Is Adult ADHD Robbing You Having Adult ADHD – Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder – is no laughing matter. I see it over and over – talented, creative, intelligent, even brilliant men and women who feel angry, upset, sad, frustrated and terribly self-critical because they can’t seem to "get their act together," and their accomplishments do not match what they know they’re capable of. The first thing I want you to know is this: It’s not your fault. You have a biological, neurological, inherited condition that’s causing you your problems. Willpower alone does not overcome ADHD. But there is hope. While you can’t cure it, with the right kind of help you can tame it enough so that you can have the life you want. What is Adult ADHD? Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder is not a lack of attention or concentration. Nor is it just a tendency to be "hyper" or impulsive. Twenty-five years of scientific research has shown that ADHD is a disorder, or defect, in the executive functions of the brain. Being smart and talented and having adult ADHD is like having an expensive and powerful computer that’s infected with an insidious virus that causes it to crash, make stupid errors, and run slowly and inefficiently in unpredictable ways, and often at the worst possible moment.Because of adult ADHD you (or someone you know and love and are very frustrated with) may have the following problems: Does this sound familiar to you? Adult ADHD is a lot of little problems. None of them alone would be a big deal. But together they add up to something that can hinder you in every single area of your life if you don't do something about it. If you have adult ADHD, medication helps. In fact, in most cases I recommend it. But it doesn’t solve the whole problem. Medication cannot give you the executive functions you never learned – it just makes it more possible to learn them. That’s where ADHD Coaching Therapy comes in. As an ADHD therapist, I offer the following services: Full evaluation to determine if you have ADHD Working as a team with your physician or psychiatrist to work out the medication and dosage that best works for you Supportive, highly focused therapy that is tailored to ADHD and to your individual, unique needs, desires and goals to help you overcome a lifetime of difficulties and realize your potential. Marital, couple and family sessions to resolve relationship problems caused by ADHD Work-focused ADHD coaching In addition, Coaching Therapy for Adult ADHD can help you overcome the depression, anxiety and low self-esteem that so often are a result from a lifetime of living with ADHD, or that may have been exacerbated by other traumas you've experienced in your childhood or more recently. You were born with wonderful gifts, and you deserve to use them! Don’t let ADHD steal another year, another month, another week of your life. Call today, begin taking command over your ADHD, and become everything you know you can be.
of Your Potential?
These are the functions that enable people to organize, to prioritize, to plan, to decide moment-to-moment what is or is not important, to concentrate on tasks that aren't inherently rewarding or interesting, to think about the future, to manage time, to make thoughtful decisions and to inhibit impulses. For people without Attention Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder, these executive functions work fairly easily and automatically and without much conscious thought. But in children and adults with ADHD, they simply don't work the way they should.
So What Can I Do?
ADHD Coaching Therapy can help you to:
Finally, if you have out of network benefits for psychotherapy, ADHD therapy is reimbursable by your insurance plan.
To schedule a first appointment or learn more about how I can help you, please email me or call me at (240) 315-8100.
ADHD Coaching Therapy can help you to:
My Story
I probably come from a long line of folks with Inattentive ADHD. The official name is Attention Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder -- Predominantly Inattentive Type, or ADHD-PI. My father definitely had it. My paternal grandfather, from what I’ve gathered about him, most likely had it as well.
But nobody knew about ADHD-PI in my grandfather's day, or my father's, or even when I was growing up back in the Sixties. Very few people talked about ADHD back then, and the few who did only talked about it in reference to children who were disruptive and hyperactive.
That wasn't me. But with my fidgetiness, my sloppiness, my inattention, my missed or last-minute homework, many of my teachers would get angry or annoyed at me. I'll never forget the time my fourth-grade teacher turned my three-leaf looseleaf binder over in front of the entire class. Of course, papers flew in every direction.
They said I wasn't working up to my potential. Heck, I knew that! But I had no idea what to do about it. And growing up with just an ADHD father (my mother having died when I was three), I wasn't learning the skills I needed to manage my ADHD. But I was unusually bright, so I could get almost all A's all the way from grade school through high school, even though most of my term papers were researched and written in the last two days.
That ended when I got to college. My freshman year was a disaster, and I quit. After that, I lived the typical life story of an ADHD adult, full of promising beginnings that ended in disappointment and failure. Though, of course, I eventually did get my bachelors and masters degrees, I had more than my share of stops and starts, aimless wanderings, and angry teachers and bosses frustrated with my missed deadlines, my lack of sensitivity to their needs and requirements, and my touchiness. I was brilliant, but only intermittently. I had loads of talent and ability, but I couldn't harness it. I didn't want to live a "mediocre" life, but I couldn't get myself in gear enough to become all that I could be.
During this time -- in fact, beginning when I was 13 -- I went several different times to therapy to find the "causes" of my problems. Given my family, it wasn't hard to find causes! But while I gained much insight and self-awareness, and resolved a number of true psychological issues, most of the problems that most got in my way didn't really change.
It wasn't until I was forty, in 1995, when Driven to Distraction was published, that I realized I had ADHD, and I began taking medication for it. Thank God for that, because my ADHD was getting worse.
The medication helped me tremendously. But it wasn't enough. I was concentrating better, I was even able to accomplish some goals, but I still was just coping. So I would go on the meds for a while, feel like they weren't helping me much, go off of them, then get overwhelmed and go back on them again – year after year after year. My ADHD behaviors hadn't changed. Even as I was helping other people with their (non-ADHD) problems, my life was a constant struggle. I didn't know it could be different.
Finally, I realized that I had to learn more about ADHD. I learned -- from research, from seminars, from books like The Disorganized Mind by Nancy Ratey, and from coaching (which I still get for myself) -- that more and more is understood about adult ADHD every day. I came to the realization that, similar to a diabetic, I needed to accept that I had a lifelong disorder over which I had only limited control. That, because of ADHD, I couldn't completely trust a lot of what my brain told me. That I needed help and support and to learn new ways of doing things. And, most importantly, that if, instead of denying it, I studied it in myself, and learned specifically how and when it affected me, I could figure out what I needed to do to either counter it or work around it, so it doesn't stop me from living fully.
Now, although I still consider myself a “work in progress,” I have command and control over my life in ways I never thought possible. I can think and plan and take action more easily than ever before. I don’t stumble from crisis to crisis. Whereas I used to dwell constantly on my mistakes and failures, today I think more about what I have accomplished. I have more hope, optimism and enthusiasm than at any time since my twenties. And I’ve become much more reliable to the people I love, with more ease and far less stress.
I am completely committed to helping others make these same kinds of changes in their lives. I believe totally that if you are willing to accept and face your ADHD, you can deeply change the way you live and the way you feel about yourself.
Many years ago, the United Negro College Fund had an advertising slogan that read “A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste.” Don’t let adult ADHD cause you to waste any more of your mind or the talents you have been born with. Call for help. Now. Let me help you begin a new life.
You Don't Have to Ever Have Been "Hyper" to Have Adult ADHD?
When people think of ADHD, most people think of a boy – or sometimes girl – who bounces off the walls, talks out of turn, and generally gets sent to the principal’s office three days a week.
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Failing to pay close attention to details or making careless mistakes when doing school-work or other activitiesTrouble keeping attention focused during play or tasksAppearing not to listen when spoken to (often being accused of "daydreaming")Failing to follow instructions or finish tasksAvoiding tasks that require a high amount of mental effort and organization, such as school projectsFrequently losing items required to facilitate tasks or activities, such as school suppliesExcessive distractibilityForgetfulnessProcrastinationInability to begin an activityDifficulties completing household chores
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Often making careless mistakes when having to work on uninteresting or difficult projectsOften having difficulty keeping attention during work, or holding down a job for a significant amount of timeOften having difficulty concentrating on conversationsHaving trouble finishing projects that have already been startedOften having difficulty organizing for the completion of tasksAvoiding or delaying in starting projects that require a lot of thoughtOften misplacing or having difficulty finding things at home or at workDisorganized personal items (sometimes old and useless to the individual) causing excessive "clutter" (in the home, car, etc.)Often distracted by activity or noiseOften having problems remembering appointments or obligations, or inconveniently changing plans on a regular basis
It may the best thing you ever did.