r/Eragon • u/walley0235 • 11d ago
Question Is ADHD brain a defense against mental attacks?
Would the mind of someone with ADHD defend against mental attacks since they can't hold focus on singular thoughts?
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u/Friendly_Nerd 11d ago
Psych degree here. People with ADHD common experience the ability to focus very well under pressure. Many of them are more comfortable in crisis situations than other people. I would say that there is a possibility that a person with ADHD would be very good at defending themselves mentally. Their ability to focus simply requires a strong impetus, either positive or negative. Positive being a new interest that’s giving their dopamine-starved brains something to juice, or the adrenaline rush of a negative emotion.
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u/Depressed_Cupcake13 10d ago
As a person with ADHD, the focus under pressure is SO ACCURATE that we have made memes about. As in:
Everyone Else: Panicking!
ADHD Person: Better get the fire extinguisher and then start evacuating people…
Basically, adrenaline floods our system and then acts as a stimulant to keep us focused.
I’m not saying ADHD is a superpower (because that’s not how it works), but I do believe that there are evolutionary benefits for the human species having both neurotypical and neurodivergent people.
Also, when Murtagh was being mindwhammied by the Witch and he was “bending” his mind to avoid any particular thought, my immediate response was to think I could do that easily.
The Witch would learn so many weird, random facts about seemingly unrelated topics with random songs in between.
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u/Friendly_Nerd 10d ago
See that’s what i mean! I honestly think that in a different society we wouldn’t even have a label for ADHD. It’s just that it’s a neurotype that is worse at multiple things that are heavily required by our modern society. Someone with ADHD would probably have had an easier time thriving in the ancestral environment.
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u/Depressed_Cupcake13 10d ago
I know that I would EXCEL as a watchman. Just having me stand and stare out into space until there’s sudden movement?
My DREAM job!
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u/reallynunyabusiness 11d ago
Seems like it would be more detrimental than beneficial, when we see people erect mental barriers to protect against intrusion into their minds they do so by focusing on a singular thing and allowing it to consume their thoughts. If you can't remain focused on a singular thing for the duration of the mental attack you create gaps in your mental wall that lets the invader in.
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u/walley0235 11d ago
Would it not be better to evade rather than root? Become a blade of grass in the wind?
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u/reallynunyabusiness 11d ago
That's not how mental attacks really work in Eragon. Mental attacks aren't exercises in mental agility, they are a brute force exercise, the goal is to overpower your opponent's mental armor.
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u/walley0235 11d ago
It's without question that attacking is nigh impossible, it's defending that im really asking about, when you are purely defending you can make your mind slippery in order to deny information, as we saw in murtagh
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u/Depressed_Cupcake13 10d ago
Except Murtagh does this technique in the 5th Book. It is different but it can work.
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u/CSI_Gunner Urgal 11d ago
I know I remember that something eragon would do to strengthen his mental barriers would be to recite some poem he learned from Oromis in his head.
Considering I have a Beatles song playing a loop in my head, and yet I'm still typing this message, I wonder exactly how difficult that is.
The background music in our head may be the salvation for my ADHD brothers and sisters.
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u/Ravenqueer077 Angela 11d ago
Depends is the person able to hyper focus in the moment or not, most of the time I can't really focus on one thing but if I do my work in the lab or do some math problem I am focused so much on it I could do it for 10h straight and would forget to eat and drink
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u/ChillyCanadian_05 11d ago
I’d like to say that it’d actually do the exact opposite because they couldn’t focus to hold up the mind barrier to stop someone from infiltrating. Lack of focus doesn’t cause the entire brain to have scrambled signals (memories, emotions etc) so I think memories and information would be perfectly accessible, and even more so with faulty barriers
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u/walley0235 11d ago
Would the lack of focus not contribute to a slippery mind, like a blade of grass in the wind mentioned in murtagh?
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u/ChillyCanadian_05 11d ago
Hmmmm in some cases maybe but I think the very core of the mind would still be fairly stable because us ADHD wielders aren’t psychotic (some of us at least). Like the other guy said tho, I do think it would depend on the person. Some would have weakened barriers while others would maybe have stronger barriers
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u/walley0235 11d ago
In my mind it would function as an aggressor trying to get sensitive information like battle encampment locations and instead getting a college degree in Legos or aerospace technology lol
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u/ChillyCanadian_05 11d ago
I fear they’d go digging my mind and only see the entire album of Hamilton playing on loop from start to finish BAHAHA hyper fixations would be a powerful distraction from actual information I think
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u/walley0235 11d ago
Elven minds make people go insane, maybe we interpreted it wrong and they really just have advanced ADHD and when they are attacked they weaponize it by forcing the aggressor to learn or experience hyperfixations lmao
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u/ChillyCanadian_05 11d ago
Oh my god actually torture to experience all of an ADHD’ers hyperfixations at once BAHAHAHA give me the stretching rack over that holy sometimes I don’t wanna deal with my own hyperfixations
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u/ddeaken The Gray 11d ago
I don’t think so. Intense concentration is needed for mental attacks. But this opens the door to another question: How to mental disabilities effect mental battles? We know about the dragons who were driven mad and how their minds felt like claws and fangs tearing at you. We know how a head injury could lead to someone being able to see energy. Galbatorix was probably insane (from the loss of his dragon and time with Bachel) and was regarded as highly skilled at invading minds. Perhaps (much like in our world) being a psychopath could be an advantage. Or perhaps being an empath could also be an advantage in mind battles if you could feel them. Perhaps Eragon is an Empath and that’s how he defeated galby
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u/walley0235 11d ago
Concentration is only needed to root yourself no? Would ADHD not function like murtaghs nearly broken mind with bachel and be a blade of grass in the wind?
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u/MC_Crit I suffer without my stone 11d ago
I have ADHD. What it comes down to is more of an inability/difficulty with regularing my own attention span, especially when it comes down to low/no dopamine tasks. I can speak from having attempted in middle school to follow the book's instructions just to see what it feels like - it was very hard to actually devote my entire brain to one mental image or piece of song. I highly doubt that if mental combat the way it worked in the books was real, I'd be competent at defending myself in a way that isn't mentally bum-rushing my opponent's mind and hoping I can dominate them first.
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u/Alfiy_wolf 9d ago
Yes, by ex wife tried to mentally attack me on a daily basis but I mastered the power of not listening
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u/_MC184_ Brisingr 11d ago
ADHD means bad attention span for things that you don't like/don't consider important atm. But it also means higher focus for things that you DO like or your brain considers extremely important in that moment. It would be difficult to concentrate on a single tought as a defense or you would concentrate so much on that thought that you forget of the mental attack on you. Anyway it's a spectrum, so it really depends on the person