For those playing with ADHD

[JTCR]

So I've been playing melee somewhat consistently on slippi for about two years know but I felt like I hit a plateau due to severe ADHD. First off due to my constantly racing mind always filling my head with outside thoughts I find it hard to really focus on what I'm doing in game and causing myself to make really stupid mistakes. I often catch myself either playing way to aggressively or trying to go off stage for a kill when there is no possible way I can get one. In addition my short term memory makes it really hard to learn matchups and proper execution of combos. A problem that I suspect might be causing this is my choice to duel main Peach and Falco, making it so I have to learn both characters at the same time. I also tend to put blame on my disorder for shortcomings, and overall just feeling sorry for myself even though I understand that this is a really bad mindset and only leads to more problems. So I was asking if anyone who plays who was diagnosed with ADHD to have any tips to improve in these areas, or do I simply need to grind more to get better?

side question: Is Adderall strictly banned in tournaments and if not do you have to tell TOs that you're taking Adderall before the event?

 

[Robcade]

Severe ADHD too, never considered it an impediment with melee, but I play for fun mostly, I think that is key to all aspects of improvement though, if it's enjoyable and rewarding enough it's not as hard to work up the motivation to do it. With focussing on the game, I find when I'm enjoying the game it's actually easier to focus, like you can get into a flow-state where your mind is all in on the game and time seems to slow down a bit. If you catch yourself making mistakes like you say, that's a good thing, everybody has bad habits and tendencies, part of the game is recognising other people's, but an even bigger part is recognising your own. It's just a matter of knowing these things about your playstyle and just practice curbing them like you'd practice anything else. Regarding learning matchup and combo execution, I mean you can kinda learn this stuff through osmosis of playing a bunch, definitely well enough to play reasonably well and have fun. If you want to go deeper and get better, that's up to you, but it is a grind when you make that decision, and if you don't or won't or can't enjoy that aspect of it at all, you don't have to do it. But it's not easy to learn matchups and combo executions that deeply for anyone, it is a grind, that's why fewer people do it. You've also identified dual-maining as a potential impediment. If you think it's stopping you feeling satisfied, stop doing it. Pick one and learn the game well, then come back to the other, but yeah, learning one character well makes all the other characters easier to play. I don't think you need to tell any TO's about medication that you have a prescription for, if it's something you genuinely need you genuinely need it, nobody's business but yours and your doc / psych.