Impulsiveness | ADHD Information
In a lot of articals I've read it talks about the impulsive asspect of ADHD, how would you describe impulsive behaviour? I guess that is when doing something without thinking first. I am out spoken which some people say you are to Blunt. I guess it all could be 1 in the same. Just my thought.I would define impulsive as doing things without thinking. I feel everyone does this from time to time. My 5 year old with ADHD will bolt in a parking lot or street without looking or thinking why she is on a short leash so to speak.
I can give you several wonderful examples, Dark, since I am related to one and friends with others.A good friend of mine who is on disability for depression and who only has K to her name at age 67 recently travelled out of state because she can never stand where she lives and is obsessed with believing that it is better somewhere else. When she came back from her trip, she was so locked in on how wonderful this place was that she tried to convince ANYONE who would listen that this is the ONLY place in the world to live...that PEOPLE are just better there....they are NICE. (She has a problem with hating most people...but THESE people are so different.)
While she was there, she found a mobile home for K. On impulse, she put 0 down on it and didn't even get a bill of sale or find out if she would qualify to live in the mobile home park (they do a financial screening). When she got home, she immediately mailed the balance of the money to the woman (00) without making sure she would get the title.
In the meantime, she was rejected by the mobile home park for having too low of an income. She also cannot get a hold of the owner of the mobile home who assured her she could have her money back if she was rejected.
If you ask her if she is planning to move there anyway, she will tell you that she wants nothing to do with the place..."it is too remote," it is too this, it is too that. She is now on to a NEW place that is the ONLY place to live, according to her. So she bombards me with literature and tries to convince me to move also. Guess what one of her recent suggestions have been? Try Biloxi, Mississippi!
I have plenty more stories where that came from.
A more close-to-home example is that my dad would quit his jobs b/c he didn't get along with someone and my mom would need to support us--he wouldn't even discuss it with her first...just come home and annouce it and then procrastinate getting his next job. He wasn't a bum, but just very ADHD about things. One time he did this and said that we needed to pick up and move b/c he "heard" they were hiring in the South for his line of work. So, he loaded us all up and we moved within a week or two in a little, tiny truck across the U.S. Guess what? When they got there, they were hiring all right, but they didn't want my dad...THEY WANTED MY MOM! :o) Can you guess how thrilled SHE was?!
bluebird3838598.8991435185
I tell people I have loose lips....words come out before i can stop them..My friends tell me one of these days someone is going to punch me in the nose...I can't help it ... no matter how much I try...I am not even aware of it most times....lambiekin
Ooh, LIB, I can scarily relate to everything you said. <hiding under covers - Waaah!> I did the work thing and was "released" this week.bluebird3838599.2465625
Impulsive ADHD= not having the ability to control your action, whether it is physical or verbal; acting immediately on impulse rather than logic
doing things without thinking about the consequences; it isn't a matter of refusing to think it through, it is more like you find yourself doing it and then realize you didn't think it through, or realize there may have been other options
saying things you didn't mean and may not have been thinking; it just pops out before you have formulated what you are going to say (for me, it is sometimes a compilation of things which were running through my mind as I was trying to find the right way to say what I actually meant)
appearing to lack self control or will power when in fact, you acted completely spontaneously, giving no thought at all before you acted, and did not have time to even consider that you could attempt self control
It ranges. I'm severely impulsive. If I get something in my head, it ain't coming out until I act on it. I often find myself waking up and refusing to go to work, and I don't. If I wake up and decide I want to drive hundreds of miles to another city with almost no money, there I go. I can really blow through money. I buy things at whim, even in the middle of the night. I put my foot in my mouth a lot too.
I am outspoken too...sometimes too much where I have ended up losing a friend, and even where my dad says "Your mouth is your worst enemy." My philosophy in all that is like the Olympia Dukakis character in Steel Magnolias..."If you can't say something nice, come sit next to me." My bluntness ticks people off, but my close friends either just tell me to shut up, or ignore me.
I have also done other things on impulse that I have totally regretted. As my best friend tells me "You play with fire and you're gonna get burned."
Bluebird,Ha! I'm on the verge of being "released" right now! I didn't go to work at all last week. The doctor wrote me an excuse for Monday off, I edited it and faxed it to my employer, excusing myself for the entire week. :p
I'm usually a bit more consistent in my work history, but this is a new job and is -not- ADD-friendly. My impulsiveness has gotten out of control. I never hold a job long term. I'm broke. Always on the go.
I think you and me got it bad, bluebird. We need to be medicated. Or commited. Let It Bleed38599.6985416667
I acted impulsively today! LOL!!!! Big shocker. I was out by myself and noticed WalMart and figured I'd pop in even though I didn't need anything (mistake #1). I went to the office area and bought a refill packet for my dayplanner. They didn't have the weekly one I wanted, so I bought the daily refills. Now......I have almost three months before I'll need the refill packet, but did I decide to wait it out and get the one I wanted? Nooooooooooo. THEN I went to the music section. I ran across a 3-disc set "Best of Queen." Should I be spending on music I don't really "need?" No. Did I buy it? Yes......along with the "Best of INXS" cd which I also don't need either but figured "Hey! I have the space for these in my cd case in the car!" I spent the drive home wondering why I'm so impulsive and if I had the discipline to hang on the the new things and having my husband just put them in my Christmas stocking in December.
I also impulsively hit the "post" button without checking what I just wrote and only now noticed I left a word out of a sentence. Editing. Without it, I'd look like an idiot.
Ah the classic urge question! LOL
I describe it as a "knee-jerk" reaction to things. It was almost always a reaction to a stimulus from outside. When something would make me react - I would instantly go with my inner urges - without taking adequate time to think of the consequences. I hated that soooo much!
Thankfully most days now that I'm on meds I take a couple seconds to think on whatever I do - and do what I know is right not what my urges say. It's a nice feeling.
- Glen
I was constantly told in school to put my brain into gear before opening my mouth :/I tried doing that, didn't work - I still blurted things out without giving them a moments thought.
Hey, how come it's all girls in here?
I guess I was pretty impulsive coming in here, then.
Impulsive. Spending money on something on an endcap.
Saying something without thinking. Already been said.
Striking when surprised. Maybe not. This is more defensive.
Connecting a series of unrelated thoughts or ideas into a new hole.
Passing a car when my exit is only 100 meters away.
Making a new friend when you have way too many to keep track of, anyway...