Yes. For many years, working on hard problems was my "drug of choice", because while in that state time disappeared, as did emotional pain -- being fully invest

Yes. For many years, working on hard problems was my "drug of choice", because while in that state time disappeared, as did emotional pain -- being fully invested in a problem used up enough of my brain to shut up the internal narrator and the consciousness of pain. It still does. But eventually you become aware that you aren't solving the key problem, just making it worse by not addressing it.