Welcome to this edition of the Hypercurious newsletter – I’m very excited to experiment with a different format. I wanted to post this in October for ADHD awareness month, but I lost the hard drive while on a weekend trip1 and had to start editing from scratch. Rather than compromise on quality, here it is one day late. Also we’re closing this ADHD and curiosity study very soon – please consider completing it if you’re eligible and/or sharing it with your network. A larger sample = more robust results!
You might have heard of Prof Edmund Sonuga-Barke from the NYT article titled ‘Have We Been Thinking About ADHD All Wrong?’ that went viral earlier this year.
Since we’re both based at King’s College London, I thought it would be fun to bring him together with Prof Ellie Dommett, head of our ADHD Research Lab.
Science is often seen as serious, even austere, but we have a lot of fun at the lab and I think that comes across in this conversation.
Actually, based on the number of times we laughed (many of which I had to cut), I’m pretty hopeful you’ll find it both entertaining and insightful.
We talked about:
How the medical model of ADHD may be limiting scientific progress
The dubious benefits of long-term medication
How exercise might help with ADHD symptoms
Why we need personalized approaches
How changing your relationship with ADHD symptoms might be as important as reducing them
As for my takeaways:
It’s time to move beyond the medical model. We all agreed about the need to embrace multiple pathways, multimodal interventions, and multiple approaches to understanding ADHD. In addition, strength-based research is lacking and there aren’t enough studies looking into leveraging the positive aspects that come with ADHD traits.
Non-drug interventions need more attention. While medication can help some people, we desperately need more robust research into alternatives like exercise, mindfulness, and lifestyle interventions.
Personalization + agency are key. We need to build tools and protocols that recognize that ADHD manifests differently in each person and that they may be seeking different solutions. Ultimately, this is about helping people feel empowered and valued rather than simply trying to “fix” them.
What about you, what are your takeaways? Please let me know in the comments.
P.S. I’m not starting a podcast (this is way too much work!) but I really enjoyed recording this conversation so we might have some more video editions of the newsletter in the future. Stay tuned!
Papers mentioned in our conversation if you’d like to dig deeper:
Dinu, L. M., Singh, S. N., Baker, N. S., Georgescu, A. L., Singer, B. F., Overton, P. G., & Dommett, E. J. (2023). The effects of different exercise approaches on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in adults: A randomised controlled trial. Behavioral Sciences, 13(2), 129. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs13020129
Le Cunff, A. L. (2024). Distractibility and impulsivity in ADHD as an evolutionary mismatch of high trait curiosity. Evolutionary Psychological Science, 10(3), 282-297. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40806-024-00400-8
Ramji, A. V., Dommett, E. J., & Runswick, O. R. (2024). “I Found Comfort in Exercising”: Exploring Experiences With Exercise for Adults With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly, 42(1), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1123/apaq.2023-0175
Sonuga-Barke, E. J. S., Stoilova, M., Kostyrka-Allchorne, K., Bourgaize, J., Murray, A., Tan, M. P. J., ... & Livingstone, S. (2024). Pathways between digital activity and depressed mood in adolescence: outlining a developmental model integrating risk, reactivity, resilience and reciprocity. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 58, 101411. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2024.101411
Swanson, J. M., Arnold, L. E., Molina, B. S., Sibley, M. H., Hechtman, L. T., Hinshaw, S. P., ... & Stern, K. (2017). Young adult outcomes in the follow‐up of the multimodal treatment study of attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder: Symptom persistence, source discrepancy, and height suppression. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 58(6), 663-678. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.12684
This is your sign to not bring work on a weekend trip :)
