“I don’t put oil in my car. It’s not natural.”
Everyone’s brains have cells that manufacture dopamine, receptors that detect dopamine levels, and cleaner proteins that keep your brain from just being full of dopamine all the time.
My cleaner proteins are OP, so the dopamine is rarely in my brain long enough to get detected, so I don’t get the “good job sport/hamster treat button” reward feeling unless the dopamine burst is REALLY STRONG, like the first few times I accomplish or learn something new.
That’s why I struggle with brushing my teeth or doing the dishes or making it to appointments on time or doing my homework, but I thrive off of picking up new hobbies that I’m sure I’ll stick with, this time, and not drop the moment I didn’t spend a bunch of money on tools and materials for, like all the previous hobbies.
It’s why I literally cannot form habits.
So I take a medication that inhibits those dopamine blockers. The dopamine gets produced, and gets to stick around long enough in my brain juices that the receptors can take a meaningful poll of my levels. Now when I press the button, the hamster treat comes out!
For decades I thought I was just lazy, and bad, because everyone around me was telling me that I just needed to apply myself. So much potential. It turns out my brain is just too good at one very narrowly specific thing that makes it hard for me to be good at anything.
And meditation or cutting back on sugar or just pushing through it, none of that did a goddamn thing because it’s not a moral failure, it’s not that I’m not trying, it’s that my brain needs a little help managing chemicals.
ulterno@programming.dev 1 month ago
Oh and drugs is mental health.
humorlessrepost@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Medication can be an important part of mental healthcare for many people.
caseyweederman@lemmy.ca 1 month ago
“I don’t put oil in my car. It’s not natural.”
Everyone’s brains have cells that manufacture dopamine, receptors that detect dopamine levels, and cleaner proteins that keep your brain from just being full of dopamine all the time.
My cleaner proteins are OP, so the dopamine is rarely in my brain long enough to get detected, so I don’t get the “good job sport/hamster treat button” reward feeling unless the dopamine burst is REALLY STRONG, like the first few times I accomplish or learn something new.
That’s why I struggle with brushing my teeth or doing the dishes or making it to appointments on time or doing my homework, but I thrive off of picking up new hobbies that I’m sure I’ll stick with, this time, and not drop the moment I didn’t spend a bunch of money on tools and materials for, like all the previous hobbies.
It’s why I literally cannot form habits.
So I take a medication that inhibits those dopamine blockers. The dopamine gets produced, and gets to stick around long enough in my brain juices that the receptors can take a meaningful poll of my levels. Now when I press the button, the hamster treat comes out!
For decades I thought I was just lazy, and bad, because everyone around me was telling me that I just needed to apply myself. So much potential. It turns out my brain is just too good at one very narrowly specific thing that makes it hard for me to be good at anything.
And meditation or cutting back on sugar or just pushing through it, none of that did a goddamn thing because it’s not a moral failure, it’s not that I’m not trying, it’s that my brain needs a little help managing chemicals.
Zink@programming.dev 1 month ago
Wow, that matches my experience exactly.
I’m curious if you’re willing to share what the medication is in your case.