Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a condition that affects the brain. It can mean people find it hard to concentrate or regulate their emotions, or they are hyperactive or behave impulsively.
ADHD is what is known as 'executive dysfunction disorder'. It covers a range of emotional, behavioural, and reasoning difficulties that can affect planning, problem-solving, organisation and time management. Left untreated, ADHD can have a serious impact on one’s mental health and wellbeing in so many areas of a person’s life. Each person is unique in how it feels for them.
ADHD is usually split into three categories: ADHD primarily inattentive, ADHD primarily hyperactive or impulsive, or ADHD combined type – which is the largest group. While ADHD is most commonly diagnosed in children, there’s an increasing number of adults being diagnosed with it too.
There is common view is that people with ADHD can’t concentrate ADHD that involve struggling to pay attention, can’t sit still for very long or are just easily distracted. While this true there is a lot more that goes unmentioned.
People with ADHD often have negative beliefs about themselves as a result of just 'trying to fit in', compounded by difficult experiences and poor interactions based on how the brain functions with ADHD. This results in them having difficulty in building and maintaining healthy relationships, as they often struggle with managing their emotions, known as Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria’.
This difficulty in building and maintaining healthy relationships is often compounded by a sense of regret and failure because of their inabilities to interact in appropriate way and impacts on their self-esteem. The result is failed relationships, missed opportunities or bad experiences all compounding the feeling of not being good enough or not being accepted.
Another common symptom of ADHD is Impulsivity. This can present in a number of ways ranging from talking over people or interrupting conversations, acting or speaking without thinking first, making spur of the moment decisions, oversharing information and engaging in reckless, risky, or antisocial activities without thinking about the consequences.
Over the long term, this can result in strained friendships, get you in trouble at work, and make it hard to maintain positive, stable relationships in all areas of life. the most common treatment for ADHD involves medication, counselling also plays a huge part in helping people come to terms with their diagnosis and cope with how the condition impacts on their lives.
Seeing a counsellor can greatly assist you to think more positively, learn coping skills and ways to approach things differently and help you to better understand of your condition and the feelings that result from it. If you have ADHD diagnosis and would like to work with a counsellor who has specialist training and experience in this area.
If this has raised any issues for you, please feel free to get in touch. I offer a free 15-minute phone consultation, or if you would like to make an appointment for either a face to face or online counselling session whichever is convenient.