Smoking

Fellow Mighty member @mightyaut has expressed her fears regarding the state of care for disabled people in the United States. I am adding my voice to hers, as I believe it is important that we understand the threat that Donald Trump poses to the services that disabled folk rely on.

I had reservations about Mr. Trump from the beginning of his candidacy in 2015. His mockery of disabled Washington Post reporter Serge Kovaleski convinced me that Mr. Trump lacks compassion and was unfit to be President. Learning about Mr. Trump’s nephew Fred and Fred’s disabled son William only strengthened my conviction that Mr. Trump is unfit to lead a nation with a substantial disabled population. Fred visited his uncle to express his concerns about the increasing cost of William’s care, and Mr. Trump told his nephew that he should just let his son die. According to an article in The Guardian, Mr. Trump expressed the same sentiment to a group of physicians and disability advocates he met at the White House. In Mr. Trump’s eyes, the lives of disabled people have no value; they are a burden to be disposed of. Fred Trump said, understandably, that it hurt him to hear his uncle speak that way about his son. He added,“Acceptance and tolerance would only come with public education and awareness…Donald might never understand this.”

Mr. Trump is intent on destroying the Department of Education, which, among other duties, maintains the Office for Civil Rights. This office investigates when schools discriminate against or abuse disabled students. An article in USA Today says that shortly after taking office, Mr. Trump ordered that 243 staffers from that office be laid off, crippling its ability to look out for its young charges. Allowing discrimination and abuse to go unchecked normalizes seeing disabled people as “other.” This in turn makes it easier to paint disabled people as subhuman.

Disabled folk disgust Mr. Trump. He doesn’t see us as people, instead viewing us solely in terms of how expensive it is to keep us alive. His solution is slashing Medicaid, a move one disability advocate calls a “soft” version of Nazi Germany’s Aktion T4 euthanasia program. Between 1939 and 1945, pediatricians, psychiatrists and nurses working for the Third Reich murdered upwards of 300,000 mentally and physically disabled children and adults after the Reich disparaged them as “useless eaters’ and “burdensome lives.” The equivalent manifesting in 2025 America is more subtle: deny vulnerable Americans access to care while denigrating them as parasites and the reason that MAGA’s diehard supporters can’t have nice things. In the meantime, the money the country saves by killing its most vulnerable citizens will fund a tax cut for Elon Musk. If Mr. Musk spent an amount totaling my father’s mortgage every day of the year, it would take over ten thousand years to exhaust his net worth. I for one am glad that Mr. Musk will see his tax burden relieved. I don’t know how he summons the strength to go on, making do with so little.

The need for brevity has obliged me to simplify my arguments against President Trump. At this juncture, I recall helpful advice offered by fantasy author George R. R. Martin when the President was running against Hillary Clinton. Martin pointed out that Mrs. Clinton’s campaign ads were straightforward, unedited clips of Mr. Trump being himself, because the strongest argument against Mr. Trump becoming President has always been Mr. Trump himself. To paraphrase Mr. Martin, you don’t need to listen to Mrs. Clinton, George R.R. Martin, or me. Listen to Trump. Watch videos of his speeches. Read the transcript of his address at West Point over Memorial Day weekend. Look at his social media accounts. Then ask yourself, seriously, if this is a man who should be deciding whether you deserve to have health care or not.

Thank you, @mightyaut, for your posts and the encouragement they gave me to speak out. I hope others will follow your example and speak out as well. Before I go, I recommend Sarah Kendzior’s Substack as a source of information on the danger that Mr. Trump poses to American democracy. As Ms. Kendzior puts it, the smoking gun pointing to Mr. Trump’s crimes against ordinary Americans is smoking because Mr. Trump is shooting this country to death, and that won’t change until enough of us stand up to a man who is little more than a glorified bully. #Disability #MentalHealth #Depression #Trauma #PTSD #Suicide

#SensoryProcessingDisorder

Timeline of the onset of symptoms that I experienced and suffered
• 2012: See R-BO/A-BO(on Indonesian in television)
• 2017: Concerned about mental depictions.
• 2018: Tingling head when thinking about tense things and genitals stimulated like orgasm when thinking about sexual things, thoughts must be in accordance with thoughts (not OCD).
• 2019: Starting to make illogical thoughts, Concerned about mental depictions of 3D people in real visuals or mental depictions of real people in 3D/animated visuals (not hallucinating and that makes it difficult for me to play games and watch animated films/cartoons).
• 2021: Concerned about People Wearing Skirts in everyday life
• 2022: Mentioning the year (thousands), people say "ya" in Javanese.
• 2023: People Smoking (this year I received treatment from a psychiatrist and my doctor said that I had severe anxiety (not in accordance with what I experienced and suffered) after receiving treatment my condition got worse! • 2024: Having a problem with people wearing watches on their left/right hand (should they be worn on the left or not emotional reactions and illogical thoughts will appear in my mind/brain.

Symptoms of the condition I suffer from:
• Strong emotional and cognitive reactions to the following (triggers):
1. People Smoking
2. Wearing a skirt in everyday life
3. Saying "ya" (engge) in Javanese
4. People speaking regional languages ​​in Indonesia
5. Seeing R-BO on Television (depending on the language used)
6. Seeing gecko droppings
7. Seeing Women as advertising stars
8. Seeing online advertisements
9. Saying thousands of years in Indonesian
10. Wearing a watch on the right..

• Tingling head when thinking about tense things and genitals are stimulated like orgasm when thinking about sexual things.
• Problematizing visual depictions (not hallucinations) of real people in the 3D visual world or animated 3D people in the real visual world followed by emotional and cognitive reactions.
• Cognitive reactions in the form of illogical thoughts (not schizophrenia, delusions, delusions or psychosis), cognitive distortion.
• Thoughts must be in accordance with certain things otherwise emotional and cognitive reactions will occur (this is not OCD or OCPD disorder) • If faced with things that trigger emotional and cognitive reactions from before then the reaction will not be too much (example: Seeing people smoking in 1991 will not trigger emotional and cognitive reactions as much as in 2024-2025)! (please note: applies to all existing triggers) • Problematizing mental representations • Crying over things like the following: • Dead animals • Lesser known games • People dying • Events (war, disaster, accident) • Thought and cognitive reactions that sometimes repeat themselves in my brain (still not OCD) • If faced with things that are the opposite of the triggers then the emotional cognitive reaction will decrease along with the mind being aware!

• Please note:
1. The symptoms mentioned above are not part of schizophrenia, psychosis, ADHD, PTSD, OCD, bipolar disorder, multiple personality, autism, Asperger's syndrome or Tourette's syndrome
2. Are the things described above indicative of a rare/lesser known disorder?
3. Triggers that are reacted to by emotional cognitive can be random!

And i'm from Indonesia

#NeurodevelopmentalDisorders

Timeline of the onset of symptoms that I experienced and suffered
• 2012: See R-BO/A-BO.
• 2017: Concerned about mental depictions.
• 2018: Tingling head when thinking about tense things and genitals stimulated like orgasm when thinking about sexual things, thoughts must be in accordance with thoughts (not OCD).
• 2019: Starting to make illogical thoughts, Concerned about mental depictions of 3D people in real visuals or mental depictions of real people in 3D/animated visuals (not hallucinating and that makes it difficult for me to play games and watch animated films/cartoons).
• 2021: Concerned about People Wearing Skirts in everyday life
• 2022: Mentioning the year (thousands), people say "ya" in Javanese.
• 2023: People Smoking (this year I received treatment from a psychiatrist and my doctor said that I had severe anxiety (not in accordance with what I experienced and suffered) after receiving treatment my condition got worse! • 2024: Having a problem with people wearing watches on their left/right hand (should they be worn on the left or not emotional reactions and illogical thoughts will appear in my mind/brain.

Symptoms of the condition I suffer from:
• Strong emotional and cognitive reactions to the following (triggers):
1. People Smoking
2. Wearing a skirt in everyday life
3. Saying "ya" (engge) in Javanese
4. People speaking regional languages ​​in Indonesia
5. Seeing R-BO on Television (depending on the language used)
6. Seeing gecko droppings
7. Seeing Women as advertising stars
8. Seeing online advertisements
9. Saying thousands of years in Indonesian
10. Wearing a watch on the right..

• Tingling head when thinking about tense things and genitals are stimulated like orgasm when thinking about sexual things.
• Problematizing visual depictions (not hallucinations) of real people in the 3D visual world or animated 3D people in the real visual world followed by emotional and cognitive reactions.
• Cognitive reactions in the form of illogical thoughts (not schizophrenia, delusions, delusions or psychosis), cognitive distortion.
• Thoughts must be in accordance with certain things otherwise emotional and cognitive reactions will occur (this is not OCD or OCPD disorder) • If faced with things that trigger emotional and cognitive reactions from before then the reaction will not be too much (example: Seeing people smoking in 1991 will not trigger emotional and cognitive reactions as much as in 2024-2025)! (please note: applies to all existing triggers) • Problematizing mental representations • Crying over things like the following: • Dead animals • Lesser known games • People dying • Events (war, disaster, accident) • Thought and cognitive reactions that sometimes repeat themselves in my brain (still not OCD) • If faced with things that are the opposite of the triggers then the emotional cognitive reaction will decrease along with the mind being aware!

• Please note:
1. The symptoms mentioned above are not part of schizophrenia, psychosis, ADHD, PTSD, OCD, bipolar disorder, multiple personality, autism, Asperger's syndrome or Tourette's syndrome
2. Are the things described above indicative of a rare/lesser known disorder?
3. Triggers that are reacted to by emotional cognitive can be random!

I have consulted with four doctors and they said that what I am suffering from is schizophrenia even though the condition I am suffering from is different from common psychiatric conditions and I have felt it since I was 3-7 years old?

Timeline of the onset of symptoms that I experienced and suffered
• 2012: See R-BO/A-BO(on Indonesian in television)
• 2017: Concerned about mental depictions.
• 2018: Tingling head when thinking about tense things and genitals stimulated like orgasm when thinking about sexual things, thoughts must be in accordance with thoughts (not OCD).
• 2019: Starting to make illogical thoughts, Concerned about mental depictions of 3D people in real visuals or mental depictions of real people in 3D/animated visuals (not hallucinating and that makes it difficult for me to play games and watch animated films/cartoons).
• 2021: Concerned about People Wearing Skirts in everyday life
• 2022: Mentioning the year (thousands), people say "ya" in Javanese.
• 2023: People Smoking (this year I received treatment from a psychiatrist and my doctor said that I had severe anxiety (not in accordance with what I experienced and suffered) after receiving treatment my condition got worse! • 2024: Having a problem with people wearing watches on their left/right hand (should they be worn on the left or not emotional reactions and illogical thoughts will appear in my mind/brain.

Symptoms of the condition I suffer from:
• Strong emotional and cognitive reactions to the following (triggers):
1. People Smoking
2. Wearing a skirt in everyday life
3. Saying "ya" (engge) in Javanese
4. People speaking regional languages ​​in Indonesia
5. Seeing R-BO on Television (depending on the language used)
6. Seeing gecko droppings
7. Seeing Women as advertising stars
8. Seeing online advertisements
9. Saying thousands of years in Indonesian
10. Wearing a watch on the right..

• Tingling head when thinking about tense things and genitals are stimulated like orgasm when thinking about sexual things.
• Problematizing visual depictions (not hallucinations) of real people in the 3D visual world or animated 3D people in the real visual world followed by emotional and cognitive reactions.
• Cognitive reactions in the form of illogical thoughts (not schizophrenia, delusions, delusions or psychosis), cognitive distortion.
• Thoughts must be in accordance with certain things otherwise emotional and cognitive reactions will occur (this is not OCD or OCPD disorder) • If faced with things that trigger emotional and cognitive reactions from before then the reaction will not be too much (example: Seeing people smoking in 1991 will not trigger emotional and cognitive reactions as much as in 2024-2025)! (please note: applies to all existing triggers) • Problematizing mental representations • Crying over things like the following: • Dead animals • Lesser known games • People dying • Events (war, disaster, accident) • Thought and cognitive reactions that sometimes repeat themselves in my brain (still not OCD) • If faced with things that are the opposite of the triggers then the emotional cognitive reaction will decrease along with the mind being aware!

• Please note:
1. The symptoms mentioned above are not part of schizophrenia, psychosis, ADHD, PTSD, OCD, bipolar disorder, multiple personality, autism, Asperger's syndrome or Tourette's syndrome
2. Are the things described above indicative of a rare/lesser known disorder?
3. Triggers that are reacted to by emotional cognitive can be random!

And i'm from Indonesia

Hi, my name is Coffeemaster87. I'm here because I have ADHD and have been smoking meth. I can’t focus my mind and my anxiety has been extreme since my dog got sick. I need some advice please! Thank you

#MightyTogether #Anxiety #Depression #BipolarDisorder #PTSD #AutismSpectrumDisorder #ADHD #Grief

My sister came over yesterday to hang out for a bit and we went for a car ride to see my cousin. We ended up smoking some pot and I must have had a bad reaction because all of a sudden, I had the lowest feeling and really scared about life and how it might never change no matter how hard we try and that out trials could become fatal. Like my sister who is overweight it really bothered me because I want her to be happy and it was like she gave up and she is so deserving and beautiful! It just made me so sad and I think I even said I felt suicidal about the whole situation it was the worst feeling ever what if nothing changes like my smoking is it going to kill me? Or my sister never loses the weight are we going to be stuck here for eternity? I don't know it was just the most terrible feeling ever and I don't ever want to feel it again!

Honestly, despite taking antidepressants for about a month, I don’t think they’ll be as effective as I thought they’d be. Originally, my doctor has given me antidepressants in hopes that if the depression is treated, it might alleviate the ADHD symptoms.

However, I don’t think it will help me at all because I have not seen an improvement with my ADHD symptoms. I still struggle with what I now understand is called ADHD paralysis.

ADHD paralysis is one of the main reasons why I started getting depressed. Because I have a hard time starting tasks due to persistent feelings of ADHD paralysis, it’s always made me feel like a failure and has caused feelings of self-hatred, and hopelessness. It’s also why I feel powerless and like I’m not in control of my body.

To put it in a better analogy, if you were to ask me to do a simple task, to me it feels like if you were asking me to stop smoking in order to overcome smoking addiction. That feeling of resistance a smoke addict would have feels exactly similar to how it feels for me to start simple tasks.

That’s why I don’t think antidepressants will help me entirely because really, as long as I have these ADHD symptoms, it will not fully improve the depression. Even thinking about how powerless I feel because of ADHD brings tears to my eyes sometimes.

I’m kind of hoping I get some news about my appointment with the psychiatrist because I’ve been told it’s going to take about 2 months to even get an appointment, and they can’t really prescribe me ADHD medication without the psychiatrist. They haven’t really given me an exact date for the psychiatrist, so as of now, I have no idea when I’ll visit the psychiatrist.

HI, FINANCES are really low this month, I'm a mom who rsised a kid to late teenagehood, cost goes to groceries, rent, ciggies, kid, Tims for caregiving, presents for imdeiate family and caregiving and bus cards, its hard, sometimes I can't caregive due to finances, I have 2 elderly, one's in a wheelchair, I hope to quit smoking tomorrow n live on potatoes but I'm worried I'll get sick, walking 20 to 40 minutes from bus to caregiving and back is hard, I'm clean but sometimes abused, just asking for prayers, my daughter comes home a bit but has been elsewhere March break, I'm hard working and exhausted, have 3 big dogs and one other person and the house is clean, I'm Hopeful, it was kid's Birthday so a lot went to that, I'm worried

I saw a video recently where two people were talking about this topic and they blamed it solely on drugs, alcohol, smoking and bad choices, this is wrong, and a misunderstanding, It is mainly driven by our struggles with executive dysfunctions that permeate every area of life in a world designed for neurotypicals that have high executive functioning.

I want to talk about a topic that is very close to me. My aunt died in her sixties, aside from other health problems, the circumstance I believe were due to undiagnosed ADHD and lack of support, a lot of misunderstanding and a lot of judgements around her leading to critical isolation and preventable early death.

I made a good friend in the pandemic that I believe also was an undiagnosed ADHD woman in her late forties who died in similar circumstances that could have been prevented and mitigated due to the following 5 issues that ADHD people struggle with.

5 Reasons Why ADHD People Have a Shorter Life Span than Neurotypicals

Studies suggest that individuals with ADHD may have a shorter life expectancy compared to neurotypical individuals, primarily due to increased risks related to accidents, impulsivity, substance abuse, and health complications. Research indicates that:

On average, people with ADHD may live 8 to 13 years less than neurotypical individuals.

A 2019 study by Dr. Russell Barkley found that severe ADHD cases might reduce lifespan by up to 25 years in extreme cases due to poor self-regulation, increased stress, and unhealthy lifestyle choices.

The biggest contributing factors are higher rates of accidental injuries, risk-taking behaviors, obesity, and untreated mental health conditions.

However, proper diagnosis, treatment, and lifestyle changes (such as therapy, medication, exercise, and structured routines) can help mitigate these risks and improve longevity.

Would you like strategies to help improve life expectancy and health outcomes for ADHD?

Why Do ADHD Adults Have a Shorter Lifespan?

1. Executive Dysfunction & Life Management Struggles

Difficulty maintaining a livable environment (clutter, unsafe conditions).

Forgetting to eat properly or drink enough water.

Inconsistent hygiene and self-care routines.

Poor financial management leading to stress and instability.

Forgetting or mismanaging medication, missing doctor appointments.

2. Higher Risk of Accidents & Injuries

Impulsivity increases risk-taking behavior (reckless driving, not wearing seatbelts, unsafe sex, etc.).

Forgetfulness and inattention can lead to accidents, fires, injuries.

Difficulty following through on preventive health care (checkups, screenings,).

3. Chronic Stress, Burnout, & Mental Health Issues

ADHD is often accompanied by anxiety, depression, and emotional dysregulation.

Difficulty managing stress leads to higher cortisol levels, which contribute to heart disease and other health issues.

Overwhelm and burnout reduce motivation to take care of oneself.

4. Social Isolation & Support Gaps

Struggles with maintaining friendships and relationships.

Lack of a strong support system, which affects mental health.

Social rejection leads to loneliness, which increases mortality risk.

5. Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms

Higher likelihood of using alcohol, smoking, drugs, or food to self-soothe.

Irregular sleep patterns and chronic sleep deprivation (which increases risk of cardiovascular disease, obesity, and diabetes).

Is It Just Poor Choices? No—It’s a Systemic Issue.

It’s not just about making "bad choices"; it’s about living in a world that isn’t designed for ADHD brains. Neurotypical life requires strong executive functioning, which ADHD people struggle with. This leads to constant small failures (missed bills, health neglect, disorganization), which add up over time and take a toll on both physical and mental health.

What Can Help?

Externalized systems: Reminders, alarms, habit trackers, accountability partners.

Simplified self-care: Small, sustainable habits instead of all-or-nothing thinking.

ADHD-friendly financial management: Automated payments, budgeting apps, financial therapy.

Preventative healthcare: Setting appointments in advance, pairing medication with daily habits.

Community & support: Finding ADHD-friendly groups like The Mighty, find an ADHD check in buddy, coaching, therapy, and social connections.

Would you say your struggles fall mostly in one category, or is it a mix of everything?