Shadowing Practice: Why You Can't Focus: Is It ADHD or Just Stress? - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Why can one socially stressful interaction make you forget what you were doing, lose your train of thought, and feel as though your ADHD suddenly got worse?

Or, if you've never been diagnosed, make you wonder whether you have ADHD?

Maybe these sound familiar.

You leave a tense meeting, and you can't settle into the next task.

You read the same sentence several times without taking it in.

You walk into a room and forget why you were there.

You had something to say, and a few seconds later, it's gone.

Those are examples of executive function being disrupted.

Social stress can temporarily interfere with some of the same functions that are difficult in ADHD.

That overlap can be confusing because the problems may come and go depending on the amount of social pressure you're under.

I'm Dr. Tracy Marks, a psychiatrist, and I teach practical neuroscience to help you think clearly and stay steady under pressure.

Today, I want to explain how social threat can affect executive function, how to look for the larger pattern without trying to diagnose yourself from one bad day,

and what can help when you need to return to a task.

This video can't diagnose you with ADHD or rule it out, and stress doesn't cause ADHD.

A stressful period can make existing ADHD symptoms more noticeable,

and it can temporarily disrupt attention and working memory in someone who doesn't have ADHD.

The broader pattern helps you sort out which explanation or combination fits you.

Executive function is the brain's capacity to direct attention and behavior toward a goal.

It includes several skills, but I'm going to organize this discussion around three of them.

Shifting, updating, and inhibition.

Shifting is moving from one task, thought, or perspective to another.

Updating is monitoring what you're holding in working memory and replacing information that's no longer relevant to what matters right now.

Working memory is more than just storage.

It's an active mental workspace that has to keep changing as the situation changes.

So that's shifting and updating.

The third function is inhibition.

Inhibition is suppressing information or responses that interfere with the goal.

That could mean ignoring a notification, holding back an immediate reaction, or keeping an unrelated thought from taking over the task.

Executive function difficulties are common in ADHD, but ADHD is broader than executive function alone.

These same functions can also be affected by stress, sleep, interest, structure, and the demands of a new situation.

Now, imagine you're in a meeting with someone who's criticizing your work.

Maybe the feedback is fair.

Maybe the tone was snippier than it needed to be.

Maybe you can't tell what the person meant.

The meeting ends and you're expected to open a document and continue working, but you're sitting at your desk staring at the screen or fiddling on your phone.

The first problem you're having may be shifting.

The meeting is over on the calendar, but your attention is still assigned to it.

Your mind reviews the wording, the facial expressions, what you've said, and what you wish you had said.

And you may also be trying to predict what happens next.

Is this a small correction?

Is someone disappointed in me?

Is there a larger problem that hasn't been stated directly?

Those questions can keep circling in your mind well after the meeting's over.

Then you open and read the first paragraph and just nothing registers.

You check your email, return to the document, and replay the meeting again, perhaps with a more satisfying version of what you could have said.

From the outside, this can look like procrastination or distractibility, but internally, the brain hasn't completed the transition.

You're physically in the next task while your attention is still working on the previous interaction.

The second problem may be updating.

Working memory can only keep a limited amount of information active at one time.

Think of it as a mental whiteboard.

Part of the board is occupied by what was said, what it might mean, and what you need to do about it.

The information needed for the task that you have to complete now has to compete for that leftover space.

This can be what's happening when you lose the thread of a conversation.

Forget what you were about to say miss a part of a multi-step instruction, or walk into a room and forget why you went there.

The new information may enter working memory, but not stay there long enough to guide you into what you're supposed to be doing next.

Then the third thing that could be happening is problems with inhibition.

After a socially stressful interaction, it may be harder to filter out competing thoughts and distractions.

You may keep getting pulled toward a notification, someone's facial expression, or a pause in the conversation,

or even, you know, get stuck on the urge to explain yourself.

That can make some people interrupt more,

over-explain, ask for reassurance, or respond before they've had time to fully process what happened.

Now, stress doesn't affect this filtering system the same way for everyone.

Some people react more quickly or say more than they intended.

Others become super hesitant or overly cautious or stuck trying to respond in just the right way.

So impulsivity alone isn't the best sign to focus on.

You're more likely to notice that you get mentally stuck, lose your train of thought, forget details, or have trouble shifting to the next task.

And this can be confusing because it can look like inattention.

But your attention may be tied up with replaying the interaction.

and that leaves less room to focus on the report, the next conversation.

It can look like ADHD in the moment, but it doesn't tell you whether or not you have ADHD.

For that, you have to look at the pattern over time.

ADHD is a neurodevelopmental condition.

For an ADHD diagnosis, the pattern has to be persistent.

Several symptoms need to have been present before age 12, even if no one recognized the condition until you were an adult.

The symptoms also need to show up in more than one setting and interfere with daily life.

A clinician has to consider whether something else explains the symptoms better.

You can think about the pattern in four parts, timeline, context, persistence, and baseline.

And this isn't a self-test.

It just helps you sort out whether the problem looks temporary, longstanding, or worth evaluating.

So first, when did these problems start?

Were you having similar problems before the stressful period?

Did you regularly lose things, miss instructions, struggle to finish routine tasks, or need a lot of reminders to stay on track?

If you don't remember much about your childhood, you can look at old school reports or talk to family members about what they observed.

Then, where does it happen?

Is it showing up at work and at home, during routine tasks and relationships, and even when you're relatively calm?

Or does it mainly happen after criticism, or when you feel watched, when you're not sure where you stand with someone?

Next, how long does it last?

Does it keep happening after you've slept, had time to recover, or stepped away from the stressful situation?

Or does your thinking improve once the pressure passes?

And what is your attention at baseline when you feel safe, rested, interested, and unobserved?

Looking at how long it lasts helps, but it doesn't completely settle the diagnosis.

People with ADHD can focus much better under some conditions, especially when something is interesting, urgent, new, or highly structured.

So after you look at the overall pattern, three possibilities are still on the table.

One, the executive function problem may be temporary and mainly related to social stress.

Two, you may have ADHD and the stress may be making a long-standing pattern more noticeable.

Or three, you may have both, a long-standing ADHD pattern and a separate temporary drop in executive function from the social stress.

One difficult afternoon can't tell you which explanation fits.

What matters is how the problem behaves over time and across settings.

If these problems keep showing up across settings, interfere with your life, or go back to childhood, that's a reason to consider a formal evaluation.

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But what can you do in the moment when the interaction is over and you still can't get back to work?

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Before you push yourself into the next task, give your brain a chance to come down from the interaction.

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If it's still replaying what happened and watching for what comes next, you'll have a harder time shifting, remembering, planning, and filtering distractions.

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So here's what you can do.

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First, make a physical break.

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Stand up.

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Change rooms.

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Put down the phone.

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Turn your chair away from the screen.

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The moment helps separate what just happened from what you're doing next.

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Then use a brief reset.

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This is where I use a practice called look up.

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Lift your head and look away from the screen and let your eyes take in more of the room.

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Notice the edges of the room, like the view through a window or the horizon if you can see it.

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You're not really looking for anything.

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You're just letting your focus widen.

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You can pair this with a slower breath or another brief reset that works for you.

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The goal is to interrupt that narrowed, stuck state before you go back to the task.

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Sometimes 90 seconds is enough.

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Sometimes it isn't.

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You may still need to think about the interaction or decide whether to follow up.

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You're not ignoring it.

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You're just keeping it from taking over everything that comes next.

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Then get the next task out of your head and put it somewhere where you can see it.

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Write one sentence.

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My next task is to finish the paragraph.

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Or I need to verify three numbers.

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Or I need to send one reply before confirming the appointment.

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Your working memory already has a lot in it, so don't make it carry the whole plan for you.

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That sentence gives you something clear to return to if your attention drifts.

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Then take the first step in that task.

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Open the document.

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Read the first instruction.

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Put the first item on the desk.

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You're not trying to complete the whole task just yet.

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You're making it easier to get started.

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After you've had a little time to settle, check again.

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Can you follow the task now?

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Can you hold the next step in mind?

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Is the interaction taking up most of your attention?

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If you can focus better after these steps, that suggests that stress was part of what was getting in the way.

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It doesn't rule out ADHD, and if you can't focus, that doesn't confirm ADHD either.

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You can still be tired, upset, short on sleep, or need more time to settle after the interaction.

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This is why recovery matters so much for thinking.

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If your brain spent the last hour monitoring tone, conflict, or judgment, you may have less attention available, even after the conversation is over.

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You can leave the room both peopled out and mentally disorganized.

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So social pressure can disrupt executive function, and work can amplify that.

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Hierarchy, evaluation, and uncertainty can keep the threat response active longer and make it harder to regain your focus.

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In the next video, I'll talk about why your brain can start treating your boss like a threat.

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So here's the takeaway for today.

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If social stress seems to scramble your focus, don't assume one bad afternoon tells you what the problem is.

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It could be a temporary state effect, ADHD, or both.

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Looking at the larger pattern helps you decide what to do next.

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Thanks for watching today.

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See you next time.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Why You Can't Focus: Is It ADHD or Just Stress?”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: Adhd, task, function, interaction, pattern. This video has 154 sentences and 1977 words to shadow. The speech runs for 11:52. The speaker talks at a natural 167 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 86% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.

Key vocabulary in this video

The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
distress noun	/dɪˈstɹɛs/	Physical or emotional discomfort, suffering, or alarm, particularly of a more acute nature.
stressful adjective	/ˈstɹɛsfəl/	Irritating; causing stress.
inhibition noun	/ɪnhɪˈbɪʃən/	The act of inhibiting.
symptom noun	/ˈsɪm(p)təm/	A perceived change in some function, sensation or appearance of a person that indicates a disease or disorder, such as fever, headache or rash; strictly, a…
interfere verb	/ˌɪn.tɚˈfɪɚ/	To get involved or involve oneself, causing disturbance.
diagnose verb	/ˈdaɪ.əɡˌnoʊs/	To determine which disease is causing a sick person's signs and symptoms; to find the diagnosis.
disrupt verb	/dɪsˈɹʌpt/	To throw into confusion or disorder.
replay noun	/ˈɹiːpleɪ/	An act or instance of replaying (of playing something, such as a game, again); a replaying of (something).
instruction noun	/ɪnˈstɹʌkʃən/	The act of instructing, teaching, or providing with information or knowledge.
interrupt verb	/ˌɪntəˈɹʌpt/	To disturb or halt (an ongoing process or action, or the person performing it) by interfering suddenly, especially by speaking.
confuse verb	/kənˈfjuːz/	to puzzle, perplex, baffle, bewilder (somebody); to afflict by being complicated, contradictory, or otherwise difficult to understand
baseline noun	/ˈbeɪslaɪn/	A line that is a base for measurement or for construction.
noticeable adjective	/ˈnəʊtɪsəbl̩/	Capable of being seen or noticed.
distraction noun	/dɪsˈtɹæk.ʃən/	Something that distracts.
reset verb	/ɹiːˈsɛt/	To set back to the initial state.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
go back to verb		To stem from; to originate in.
sort out verb		To clarify by reviewing mentally.
take over verb		To assume control of something, such as a business or enterprise, and sometimes by force.
follow up verb		To take further actions remaining after an event; to continue, revisit, or persist; especially, to maintain communication or verify.
get back to verb		Return to (an activity)
hold back verb		To act with reserve; to contain one's full measure or power.
look up verb	/ˌlʊk ˈʌp/	To have better prospects.
put down verb		To insult, belittle, or demean.

Sentences worth repeating

Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:

Is someone disappointed in me?
Were you having similar problems before the stressful period?
Can you follow the task now?
Can you hold the next step in mind?
Is the interaction taking up most of your attention?

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	you've never been diagnosed · you've said · hasn't been stated
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	been diagnosed · being disrupted · be affected

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 48 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, doesn't, can't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: inhibition /ɪnhɪˈbɪʃən/, instruction /ɪnˈstɹʌkʃən/, distraction /dɪsˈtɹæk.ʃən/, notification /ˌnoʊtɪfɪˈkeɪʃn̩/, socially /ˈsoʊʃəli/
Long words — get the stress right: inhibition /ɪnhɪˈbɪʃən/, notification /ˌnoʊtɪfɪˈkeɪʃn̩/, temporarily /ˌtɛmpəˈɹɛɹəli/, disorganized /dɪsˈɔːɡənaɪzd/, procrastination /pɹəʊˌkɹæs.tɪˈneɪ.ʃən/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like distress, stressful, inhibition.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: Why You Can't Focus: Is It ADHD or Just Stress? - Learn English Speaking with Video

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English shadowing | Time Management | Level B2 | How to improve English

Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Sentences worth repeating

Grammar in this video

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?