ADHD + Mindfulness
At True Core Health, we are focused on helping you maintain your wellness through various means, such as psycho-education and breath work, among others.
Because of our emphasis on wellness, we don’t always like to diagnose. However, there are some cases in which a diagnosis can be helpful. An example of this is for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
I’m sure we’ve all heard of this term before, but maybe as attention deficit disorder (ADD). While ADHD and ADD tend to be used interchangeably, ADHD is now the official medical term, as it accounts for both inattentive and hyperactive symptoms that can be seen in the disorder.
While ADHD is commonly diagnosed in childhood, and therefore, thought to be a childhood disorder, this is not the case.
Smalley et al. estimate ADHD affects, on average, 10% of children and adolescents and 4% of adults. But Targum and Adler make the point that diagnosis of ADHD in adults is greatly under-treated, estimating that only 10 to 25% of adults with ADHD are diagnosed and properly treated.
So what classifies as ADHD? Check out the criteria here, and before you begin self-diagnosing, you should probably — you guessed it — talk to your doctor or therapist.
Adults experiencing the inattentive symptoms of ADHD can usually relate to the following:
Making careless mistakes
Becoming easily distracted
Experiencing difficulty in their follow-through
But it’s important to remember that these are just a few potential symptoms— everyone’s experience of ADHD is going to be different.
On the other hand, adults experiencing the hyperactive symptoms of ADHD tend to find themselves:
Having difficulty staying still
Interrupting others frequently
Appearing “on the go” more often than not
And to make matters a bit more complicated, someone with ADHD can have both inattentive and hyperactive symptoms.
But, there’s good news.
You are not alone in this. Remember, at least 4% of the adult global population struggles with ADHD, and that estimate only includes those who have been professionally diagnosed.
Therapy can help!
Specifically, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has been shown to help individuals with ADHD. Auclair, Harvey, and Lepage summarize the core tenets of this type of therapy, including understanding and interrupting thinking patterns, promoting coping strategies, modifying behavior, and managing depressive and anxious moods. These tenets can then be simplified into the categories of 1) cognitive, 2) emotional, and 3) cognitive and emotional.
One of the potential cognitive strategies that can be used to treat ADHD includes mindfulness. If you read our previous post on mindfulness here, you may recall Blanton’s definition of mindfulness: “awareness of the present experience with acceptance.”
Let’s get a little more specific.
Smalley et al. note that mindfulness begins by attending to our breathing in order to build concentration to whatever arises in the present moment. Studies show that attentional changes in mindfulness training can lead to changes in conflict attention, which includes suppression of irrelevant stimuli. This allows us to focus more on the here and now.
In their study on mindfulness and ADHD, Smalley et al. found that mindfulness can improve symptoms of ADHD. What’s more is their finding that mindfulness can also increase self-directedness, a construct closely tied to overall psychological health.
Although ADHD can be extremely debilitating, according to Auclair, Harvey, and Lepage few individuals with ADHD receive treatment, which is discouraging, as ADHD is one of the most successfully treated psychological disorders.
So if you feel like you struggle with the impacts of ADHD, remember that you can receive support!
Mindfulness can be a great tool in your life whether or not ADHD is a part of it. If you’re looking for therapeutic assistance in learning more about how CBT and mindfulness can be used in your life, don’t hesitate to reach out here.
Articles referenced:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4301030/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19681107/
https://www.erudit.org/fr/revues/smq/2016-v41-n1-smq02587/1036976ar/
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11089-010-0292-9