Mission to Mars: Boredom and Adult ADD

Did you hear about the Russian experiment that has a team of 6 researchers on a 520-day mock mission to Mars?

The experiment is designed to simulate the conditions that astronauts would endure on a real trip to Mars. The team will be isolated from the rest of the world for over a year, and even their communications to mission control will be on a 20-minute delay, just as if they were actually in space.

I pay attention to news stories like these because I'm a bit of a space geek. I always planned to major in Astronomy in college, but that plan went out the window when I found out that degree required 5 semesters of calculus. No thanks! I could barely stay awake in Calculus 101--which didn't help at test time.

But the reason I'm calling this story to your attention is because when I was watching the coverage on CNN, they interviewed a psychologist who commented that the greatest challenge these men will face is boredom. Boredom, she said, leads to anxiety, depression, and conflict.

Tell me about it! When boredom is arguably the greatest challenge that adults with ADD face, is it any wonder that we're plagued with these coexisting conditions, too?

Adults with ADD almost always suffer from depression or anxiety at some point in their lives. (If it isn't a constant struggle.) "The quiet ADD brain will almost always go to the negative," an MD friend once told me. It takes a high level of self-awareness to train the ADD brain away from automatic negative thinking. I'm not sure why this is, but I've certainly seen it to be true.

And while "conflict" a diagnosable co-existing condition, it's definitely another challenge for adults with ADD. The ADD brain likes stimulation, and will often create conflict in the absence of stimulation. This can be in the form of conflict with others, or conflict with self.

Just the other day, a client commented to me that he wasn't sure why he and his wife were fighting over "really stupid things," but he was pretty sure that he had started it "for no good reason." As the conversation progressed, he could recount many times in his life when, as he put it, "I made myself the center of drama." We talked about better ways that he could find stimulation, because he was getting tired of all the conflict and drama in his life. He's not the first client I've coached on this topic.

Thinking about these things makes me feel for the six men on the mock mission to Mars. How will they survive a year and half of sheer boredom? I wonder if they're incredibly zen, or just fucking crazy. Probably a little of both.

One thing's for sure, I'd never survive a 520-day mission to Mars. I couldn't even survive a semester of Calculus.

Comments

[Gary]

I agree Jen they are f*@king crazy!

[Carol]

Oh my! I could not survive either. Can you imagine being confined to those tiny rooms with the same five people for all that time? I'm fairly certain that I would become depressed and withdrawn and sleep all day and night.

However I know ADDers who are very different and always turn a boring circumstance into a fun party. I hope at least one of those men is a fun ADDer who can brighten up the time in captivity!