(Photo: Alaina Abplanalp)
Anxiety is one of the biggest problems facing adults with ADHD these days. Sometimes, it’s a direct result of untreated ADHD symptoms. Sometimes, it just happens to be a co-existing anxiety disorder like OCD or a phobia. According to Roberto Olivardia, Ph.D, a clinical psychologist and clinical instructor at Harvard Medical School, about 30 to 40% of people with ADHD also have an anxiety disorder. Left untreated, this can be a recipe for disaster. Luckily, you can calm the mind and decrease anxiety in just minutes a day.
How does anxiety manifest in adults with ADHD?
There are a variety of ways, but I’ll give you a small example of how it’s affected me in the past. About six months before I was diagnosed with ADHD, I had started seeing a therapist to help deal with issues from my past that were affecting me. I would schedule the appointments and put them on my calendar (both Gmail and my Outlook work calendar) as reminders. Having a day job, this usually meant using my lunch hour to take care of it.
On the day of an appointment leading up to a session, my phone would remind me several times about my upcoming appointment, but I’d often still end up 10-15 minutes late (which can be costly over time) to my session. Why? Well, the primary reason was that I would just get hyper-focused and start needlessly working on things – mostly simple, repetitive tasks. I’d convince myself that things just HAD to be done before my therapy session, even though they really didn’t.
Other times, I’d be practically on my way out the door and I’d get stopped by someone who needed my help or needed to chat. I always obliged, not having the heart to tell them I had somewhere to be. While they talked, I just listened, getting more and more agitated as time passed. I could just feel the restlessness building. Then, I’d show up late, apologize, and feel guilty about being late, only to repeat the cycle with my next session. This gave me a tremendous amount of anxiety.
(Photo: Gary Goldberg)
What are the signs of stress or anxiety?
Let me just say that occasional/circumstantial anxiety is fine. It’s a part of life. People make mistakes and bad things sometimes happen. However, chronic anxiety is bad juju, especially for adults with ADHD. It can lead to poor judgement, inability to concentrate, irritability, racing thoughts, isolation, aches and pains, poor sleep and diet, and even substance abuse. To see a full chart of signs to look for, check out this awesome article that goes in-depth with stress symptoms, signs, and causes.
How do people typically respond to stress or anxiety?
Being a former Marine, I’ll use a little war analogy:
- Charging the hill, aka “fight” response: It often includes anger, restlessness, agitation, and often, lack of emotional control.
- Retreating, aka “flight” response: It is usually ensued by depression, zoning out, and/or emotional withdrawal.
- Succumbing in the face of the enemy, aka “freeze” response: It means becoming overwhelmed or paralyzed in the face of danger, even if we’re enraged beneath the surface.
Here’s a great article on what’s happening in the nervous system during the fight, flight, or freeze response.
How can I be less anxious?
Guided or mindfulness meditation is the best place to start. Mindfulness meditation has been proven very effective for reducing hyperactivity, impulsivity, and response to stress. The cool thing is that you can start doing it only a few minutes a day and work your way up over time. If you’re short on time, though, and concerned about consistency, check out an awesome desktop/mobile app called Headspace. It provides daily 10-minute guided meditations and reminds you to meditate throughout the day. I’m actually trying it out now and absolutely love it.
Want to know more mindfulness meditation directly from Andy Puddicombe, the voice of Headspace? Check out the TED talk below:
If you don’t want an app, check out YouTube. It has a plethora of videos for guided meditation, some only a few minutes long and others over an hour. The main thing to keep in mind is that it should have a way of keeping you anchored (like breathing or listening to background music or a metronome), and it should be effortless. You shouldn’t get upset or stressed out over the racing thoughts that pop into your head during meditation. You should let them pass and continue on. Over time, the amount of racing thoughts will decrease and your mind will become calmer.
Have an awesome experience with mindfulness meditation that you’d like to share? Pound it out in the comment section below. I’d love to hear about it!
