The benefits of ‘body doubling’ when you have ADHD, according to experts

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Once a week, ADHD coach Robin Nordmeyer joins a zoom meeting with other coaches while she writes blogs, performs administrative tasks or works on content for presentations that she has postponed.

Nordmeyer, who has ADHD, does not necessarily use the meeting to collaborate with others – she just needs their presence as a motivator to help her get things done.

“I direct a company and I have to balance many different areas of the company,” said Nordmeyer, co-founder and managing director of the Center for Living Well with TDAH-MINNESOTA, a TDAH coaching group near Minneapolis in service of all ages.

“Some of these things come very easy – as, they are in my wheelhouse, they energize me, I can’t wait to access them,” said Nordmeyer. “And some of these things are a little more tedious, or I have some resistance around them.”

What Nordmeyer does to cross these more difficult tasks is sometimes known as “double of the body”, productivity and a self-assistance strategy that involves working with another person to help improve motivation and concentration. It has been popular for some time among people with ADHD – attention / hyperactivity deficit disorder – especially during the pandemic.

“The idea is that the presence of another is essentially a sweet reminder of staying on the task,” Billy Roberts, clinical director of Cocusing Mind Adhd Counselling, Ohio said. “For people (with) ADHD whose spirits tend to wander and remove the task, the double body works in a way as an external motivator to stay on the task.”

The doubling of the body is not only for people with ADHD, but like many “adaptation strategies, which may be useful for anyone who is more central and important for people with ADHD,” said Dr. J. Russell Ramsay, founding co -director of the TDH treatment and research program of the University of Pennsylvania.

Why is the body’s doubling working

A commonly diagnosed neurodevelopmental disorder in childhood but duration in adulthood, ADHD comes from the underdeveloped or altered executive function and self-regulating skills, according to the center of the Harvard University on the child in development. These skills help us plan, concentrate attention, remember the instructions and several tasks. The symptoms of ADHD include inattention, hyperactivity and impulsiveness – so that people with this disorder can find it difficult to concentrate, stay organized, manage their time or control their pulses, which can affect both their work and their personal life, said Roberts.

If people with ADHD have no intrinsic interest in a task, said Roberts, they generally have trouble with a lack of internal motivation to finish it or even to start. The doubling of the body provides this motivation, the experts said.

“It is also based on our social self,” said Ramsay. “Many people with ADHD will say:” I find it hard to start on this subject if I do it for myself, but if I know that someone else’s account on me, if someone else is waiting for myself to walk, I am more likely to go and be because I don’t want to drop them. “” ”

There does not seem to be any in -depth research on the bodily doubling of productivity, according to Roberts and other experts. “But I know that the idea of ​​exterior motivation is a long -standing mechanism based on evidence to manage ADHD,” said Roberts.

In theory, the method is quite simple, but there are a few factors to keep in mind to get the most out of it.

How to effectively use the body’s doubling

The doubling of the body can help almost all the tasks that you have difficulty in doing – be it work, tasks, exercise, school work or documents. The other person does not have to do the same thing as you, unless the activity for which you need to double – like exercise – requires this assistance.

Be demanding about who you ask to be your double body. The person must also be committed to finishing your work to you as you said Roberts – not distracting with a conversation or anything else. Choose someone who usually puts you at ease and safe, and who can encourage you if necessary.

“It is important to keep a double body session focused on its objective,” said Nordmeyer. If the conversations arrive, understand them later, maybe during a break or a dinner.

Asking someone to be your double body can be embarrassed, but Roberts said the best approach is often simple. You might say, “It’s something I heard can help productivity. Would that bother you to be around me while I work on it? Maybe you have something you could also work on. ”

You can also swap with them, in a sense, making an offer such as “you help me organize my garage on Saturday; I will help you organize your home office on Sunday, ”said Ramsay.

These small first steps of the search for a partner and the implementation of the session make you start and continue, he added.

The planning of doubling sessions of the regular body is an option, said Nordmeyer, or simply asking whenever the need for it. How transparent you are on the reasons why you need a double body, it’s up to you if you have more than a double body.

“It depends on the individual,” said Roberts. “If it turns into distraction more than mindfulness, responsibility or behavioral support, then you just want to rework things. You can somehow tinkering until you find what works.”

Virtual body dubbing

If you do not have a friend or a colleague to be your double body, you are not without luck.

Some Tiktok users, such as K. Campbell, are regularly online while they work so that others can use them as a double virtual body. There are also platforms or dubbing or coworking applications for the body such as focus, focusmate or flow clubs.

In virtual sessions, “most of the body doubles ask you to share your camera, and many people are really nervous at the idea of ​​being visible,” said Nordmeyer. “The purpose of this is to make sure you are still in your chair.

The advantages of double bodily explain why some people like to work on things in cafes, libraries or coworking spaces – which can be sources of passive bodies if you don’t have someone to ask, said Roberts.

“Some people work better with community support and the simple conscience of other people around them,” he added. “You have seen this a lot with the pandemic, like people by learning more about the types of structure they needed.

“We think and all work differently, and there is nothing wrong with that,” said Roberts.