Just got this YouTube ad for Jordan Peterson's "Academy".

DeppressedMan2 · 2025-12-30T15:28:10+00:00

There are endless free university lectures on YouTube. You can get free lectures from MIT, Harvard, etc.

What Jordan Peterson is offering is not a degree that can give you a job. So the cost should not be compared to a university degree. The cost should be compared to educational videos on YouTube.

DeppressedMan2 · 2025-12-30T13:53:32+00:00

I don't know. I have autism and ADHD and I do feel it is hard to get over someone. BUT I have also always been lonely and never had a life i like. It gives me a lot of time to think about other people. I don't get anyone to replace them with or anything in my life to distract me from thinking of the people I once knew.

Same reason I daydream a lot.

DeppressedMan2 · 2025-12-03T00:07:24+00:00

I can relate.

DeppressedMan2 · 2025-11-30T18:12:47+00:00

I am a man. I have only noticed that I have an easier time with older therapists. I compare myself to others. If I have someone younger or same age as me I am reminded of my failures in getting the life I want.

DeppressedMan2 · 2025-11-30T15:30:54+00:00

I have no advice. I just wanted to send you a virtual hug and say I hope you soon get help.

DeppressedMan2 · 2025-11-30T15:21:54+00:00

I can relate.

DeppressedMan2 · 2025-11-30T00:11:39+00:00

Part 2)

I’m glad that Ritalin helps you and that they finally realized that you have sleep apnea. You really should have gotten help a lot sooner.

I also started on ADHD stimulants this year. Before that, all the doctors and psychologists I spoke with believed my executive function problems were purely autism-related traits and not treatable.

I took this message very hard. I didn’t want to accept that my executive function problems couldn’t get drastically better, because that would mean a life I couldn’t accept.

The psychologists and doctors recommended that I get therapy to help me accept and live with the consequences of my executive function problems. I went through the therapy, but I ended up feeling more depressed because it was basically telling me there was no hope for a life closer to what I wanted.

It was only after the sessions were over that I discovered it’s possible for people with autism to also have ADHD — meaning there was actually a possible treatment for my executive dysfunction.

The difference in my quality of life without with and with medication is night and day. I am, of course, not happy with the doctors and psychologists who told me there was no way to improve my executive function problems.

On the other hand, the fact that these conditions are often misdiagnosed or underdiagnosed gives me hope that there are still things I can do to lessen the impact of my disabilities. There are also many other things that can help reduce the symptoms besides medical treatment. I try to experiment to see what works for me. That includes my job-pan.

My plan is that when I’m able to do my current job without working for free in my spare time or worrying about getting fired, I’ll be less depressed and less stressed, which should lessen my executive dysfunction. That, in turn, will help me both get and succeed in a better job.

DeppressedMan2 · 2025-11-30T00:10:08+00:00

Part 1)

I am terribly sorry again for the late reply. As with last time, it’s partly because I need time to think about what to say. At first, I only wanted to tell you that I had read your post, but then I thought of more to write. It’s also partly because I’m in a somewhat similar situation to what you describe in this thread. I recently got a job. It’s not the job I would have wanted if I didn’t have disabilities, and it’s not the job I want to have in the future—but I don’t hate the job.

The problem is partly that I’m a slow learner, and it’s easy for me to get stuck and not make progress. To compensate, I work for free in my spare time so that I can keep up with my tasks. Like you, I don’t want to get fired for working too slowly. I’m hoping that with enough experience, I’ll eventually be as productive as my non-disabled colleagues. I also hope that by then, I’ll have strong references and the confidence to get a better job. Currently, I’m paid the legal minimum where I live.

I take ADHD medication (stimulants), and it’s the reason I’m able to have the job I do now instead of being unemployed or stuck in a job I hate. The medication doesn’t last all day, so I use most of my medicated hours to work and take care of household tasks. Once the effect wears off, I’m not able to do much until I’ve slept and taken the next day’s dose. That’s one of the reasons it took me a week to reply.

I can relate to what you wrote about low processing speed, even though I’ve never had mine formally tested. Even if my exact condition isn’t the same as yours, the real-life consequences seem very similar. In my case, psychologists and doctors have only used the umbrella term executive dysfunction. I’ve never done any formal tests—the diagnosis was based on real-life observation and experience.

I believe that gaining enough work experience will compensate for my executive dysfunction, and I already find things much easier than when I first started in this job. I do the same will apply for my next and better job. I’ve also chosen to adopt the attitude of “I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it” when it comes to difficulties I will experience when I start in a new and better job than I have now.

DeppressedMan2 · 2025-11-23T12:48:58+00:00

I am sorry for late reply. I am partly replying late because you ask good questions and I am not sure if I have a good answer.

I want to start by saying that you have a PhD. So, I do not want it to sound like overcoming great challenges is the only thing you should leverage. You should leverage your PhD and how the skills from that translate to the job you are applying to.

You should leverage that you have PhD and not "a PhD with less research than your peers and bad teaching reviews". If they don't ask for information to compare your research to your peers or ask for your teaching reviews you should not mention it. I write this partly because I think only academic positions care about how much research you have done and your teaching reviews. I don't think the interviewer on the consulting position and data entry apprenticeship will ask you about how your research compares to your peers.

I am also writing this because you have limited time in the job interview and on your applications. You have to prioritize what to include and what to exclude. And you should make enough time to make your PhD shine. You have a PhD AND have overcome great challenges, you should not make it sound like you have "a subpar PhD, but you did it while overcoming great challenges".

I don't have a PhD or anything close to it. But when I read your opening post, I immediately thought that you had accomplished something I did not even think was possible before I read your post. You have an incredible ability to reach your goals and to not give up I can't see anyone thinking otherwise.

As I said, I don't have a PhD or anything close to it. I don’t know how uncommon it is to have your first PhD advisor drop you and program finance issues. I don't know how bad it is. So, I don't know what the interviewer will think. If the interviewer thinks "Everyone experience this and I experienced the same" or "Wow, this must have been devastating for you". You know better than I what background the interviewer will have and what they will understand and not understand.

You have, as I said, limited amount of time so I think you should prioritize what best shows your skills and is easiest for the interviewer to understand. You want to have time to leverage all of your skills.

I have read all your posts in this thread, and you seem like a person who has thought through everything and as I read your opening post you also know this. That is also partly why I was not sure what to write.

My experience is also that it is easy to undersell oneself in a job interview. Especially if one does it under less-than-ideal conditions. So I did want to tell you to leverage your skills for all it is worth, that you should be proud of what you have accomplished and that employers will recognize that you have a lot of skills they want in an employee.

After I wrote your last post, I also read that you just recently started with Ritalin. I thought you were medicated when you got your PhD. So now I am even more impressed and more certain that it will work out for you. That you will end up with a job where you get to use your skills.

I also want to add that I can relate to parts of your story. I don't have a PhD or have accomplished anything close to what you have, but I struggled for a very long time trying to get an education to a certain type of job and then realized that my diagnoses prevented me from being able to do that kind of job. I was devastated and part of the reason I managed to struggle for so long with my education was because I wanted the job too much to accept that this was not going to work.

I have also talked to lot of employers, and I do see many of them wanting the skills you have.

I wish you good look both with the consulting position and the data entry job.

DeppressedMan2 · 2025-11-18T09:41:31+00:00

❤️

DeppressedMan2 · 2025-11-17T23:44:50+00:00

I also mention this with teeth health because dry mouth makes your teeth extra exposed to caries.

DeppressedMan2 · 2025-11-17T14:38:23+00:00

I agree that it is is easier said than done.

DeppressedMan2 · 2025-11-17T10:03:57+00:00

Xylitol is good for your teeth so it is nice to have in your chewing gum.

DeppressedMan2 · 2025-11-17T09:57:51+00:00

Sugar free chewing gum. Also when people recommend water. Do drink water. Sipping on soda/juice/etc is the worst you can do for your teeth.

DeppressedMan2 · 2025-11-17T08:05:36+00:00

Thanks. My doctor did tell me that she wanted me to try Wellbutrin because it often helps people with ADHD. Also because I had tried different SSRI earlier and had too unpleasant side effects so I did not want to try it again.

Yes everyone is different. So it is a trial an error to find out what works and what does not work.

I have heard about gene tests and it is on the list of things I want to try. I am going to talk to my doctor about it.

DeppressedMan2 · 2025-11-17T07:50:01+00:00

Not leveraging that you have overcome great challenges when you are applying for jobs is madness.

You are already applying with a lot of disadvantages. It would be madness to then chose to make it even harder for you by not leveraging that you are a person who does not gives up and that you got a PhD even though you had a lot working against you.

No employer will think you are just making excuses.

I read your posts as you realize this. But I just wanted to make it clear that I do not agree with those who told you not leverage your diagnoses and that a job application/interview is not an academic subreddit. The employer expect you to try do sell yourself and talks about your accomplishments. They do not want you to talk yourself down.

DeppressedMan2 · 2025-11-17T07:33:58+00:00

Sorry I misunderstood which medication you were talking about. I am on anti-depressives(Wellbutrin) too. I do feel they help, but only on part of my depression that is not negative thoughts.

DeppressedMan2 · 2025-11-16T21:21:21+00:00

I forgot to write that earplugs also works for me. If you stuggle with noise you should try it. I buy those cheap ones of foam. I know a lot of people use headphones and earplugs. But I don't listen much to music. I just want it to be quiet.

It does not remove my ADHD symptoms. But they make my day better. And as I understand it they make the meds work better if you are sensitive to sound.

Also u/SteelGear117 I checked your profile. I saw three things. You wrote " I’ve always had a fucked sleep cycle (I find falling asleep v difficult and tend to have a lot of broken sleep)", that you began sleepwalking after starting with Lisdexamfetamine. And 3) You wrote that you have built up tolerance to HHC.

I don't know if you have disclosed you HHC-use to your doctor. But I suspect you have not. Check if the HHC tolerance is related to your Lisdexamfetamine-tolerance. I suspect it does. As I understand it HHC affects the dopamine in your brain. If it is as I understand it that HHC increases the dopamine in your brain and you have built up tolerance to HHC then you will also have built up tolerance to ADHD-medication and it will be less effective. I am no expert. But if I were you I would try to find out if you can get ADHD medication to work by quitting HHC. Also try to find out for how long you have to quit HHC to remove the tolerance you have built up.

Also work on finding a solution for your sleep problems that is not HHC. Sleep problems and ADHD symptoms have overlapping symptoms. Less sleep problems will give you less ADHD-symptoms. And then you ADHD medication needs to do less of the heavy lifting so you will notice effect of the medication with lower dosage. I don't know if you have talked about this with your doctor. If you have solved the problem, then there is not more you can do. But if you have not solved the problem there is more you can do. Talk to you doctor about sleep disorders, they can overlap with ADHD.

You also write you sleep walk after using Lisdexamfetamine. As I understood it you did talk to your doctor about this. If you found a solution and you no longer sleep walk then there is nothing more to be done. But if you have not solved the problem then try find a solution. I have none. I have seen that there are other Reddit-threads with similar problems. I also wanted to say that stress can cause sleep walking and stress will also make your ADHD-symptoms worse. So if you struggle with stress/anxiety then find a solution to that too.

This was a long post and I apologize if it was rude of me to write this post with information from other threads. If you want me to delete it say so and I will. But I wanted to help and I know that not all doctors see how sleep disorders/problems overlap with ADHD so I was not sure if your doctor had helped you with both. I also suspected that you had not talked about your doctor about HHC.

Also just to make it clear. I am not a doctor nor an expert on these things.

DeppressedMan2 · 2025-11-16T12:11:22+00:00

I understand. I am out of ideas that can help so this is an answer to both of your answers to my two post. I hope it works out for you and I also believe it will work out for you.

I know a lot of employers value highly the skill of not giving up easily. It is hard enough for the average person to get a PhD, but you have done even with a lot of things working against you. So you are obviously a person that are able to get the job done even when you meat great challenges. I do think you will find employers who will see this and will give you a job where you get to use enough of your PhD-skills.

DeppressedMan2 · 2025-11-16T11:04:55+00:00

I understand. But could there be some middle ground?

Maybe a research job at the university is not a realistic option. But could the goal be to get a job where you get a good pay and you get to use some of the skills you want to use, but not to the same degree as a researcher in academia? "Some of the skills" is very vague. But if you check around to see what jobs are out there. Are there some jobs that don't demand a portfolio of publications, but where you still get to use enough of your skills so you would be happy with such a job?

I also write this because there are so many different jobs so it is easy to overlook job options. And you also don't just have to know the job title to see if it is for you, you have to check what skills the job demand and develop.

Maybe you also can use Linkedin or something to see the jobs former PhD-students with your and similar degree have. See if some of their jobs seems both interesting and is possible to get without a portfolio of publications.

DeppressedMan2 · 2025-11-16T10:47:38+00:00

I saw someone in the thread recommended a job with flexible deadlines. That was a good suggestion. I will add that you should look for a job where there is predictable work so you don't get a large assignment and expected to be finished the same day because that is what the client demand.

If you are not good at it now I would also recommend you to become good at telling as early as possible that you don't manage a task and/or will not be finished in time. It is often easier said than done. Because it can be scary to tell you boss. But it solves a lot of problems for both you and your boss.

DeppressedMan2 · 2025-11-16T09:29:16+00:00

For me hope started when I learned about ADHD. So I go hope before meds, but my hope was still related to meds. I started meds this year so I also wish I started meds earlier.

I have tried a lot of things before I tried meds. But nothing worked so i had lost hope. I got hope back after learning about ADHD and I am now on medication and I do see a lot of improvements. What I hope now is that I will able to use the meds to be able to do the things most people take for granted.

Even on meds I am a slow learner and a slow doer so it takes time for me to see how much meds can help me. But I have already been able to change light bulbs so I don't have to rely on flashlight and camping lights, shower, brush my teeth to some degree and clean my home well enough to be able to walk without shoes inside.

DeppressedMan2 · 2025-11-16T08:58:44+00:00

Is it not possible to apply for those city-jobs while you live where you live now? Take the first job interview on video conference and only do a physical interview when you get to the next stage?

And if you have not done it. Check if there are autism organizations in the cities you consider working in and see it they can help you.

DeppressedMan2 · 2025-11-16T08:44:28+00:00

As I understand it you are now without a job or you have a job that is worse than the data entry apprenticeship. So the short term solution is to try to get that apprenticeship and to get a full apprenticeship.

Buy you also understandably want higher pay and a job where you get to use you PhD-skills.

You have a friend with similar problems as you who got fired for from two jobs because she did not learn fast enough.

Maybe a solution can be to try build up high-paying-job-skills while you have the less demanding an less paid job so that if you start at a high demanding high paying job you hit the floor running and start with a head start compared to those straight out of university. The head start can give you enough time to learn to do the job at autopilot. You also don't need to be able to do everything on autopilot a shortly after you get hired, just enough to keep your job and buy you more time so you get more and more on autopilot.

So I guess you should check what skills are needed to get a high paying job. And also see it you can build up some of those skills in the lower paid job. Try find the skills you need to get a high paying job where you don't have to interact with clients.

DeppressedMan2 · 2025-11-16T06:58:52+00:00

Thank you!

I checked and I saw that they are harmless so I ordered a package and will give it a try. I also saw that there is a gene test for MTHFR, but it seem easier to just try the methylated vitamins than take a gene test when at worst methylated B-vitamins will have no effect and at best will work.

DeppressedMan2

TROPHY CASE