The Most Misdiagnosed Condition In Mental Health
Empower your mental health journey with Dr. K’s Guide: https://bit.ly/4xrZPRQ
▼ Timestamps ▼
────────────
00:16 – ADHD vs. CDS
05:48 – Internalization vs. Externalization
09:17 – What Do You Do About CDS?
11:05 – The Problem in CDS
12:44 – Functional Hypoactivity
14:27 – How Do We Fix This
15:47 – Restoring Your Cortisol Rhythm
18:26 – The Spiritual Side
────────────
Join over 30,000 people who’ve built a more meaningful life with personalized support from HG Coaching: https://bit.ly/49xauR8
We offer tons of mental wellness resources to help you get your life on track. Learn more: https://bit.ly/3ZNv0qY
Dr. K wrote a book called “How to Raise a Healthy Gamer,” available now: https://bit.ly/3VZSDLL
NEW! Check out the HG Institute for modern mental health CE’s to incorporate into your practice: https://bit.ly/4oPHnhu
DISCLAIMER
Healthy Gamer is an online community and resource platform for gamers and their families. It does not provide medical services or professional counseling, and it is not a substitute for professional medical care. Our coaches are peer coaches, not professionally trained experts, and they cannot provide medical service. If you or a loved one are experiencing an emergency, please call your nation’s emergency telephone number.
All guests of Healthy Gamer are informed of the public, non-medical nature of the content and have expressly agreed to share their story.
For clinical or crisis support resources in your area, check out our Mental Health pack: https://bit.ly/41g77Ja
Learn more about the research that goes into making our videos: https://www.healthygamer.gg/citations
Find us on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and more here: bit.ly/3Jy9D8D
Research Citations: https://www.healthygamer.gg/citations
#drk #healthygamer #mentalhealth
33 Comments
CDS is not yet a recognised disorder as there is not enough evidence that it is not simply a symptom cluster of other known disorders, such as AuDHD, ADHD+Burnout, ADHD+ME/CFS or ADHD+Depression.
Never heard of CDS before this, but it sounds almost identical to what I've dealt with aside from a few statistical outliers.
(Potential CDS self-review?)
I could never study more than a couple hours in an entire week. Almost never studied until the night before an exam. No matter how important the test was I would lose my train of thought and drift off during lectures. Constantly talked to myself about random things that didn't particularly matter. Could never wake up early in the morning or be on time for anything. At one point I tried turning off all my lights and electronics, closed my eyes, and sat in my bed for 3-4 hours and could not go to sleep. Would constantly procrastinate and even then, I could still find myself daydreaming with an hour to turn all my assignments in. I would read the same text over and over again and my brain wouldn't process it. Felt tired every single day and felt like I had no energy. I would try to push myself and I never felt a shift in motivation even though I needed to do that specific thing. I was very overweight; I had an unbelievably low self-esteem. I genuinely believed that the only good aspect about me was that I was a good person.
I also struggled with doing things to completion. If I couldn't fully complete it then I wouldn't do it at all. If I can do it, I'd rather work 20 hours on something than work on it the next day. This makes doing projects and studying very difficult because I can't see the results and since I struggled with low-energy or what I used to call "laziness" I would constantly feel depressed, anxious, and stressed because I knew I had work to do but I simply couldn't do it.
(About my life)
I dealt with terrible depression and anxiety, failed all my classes, quit school, quit sports, cut off all relationships I had, got diagnosed with ADD, then got re-diagnosed with ADHD, took medication for 6 years (methylphenidate) and felt as though none of it had helped. I told my parents and psychiatrist that it didn't help so I stopped taking it but that led to a loop of "It doesn't help because you're not taking your medication" which made me even more depressed. I swapped medications maybe 10 times, and I ended up being so frustrated that nothing in my life would improve no matter what I did that I just decided to try random things.
Over the next few years, I went to seek therapy, I tried eating 500 different things to see what made me feel the best, I tried 40 different exercises and in different parts of the day to see what led me to success, I tried taking classes at different hours in the day and realized that what worked best for me wasn't what people were recommending me to do. I ended up buying a rowing machine that was very cheap with my first paycheck and started doing HIIT right when I woke up at 6-8am or at like 11pm-1am at night consistently every single day (maybe the first consistent thing I've ever done in my entire life outside of video games and watching tv). I dropped all relevant coursework in field of study to focus on myself. I took a class at 7 in the morning to force myself to wake up early. I started eating blueberries, bananas, and protein shakes for breakfast. I would eat zero carbs for lunch and Greek yogurt at least once a day with almonds and blueberries and it has truly turned my life around. What I found to be very soothing was I started playing soccer in the afternoon once I got back from work or school every day for an hour or more. I've done this for months straight which is great cardio. I've also never played soccer before, but my skills have grown significantly, and since I do it because I like it and not because someone else told me to do it, it never feels boring and makes me feel amazing when I learn a new skill. I also stretch every single day whenever I have 5 minutes at any part of my day.
(Result)
I ended up losing 50 pounds, got into my dream school, significantly raised my self-esteem, went on my first date, and I've been so unbelievably happy with my life that if I told my 10-year-old self that this is where I would be, he wouldn't have believed me.
I don't want to give anyone advice because I know that everyone is different, but I think it's very important that HealthyGamerGG makes another video on this topic very soon because if I had this video years ago, I wouldn't have had to endure the years of constant frustration which could've been the exact help that I desperately sought after, that I simply never ended up receiving.
NOTE: I have severe asthma and terrible allergies and never found trying breathing techniques beneficial because of how difficult it is to stay focused. I have also found exercising difficult because I am often told to focus on my breathing when training but with ADHD/CDS it makes it very difficult to remember to breathe especially considering the asthma and allergies that I have to constantly deal with.
I am living proof that some of the points he makes in this video works, and other points are much more difficult and potentially inefficient due to very real conditions so do what feels best for you!
(What helped me)
You will struggle and not everything is as easy as it sounds, but the more you're willing to accept the fact that bad things will continue to happen and stop blaming others, the easier it will be to deal with those hardships. I worked so hard, and for so long, and the two most important things that I tell myself is "The worst thing isn't failure, it's giving up" which has allowed me to do things that I never would have dreamed of. The 2nd is "Success and happiness aren't things that take a giant leap to achieve, but rather tiny individual steps and once you've taken so many tiny steps you'll grow further than you could've ever imagined in the snap of a finger."
These are just what I tell myself and what allows me to be mentally strong when something goes wrong in my life and what allows me to continue to grow as an individual with whatever this new thing is that I had no idea about. 😭
If anyone is struggling, I hope this helped, and You got this! 🔥
"their mind floats away" literally decribes me so perfectly, more than any other type of diagnosis. I've used those exact words to people before.
Does this mean that inattentive ADD is not really a thing?
It seems like we could group all of these onto an attention disorders spectrum and use modifiers with it. To me this doesn't seem worthy of a completely different diagnosis
How do I know if my AuADD is this other diagnosis you describe? Because I recognize a lot of what you are saying. I thought it was just my ADD.
So… more argument in favor of addressing symptoms instead of needing a concrete label.
Finally. It's not only drifting, I go into this "nothing" state, it's not even thinking, it's like falling asleep while still being a wake. Brain simply is not working, and working memory and focus are non existent.
And I'll say this, it's NOT that the mind rifts in ssocial situations, but our ability to ideate and come up with anything to say even when not anxious at all, is horrible. Extremely low on creativity, speed… so we simply don't have thoughts, and don't know what to say in conversation, all the time. Even if we are good at reading body langauge, we simply can't think of anything.
Oh yeah one more thing. This is the condition that will absolutely wreck your life, and you'll even be gaslit for it, as if you don't even have some problem and are "just lazy", even you will downplay just how aggressive this problem is.
new episode of "i think i have this" 😭
for a psych everythig is a syndrome. to me thats just how some ppl are. how is it a syndrome. also isnt there inattentive adhd
Ow, it makes sense now.
I have no diagnosis of ADHD yet, but I treat depression with bupriopion, and I found it the only drg which works on me 🤷♂
You’re in the comments; did you finish the video or is he on to something ? 😐📸
Do they also have time blindness?
ugh another overlapper making things more complicated. good job ive got an appointment in a week or 2. i rlly should check when that is… tomorrow
Almost got hit with thinking I am something else
Phew
I think its just inattentive (I think)
Mild sleep apnea and UARS could really be at the culprit for that
When you finally think your constant tiredness and incapacity to do shit is due to your Adhd (or potential Audhd) and lack of Iron…………………
Dr. K, If CDS has some relationship to cortisol and adrenal fatigue, could there be any help from supplements like DHEA or pregnenolone? Especially if it's for a young male in puberty, would it be dangerous to try and see what effect it could have? I've been greatly helped by DHEA as a menopausal woman and CDS could have described me in many ways for most of my life. I believe my 16 year old son has CDS, on autism spectrum, and struggles to engage with the world outside. Methylphenidate and stimulants felt bad to him and atamoxatine didn't make any difference. He's exercising in the afternoon, but school is so early, that to get exercise beforehand is challenging. Sleep is going better and he avoids caffeine to fall asleep faster. Great information, thanks for everything. ❤
I don't entirely get how this is different from depression
How do you tell the difference between a person with ADHD and depression versus a person with CDS?
I'm sorry, I didn't follow… My mind was wandering.
This is the first your video has resonated with me.
I know people with ADHD and I never really felt that I experience the same thing as them.
But when I implied that I struggle with paying attention, I get told "you have adhd and needs meds to function."
But stimulants seem like they would make my anxiety worse and I heard can make you more irritable, which I don't want as a sensitive person. Because I am introverted and keep my emotions to myself, I am able to keep myself out of trouble for the most part. Although people still see me as very odd.
But the drifting focus during conversations, daydreaming, being too into my head describes everything pretty well. I even will be speaking and suddenly I will get a weird feeling in my head and I will forget a term or forget what I'm about to say. It makes it frustrating to hold a conversation and frustrates other people.
It’s so similar, that you could actually still call it ADHD, but instead of “Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder”, it’s “Attention deficit HYPOactivity disorder” almost like it belongs to its own subcategory of ADHD. I think we all know by now ADHD is a bad name to explain the condition anyway
Omg…. this HIT…..
I just never felt like ADD and AuDHD quite described my issues….. but this is spot on…. thank youuuuu
I'm going to try your suggested techniques thank you!
Is it possible to have this as a comorbid condition with ADHD? I got recently diagnosed with adhd and all the symptoms seem pretty accurate but watching this video definitely made me second guess as my main forms of distractions are my own mind I daydream a lot, and I also have really bad sleep with that being said I also have a really bad screen time and get distracted easily by external stimuli and I also pace around a lot, but equally I do feel that I’m constantly stressed, I don’t want to self pathologise so was just wondering if it possible to have both these conditions together or is it and either or type thing? I’m aware dr k said they react in opposite ways but what if you get distracted both internally and externally?
I think I might have this but I spaced out mid video so I'm not sure
..can I have both?
As a biopsych major in undergrad at a research institution, I have learned so much about different aspects of chronic stress/ disregulation and been suspicious about how it applies to my ADHD symptoms for soooooo long. Learning about this is so eye opening. Dr. K always has the most based neuroscience info
Dr. K, could you please go into a bit more detail at the difference between the inattentive subtype of ADHD and CDS? I feel like when the symptoms are close enough but the person daydreams a bit more, people are likely to just slap that inattentive subtype on the ADHD label and call it a day
I do like these videos, and you give me hope for others, but I don't think I will ever go to a psychiatrist.
I had a bad experience, but in my mind I thought, "Well, they are the doctor, they know better than me," but the medication dosage kept going up, and new medications were added. And the day I started getting tremors, they told me I called them worried; they told me " that was normal". They were convinced I had depression, but I didn't feel depressed, and I stated it in every visit; if anything, the medication was "inducing" it, if that was possible. But every time I told them to take me off, they came up with another excuse. I was convinced they were giving me the medication to keep me hostage to their service, because if I forgot my medication (which was pretty common), I had the worst explosion syndromes (like zinc panels dropping from a 3-store building) which happened every time I was falling asleep; so I couldn't stop the medication, so I needed to continue going to their offices. The day they told me my tremors, and feeling like "someone that was not there was pushing me", was "normal," I decided not to go again.
I stopped the medications on my own will, by lowering it myself with what I had left of the medication. Yes, it was the dumbest thing I've ever done. I had tremors, explosion syndrome, sweating, and uncontrollable movements for the 4-6 weeks I was lowering my medication.
I believe in people seeking mental health professionals, but I don't know how to trust them for myself.
14:03 ADHD opponent appears.. that oscillating thing on the right is super distracting!
I was diagnosed ADHD but asked to try Atomoxetine because I wanted to try a non-stimulant option but it made me extremely sick with nausea and vomitting and no amount of Ondonsetron helped but I am also likely multi chemical sensitive 🥺
Excited that you are discussing FASD, and it's not yet happening.
As someone who was diagnosed with ADHD-I (Inattentive Type), who heavily suspects is also Autistic and has related to 100% of the video on both ends, now what? 🧍🏽♀️
Struggling with executive function, motivation and the ability to start, transition and carry out tasks to the end are some of the things I've struggled with the most my entire life in terms of my symptoms. I feel like CDS is almost identical to how ADHD-I works since the being distracted by internal stimuli is definitely how the hyperactivity presents itself in people like me with Inattentive Type (formerly known as ADD).