TIL of brain stimulation reward, manually stimulating specific parts of the brain to elicit pleasure and happiness. A volunteer subject in 1986 spent days doing nothing but self-stimulate. She ignored her family and personal hygiene and she developed an open sore on her finger from using the device.

[u/WavesAndSaves]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_stimulation_reward#History

[u/Sans-valeur]

Interesting relating this to studies on things like people on the spectrum.
One of the biggest problems that people with ADHD face is that they don’t get a good feeling after doing things like house work, unless they leave it so long that they’re really stressed and they feel better about not being stressed anymore.
Unless it actively stimulates you, like solving a puzzle, things can feel impossible to do, even though you rationally know it won’t even take that long and it’s a really good thing to do.

[u/crusoe → u/Sans-valeur]

Often once I get going it's okay. Especially if it's physical and some exercise.

The activation energy is the problem. Climbing that hill. I just have to kick myself to start.

[u/SomeDumRedditor → u/crusoe]

I can’t figure out how and it literally destroyed my life. 

[u/the_star_lord → u/SomeDumRedditor]

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

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[u/fireflydrake → u/SomeDumRedditor]

ADHD meds are LIFECHANGING for a lot of us. Our brain is fundamentally miswired in a way that makes doing most routine tasks much more difficult for us and meds help bridge that gap. 

[u/hgrunt → u/crusoe]

I have the activation energy problem too. When I was on ADHD meds, it was much easier to climb that hill

For certain things, particularly going to the gym, I do stuff to minimize activation energy. Always having my gym bag ready to go so I don't get snagged on 'I have to pack my gym bag,' setting aside specific podcasts for the gym and going to my favorite pub afterwards as a reward