And so are people with ADHD deeper? I

think [music]

yes, I'm deeper and they're shallow. So

there's a disconnect. Part of that

disconnection is literally sensory

information. So estrogen literally gives

us emotional depth. The higher our

estrogen levels are, the more capacity

for emotion we have. It sensitizes our

emotional circuitry. Any other ADHD

women feel too deep for this shallow

world. I'm internal ADHD type. Intense,

observant, emotionally deep. Not the

chaotic stereotype, but the

overthinking, hyperaware version.

Lately, I've realized the hardest part

isn't ADHD itself. It's living in a

world where so many people feel shallow,

inconsistent, or emotionally

unavailable. I crave depth and real

connection, but most people seem to

function only on the surface. Sometimes

I feel completely out of place. Does

anyone else experience this? Do you feel

like your ADHD makes you deeper than the

world around you? Look at all these

people, glassy eyed auto automatons,

going about their daily lives, never

stopping to look around and think, I'm

the only conscious human in a world of

sheep. So, one of the things that I

think is really cool about everyone

having ADHD now is that we're

discovering all of these weird nuanced

manifestations of ADHD and feeling a

certain amount of depth and

disconnection is actually like one of

these features. And I and I know that

like there's a lot of stuff on social

media about how, you know, ADHD means

this and if you have this basically

normal human experience, it means you

have ADHD. And the reason that I show

the XKCD is because, you know, this is a

comic that's like, oh my god, I'm deep

and the rest of the sheep are shallow.

And since I have ADHD, like that must be

that it is like narcissistic ADHD

explains everything in my life. Is this

narcissism and just thinking you're

deeper than the rest of the world or is

it ADHD? And this is really important

because if I jump to the conclusion that

oh my god this person is just like ADHD

now causes this now causes this then I'm

doing a huge disservice to them because

they are deeper. They're having trouble

forming connections and if it is a

feature of their ADHD I need to help

them navigate that. Okay. So here's what

I got. First thing does ADHD make you

deeper? And I think it's interesting

because the people who you know complain

about this more or concerned about it

more are frequently women. So what's

going on there? It's not like men can't

do it, but let's let's look at the

science of ADHD and see if this is

something. So, let's look at a few

neurodedevelopmental features of ADHD.

One is we're seeing this as ADHD in

women. So, what are a couple of features

about this? Number one, ADHD in women is

hormonally dependent. One of the reasons

that ADHD is underdiagnosed in women, in

girls, couple of reasons. The first is

that the number one reason why ADHD is

diagnosed as hyperactivity. When someone

is disruptive, they get diagnosed with

ADHD. Women are more likely to have the

inattentive type, not the hyperactive

type, which means that they just don't

pay attention. Second thing is that

there are a lot of female stereotypes

that we will attribute to people with

ADHD, and then we don't call it ADHD.

She's spacey. She's an airhead. She's a

blonde. Oh my god, she's a blonde. She

just spaces out all the time. She's not

like a deep thinker, and she's not like

a STEM major. She's just like kind of

like artsy and like looks out the window

and like that's just how she is. She's

an airhead. Oh my god. Turns out could

have ADHD. So second reason, then what

happens is we notice that there's a

spike in diagnosis once people hit

puberty. And so estrogen and

progesterone will affect ADHD symptoms.

And I say affect because that's what

they do. It's not like they necessarily

make them worse. So one really

interesting thing is I started realizing

that when I have female patients with

ADHD, I often times need to adjust the

level of medication depending on where

they are in their menstrual cycle.

There's a ton of evidence behind this.

Females often receive a diagnosis of

ADHD significantly later than do males.

And there are hormonal factors which

play an important role in the

understanding of ADHD in females. So if

we dig into this paper more, we will

find hormonal and physical maturation

differences during puberty may offer a

better understanding of the differences

in ADHD prevalence rates in males and

females. Okay. Think, Rosie, Grace, and

Quinn found a significant increase in

the dopamine receptors in the stratum in

response to estrogen stimulation, which

increases during puberty in girls. Boys

show an overproduction of dopamine

receptors before and during puberty,

which may contribute to hyperactivity

symptoms. There is a 55% reduction in

receptor density in adulthood in boys by

adulthood. Whereas dopamine girls

demonstrate a later increase in dopamine

receptors related to an increase in ex

estrogen during puberty. Okay, so this

is fascinating. Incredibly fascinating.

So, boys start out super high dopamine

sensitivity. Ah, we love this stuff. And

then as our frontal loes develop, we

start to tone down a little bit, right?

Like we're crazy kids. And then we're

like kind of moody teenagers. And then

we become mature men. No man, men don't

play games. Men do manly things. But

girls have an increase in dopamine

sensitivity when they go through

puberty. And dopamine is hugely

implicated in ADHD. Okay. So this is

governed by the D2 receptor sensitivity.

Okay. But what about the sense of depth

and the inability to connect because

people are shallow. So there are two

other mechanisms which are important

here. One is that empathy is often

impaired in ADHD. And now let's

understand why. So what is empathy?

Empathy is being able to feel what

someone else feels. So if we look at how

empathy works, one of the most important

things for empathy is sensory input.

This make sense? If I can't see or hear

or smell or feel anything from another

human being, it's hard to have empathy.

Empathy is critical for the sense of

connection. So these people with AD ADHD

are claiming they're like, I don't feel

connected to other people. I'm deeper

and they're shallow. So there's a

disconnect. Part of that disconnection

is literally sensory information. So

what I tend to find and if you guys have

friends with ADHD, what you'll notice is

like they're kind of operating on their

in their own world. Their internal

environment is very engaging. They get

distracted easily. They start thinking

about things. Now my attention is over

there. So it's hard to form empathic

connections with people from as simple

as reason is like we don't see what the

other person we don't pick up their

facial signals. We're not like really

paying attention. Our our brain is not

filtering out the correct information.

and it is overwhelming us with other

information. It's it's focused on this.

So, there's absolutely like an

inattention sensory element that impairs

people's empathy. Once we have impaired

empathy, it's hard to form connection.

So, I think this tracks with ADHD. Hey

y'all, if you're interested in applying

some of the principles that we share to

actually create change in your life,

check out Dr. K's Guide to Mental

Health. [music] And if you kind of

tunnel down, okay, why aren't you

motivated? And they're like, well,

there's no point. And if you get

underneath there's no point, what you

ultimately find is hopelessness. So what

the yogis discovered is that what we

call motivation, they actually called a

concentrated mind. What's the difference

between someone who actually does stuff

and someone who just tries to do stuff.

So check out the link in the bio and

start your journey today. [music] Third

thing, and this relates to estrogen, is

emotional reactivity. So what does this

mean? So we know that there are subtypes

of ADHD which involve difficulty with

emotional reactivity. Right? So if we

look at this approximately 25% of

patients in each population had comorbid

ADHD and anxiety. The coorbidity between

ADHD and anxiety deserves careful

scrutiny its own right. Oh synaptic

gating. This is a cool paper. So this is

basically talking about you know so ADHD

is a neurodedevelopmental disorder which

means that it like alters the way that

our brain is formed. It shapes our

brain. And synaptic gating is this way

of activation of neurons. And when we

have problems with our synaptic gating,

it results in anxiety because we're

overactivating certain neurons. We're

underactivating other neurons, right?

The anti-anxiety neurons are

underactive. The pro-anxiety neurons are

overactive. So we see a lot of ADHD and

anxiety. So here's a key thing to

understand. When you are deep, what does

it mean when someone is deep? It means

that their the volume of their emotional

experience is greater. Right? So being a

deep person is not the same as being a

deep thinker. Often times the two can be

connected because deep thinkers often

times have like this like existential

depth. The reason I think deeply is

because I feel deeply and I try to think

deeply. I use thinking deeply to try to

help me understand and navigate feeling

deeply. And so are people with ADHD

deeper? I think there's a strong

argument to be made for yes. And let's

understand the components. Number one,

in ADHD, our emotional circuitry

activates more quickly. It activates

more intensely and it lasts longer,

right? We just saw the coorbidity of

ADHD and anxiety was 25%. That's crazy.

We saw some stuff about synaptic gating

and how the way that our neurons are

wired will predispose us to more

feeling. Core mobidity rates for

depression are also higher. Now let's

talk about the women component. A couple

of things. Women have more internalizing

symptoms. What does that mean? That

means I spend time inside and then my

access to the depth. It's not just the

quantity of emotion, right? There's how

far down under the mountain can we go

and then there is how much time do I

spend above the ground and how much do I

time do I spend below the ground. So as

we have internalizing symptoms that are

prone to things like depression and we

have a greater emotional reactivity,

we're spending time underground. We're

spending time with that depth. Whereas

people who are neurotypical may be

spending time above ground even if they

have an equal amount of depth. But

chances are they don't feel emotions as

quickly and as intensely. Now I think

the total amount of emotion that a

neurotypical person and a person with

ADHD can feel is probably about the

same. I haven't seen any data that

suggests, except for one thing. We'll

get to women in a second, that it's not

like I hurt less if I'm neurotypical. I

can hurt just as much as someone with

ADHD. The difference is the frequency of

my hurt is less. The average intensity

of my hurt is less, the duration of my

hurt is less, but the capacity for my

hurt, I believe, is the same. So, I do

think it's like an understandable

experience for there to be a lack of

connection. So even if someone else is

capable of that depth, my ability to

read that that depth is impaired, but

it's also very reasonable to consider

that maybe the average neurotypical

person doesn't spend as much time

underground as I do and that the average

trip underground I go way deeper than

they go. It's actually a completely like

understandable stance. Last thing comes

down to estrogen itself. So why are we

seeing this complaint in women more so

than men? Doesn't mean that men don't do

it. It just seems like women are

complaining about it more, experiencing

it more. So estrogen literally gives us

emotional depth. The higher our estrogen

levels are, the more capacity for

emotion we have. It sensitizes our

emotional circuitry. And this like

happens in dads. So when I became a dad,

like I started crying in Disney movies

and I was like, "What the hell is going

on?" I was so confused. I was like

sitting there with my 2 and 1/

halfyear-old and we're like, "Let's

watch The Lion King." And it's like, "Oh

my god."

And I was like, "What is happening?" I

felt this tightness in my throat. I felt

like a [ __ ] [ __ ] I was like, "What

is wrong with me?" I just had access to

this emotional depth that I didn't have.

And it's because I my estrogen

increased. Oh my god. I became

womanized. I became feminized. Dr. K

became feminized. No, it's not that. My

testosterone levels are quite healthy.

My testosterone levels are quite high.

But you also get access to estrogen. And

this is important. The reason that you

need this is because when you spend time

with babies, babies can't talk. And so,

you need to have estrogen to be able to

have a greater capacity and sensitivity

for feeling. I need the outside world,

my I need to turn up the volume way up

because this little human doesn't know

how to communicate. And my stem mind, my

like, hey, if you feel something, let's

analyze. Look at this, Dr. K. Dr. K does

this. Oh, you are feeling depth. Let's

look at the neuroscience of depth and

let's explain. Let's understand

mechanistically. What is the

neuroscience of depth and feeling? What

is this? Let's break it apart. Let's

look at this synaptic gating. Let's go,

[ __ ] Synaptic gating theory. This is

how I understand the world. I'm a man.

Look at this. Look at this synaptic

gate. Beautiful. But unfortunately, when

my daughter is two, synaptic gating

theory doesn't really do the job. So,

you need access to estrogen. And for me,

it was like amazing because now I like

art. It's cool. I feel so much more.

It's great. So, I think this is where

like women really do feel like, you

know, I think it makes sense that you

have more estrogen. Probably the amount

of depth that you feel, I would bet

money, I would guess, varies with your

menstrual cycle. That you feel

disconnected from other people. Maybe

because you have difficulty with

empathy, you have difficulty connecting

with them, right? But that doesn't mean

that they're shallow. But it kind of

does because they may not feel the

frequency and intensity of emotion.

doesn't mean that they're shallow as

people. It just means they spend less

time at deeper waters. Doesn't mean that

they don't exist. So, in terms of how to

do this, how to deal with this, what do

you do if you feel this depth? I'd say

number one, be patient, right? You will

get there faster than other people get

there, which is so hard for people with

ADHD. Just be neurotypical. Number two

is I would say really pay attention to

the other person. Really try to read

what they're sending. And the last thing

that we got to say is that I think more

people are shallow across the globe. And

what does that mean when more people are

shallow? So I think the other reason

people are observing this is because

everyone is more shallow. This is like I

know this is supposed to be a joke but

there is some truth to this, right? And

the reason for that is if we look at the

influence of technology, technology

brings us outside of ourselves. Even

when you're reading a book, your

imagination has to be active in order to

enjoy the book. Most of the time the way

that human beings are supposed to be is

we're somewhat internal. We live

internally. So even when I read a book

like I'm in here, the book is just

triggering this creation internally. But

now what's happening is our attention is

moving to the outside. And as we move to

the outside, we're spreading out along

the surface. So we have no longer have

access to the mind shaft and we don't go

deep. Even when we trigger emotions,

they're so transient. We don't hang out

down there. Oh my god, look at these.

This little cat lost a leg. Oh my god,

it's so cute. Oh my god, it's so sad.

[laughter]

Did you see? Oh my god, this cat is

surfing. That's hilarious. So, we're

activating this stuff, but we're not

living down there. So, I do think that

it's very possible that, especially if

you're a woman, maybe a dude, and if

you're a dude in the audience, feel free

to chime in, that you do feel things

more deeply, that you are a little bit

deeper, that you spend more time down

there. But I don't think it's as brutal

as like, oh my god, I'm alone and I have

no one to connect to. I think you can do

that. You can form those connections.

need to be a little bit more socially

attuned, which is hard, you know, and I

think people can get there. You just got

to give them a little bit of time. Hey

y'all, hope you enjoyed today's video.

We talk about a bunch of topics like

this on the channel, so be sure to

subscribe for more. If you're already

subscribed, GG, and we'll see you in

chat.

>> [music]