant ADHD ers work hard to forming healthy habits in order to avoid Procrastination through rewarding Visuals.
Visuals are Reward in ADHD. In Autism, they are Patterns.
Reward is Motivation. Patterns are Repetitions.
ADHDers are unproductive without Reward. Autistics shutdown without Patterns.

Both behaviors require Anticipation and Preparedness.
Anticipation to build a habit in distractive ADHD, Preparedness to a new repetitive Pattern in routinely Autism.

The shared commonality is Time.

Autistics can create Routines at their pace, the faster the more accommodating. They only need Willpower. They have plenty of it, to achieve craved Routines.

ADHD is more complex, though more flexible and less obsessive in the long-term as result of their inherent search to Novelty and Thrill.

This process takes more time to building lasting Habits, since it involves more elements.

Visualization 

Visualization is a feature of Reward in ADHD.
It reorganises past and present happy Memories in the hippocampus for the Anticipation of Reward.

This is a recent finding in Neurology by observing EEG waves showing neural activity in the Hippocampus with neurons converging to this region during Memory Recall.

Visuals account for memories. Memories are stored in the hippocampus.
The finding would qualify the hippocampus as part of the Reward System by selecting Rewarding Memories from Traumatic ones.
It will also consolidate Trauma as the pave-way of Mental Illness.

Neural Hedonic Reactions are complemented primarily by the Nucleus Accumbens, Amygdala and  Orbitofrontal Corteces.
The Hippocampus would enhance these reactions and it’s a major target of Amphetamines and Methylphenidate in ADHD. Contrary to the logic, Stimulants don’t target Attention Networks. Reward stimulates Attention.
I reckon Stimulants should be more selective, Hippocampus oriented, in light of latest developments.

Why Medication is never 100% effective?

Whether it is a Marketing Strategy by pharmaceuticals-no more disease, no more need for medication-Idiosyncrasies-adverse effects-are always lurking.

Anhedonia, the inability to experience pleasure, develops as antagonist to Hedonism, primarily in Bipolar Disorder, ADHD.
Ironically, the latest generation of Antidepressants has the acronym SSRI, Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors.
Unjustly, there is no selective timescale inhibitor for ADHD, other than symptomatic treatment for dopamine/norepinephrine deficiency.

Based on these findings, ADHDers will build their Habits gradually through Visual Perception, until it will become Rewarding.
It is paramount to know what really makes our day, from the moment the alarm-clock goes off! The alarm itself could be rewarding: select your favorite track to wake up, in place of the dreaded ear-splitting ring. Choose soothing flashlights in place of flashing, blinding ones.

Memories are apparently the main players in Mental Health.

Sound & Vision accompany us throughout our whole lives, accounting for Memories.
The Hippocampus’ function is to organise stored memories for our mental hedonism, typically accomplished in the NT.

Anhedonia is once again caused by Dopamine deficiency in the Reward System, the Ventral Striatum.
We should advocate for virtual SHDRIs-Selective Hippocampus Dopamine Reuptake Inhibitors- for optimal results.
Current Stimulants had turned out non-specific, insufficient to cover the entire Reward System in a limited daily timeframe.

I endorse to make an impact on pharmaceuticals with this user’ statement.
It is well documented the Conflict of Interests between Research and Profits.
Unfortunately, Profit always takes priority over Benefits, although I envision big revenues from this project.

To use a stereotypical wrapper, let’s see what happens.