Anyone hear of sluggish cognitive tempo?

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This isn’t a formal diagnosis but a newly proposed disorder that’s supposedly related to ADHD but distinct from it. It was also found in some studies to be related to ASD as well. Does anyone relate to any of these symptoms? I don’t relate to this entire list but feel that some of this applies. Like I’ve been called apathetic and withdrawn before and mocked for a flat affect, which isn’t specifically mentioned here but may make me appear “slow” to others.

TBH some of this just sounds like how an extroverted neurotypical would describe an introvert in a disparaging way.

Prone to daydreaming
Easily confused or mentally foggy
Spacey or inattentive to surroundings
Mind seems to be elsewhere
Stares blankly into space
Underactive, slow moving or sluggish
Lethargic or less energetic
Trouble staying awake or alert
Has drowsy or sleepy appearance
Gets lost in own thoughts
Apathetic or withdrawn, less engaged in activities
Loses train of thought or cognitive set
Processes information not as quickly or accurately

I do.

And I'm trying to pinpoint why because there are days I'm like that. Then there are days that I'm not.
I do not have AD(H)D. Yet it happens especially in stressed, overwhelmed or whatever caused this jet lag like feeling.

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Prone to daydreaming - Yes
Easily confused or mentally foggy - Partially
Spacey or inattentive to surroundings - I space out a lot
Mind seems to be elsewhere - See above
Stares blankly into space - See above again lol
Underactive, slow moving or sluggish - Partially, yet I can be super hyper the other half of the time
Lethargic or less energetic - Partially
Trouble staying awake or alert - No
Has drowsy or sleepy appearance - No
Gets lost in own thoughts - Yes
Apathetic or withdrawn, less engaged in activities - Yes
Loses train of thought or cognitive set - Yeah
Processes information not as quickly or accurately - Yes

I think that for me most of these symptoms are explainable as from depression and/or dissociation.

I have never heard of Sluggish Cognitive Tempo but I'm ASD and combined-type ADHD.

I started ADHD meds last year and I feel much more awake, although my thoughts are still jumbled and I still have problems with executive function.


Prone to daydreaming --- constantly, I'm a space cadet
Easily confused or mentally foggy -- yes
Spacey or inattentive to surroundings -- yes spacey, but I also have a keen attention for detail
Mind seems to be elsewhere -- always
Stares blankly into space -- yes, teased about it all my life
Underactive, slow moving or sluggish --yes, to an extent (but my mind is racing)
Lethargic or less energetic -- before I started ADHD meds, yes
Trouble staying awake or alert -- I have insomnia so I don't fall asleep, but I was always tired pre-ADHD meds
Has drowsy or sleepy appearance -- yes, because of looking spacey and not doing eye contact
Gets lost in own thoughts -- always
Apathetic or withdrawn, less engaged in activities -- withdrawn from social stuff, but not personal stuff
Loses train of thought or cognitive set -- I don't have a train of thought, ever
Processes information not as quickly or accurately -- My task processing speed was timed as average on ADHD test but it takes me a long time to process thoughts or emotions

On my EEG scans they said I had abnormal slow waves in my temporal lobes?
I have no idea what that means (nor did they), but maybe it's related?

I had most of those as a child more than I do now, but I do have the excessive daydreaming or appearing to have a "dreamy" sort of expression often.

As a child I often got lost in my thoughts, which sometimes led to some embarrassing situations. For example when I was about 9 I was sitting at the dinner table at school and the older kids came to serve us our food. One of them asked me what I wanted, but I found myself staring at her thinking "hmm, I'm sure I've spoken to this girl before..." and I got lost in my thoughts trying to recall when and where I first met her. Then she yelled, "what do you want???" which snapped me out of my thoughts and her ill-tempered expression made me nervous so without thinking I ended up choosing food I didn't like.

Yep...I get this sort of thing sometimes.

I better not get it tonight----I'm doing my taxes!

I've heard of it and I thought it was part of ADHD - Inattentive Type, which I have.

I had always thought I was just lazy and spacey before diagnosis. I used to get into trouble often in school for daydreaming. And when I was working in the 2000s, my supervisor accused me of being on drugs (I wasn't taking anything except for an asthma puffer). So when I actually started on dexamphetamine a few months later, my supervisor said he had noticed an improvement and was glad I was putting more thought into my work.

One of the things that gets to me at my cleaning job is doing something and then forgetting I've done it and so doing it again to make sure I've done it! I get on my nerves sometimes.

I...uhhmmmm...

well...

uhmmm....

WHAT was the question again?

When I was a child I would "day dream too much", and have trouble paying attention in class.

But not the rest of the package.

To some extent, all of 'em, sure. Some more, some less. (I thought it was Husband Syndrome.)

If they want to formally diagnose it as a "Disorder" they'll need thresholds, ways to test, and reasons to test. Is this needed? Every way in which people differ will eventually be labeled as a Syndrome or Disorder.

I've never heard of it.
I have most of those; but I've thought they were all side effects of what is being called systemizing/patterns thinking (Simon Baron-Cohen). My Mom noticed it from age 3 on. I'm now 78 and an engineer, so mine's maybe occupationally locked in. Your whole list is often commented on as my concentration- loner "personality problem." High Funct Autism &/or Asperger very likely, but not diagmosed. I'll have to relook at all now. Thanks.

I would fit this description, but another description fits better Sensory processing struggles/disorder.

Because I have extremely poor visual and audio processing all of those descriptions were used for me at school. Until I was allowed to read my lessons in the upper grades, I failed miserably at almost everything in the classroom. My processing simply could not keep up! I became bored and distracted because I did not process so much of what happened but I never "acted out" instead I was slow, quiet, unresponsive, and very restrained in any reaction. My sensory processing struggles were the cause of all the behaviors described in this "new disorder".

ADHD is already suspected to have a lot to do with ASD and is being investigated as possible forms of ASD, it seems to me that this "new" concept is the reinvention of definition and description regarding people who have poor sensory processing.

I get to check all of those, of varying intensity. But for me it’s more likely largely due to over fifteen years of moderate to severe depression and ECT attempting to treat it. Those have really done my brain in. Probably externally seemed a bit like it as a child because of auditory processing issues and such, but without noise and stressors I was plenty alert and quick-thinking. But now the term “sluggish cognitive tempo” very accurately describes how my mind feels most of the time.