The ADHD Specialist

I'm sure this will resonate lots of women with ADHD!

Https://www.instagram.com/p/CvdXbSNvgth/?igshid=MTk0MGU0NTkxNA==

I thought we needed a special monologue for all the ADHD Barbies. What else would you include? P.S. - if you haven’t seen Barbie this is meant to demonstrate the impossible stereotypes and double standards we face daily as ADHDers. The medication slide seems to be causing some confusion. For the record I’m personally not judging medication…just illustrating how we are judged for not treating symptoms but than also judged by many if we choose to treat medication. #adhd #adhdwomen #womenandadhd #adhdgirls #adhdlife #adhdmemes

Depending where you are in the UK, we're a little way into the summer holidays (although someone needs to remind the ☀️of this!). This downtime can be helpful for families with ADHD, but the lack of structure can also pose challenges. ADDitude Magazine has some tips which might be helpful - let me know if you have other tips!

(Link in Bio)

https://www.additudemag.com/saving-summer-adhd-routine-children-vacation/

Since the pandemic, talk of burnout seems to have increased, but ADHD burnout hits a little different! Good to see ADDitude Magazine highlighting hyperfocus burnout because it's not something I see talked about very often.

"I wish I knew then what I know about extreme hyperfocus. I wish I knew that it could turn into a positive feedback cycle that gets harder to escape the longer you’re in it. I wish I knew that relentless hyperfocus would break me and result in a very long and painful recovery."
👉 https://www.additudemag.com/extreme-burnout-hyperfocus-adhd/

EMDR is an evidence-based intervention for trauma, recommended in the NICE guidelines. Research suggests it can be especially helpful for adults with ADHD, which is certainly what I find in my practice with ADHD clients.

“EMDR Therapy Helps People Heal From Experiences That Haunt Them” "EMDR therapy can help individuals with ADHD and comorbidities process and release the emotional pain and negative beliefs associated with traumatic experiences.”

Labels sometimes get a bad rap, but they can be life affirming.

Jessie Wynter speaks candidly about her ADHD and the impact it had on her mental health

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDo3WxenSbg

Unfortunately, you can't overcome ADHD by simply adopting better organisation strategies - shame, anxiety and past trauma all play a part, as does the wonderful ADHD brain itself! That being said, this article has some really nice suggestions.

Through 20 Years of Coping With ADHD, Here’s What I’ve Found to Help ADHD can make life tough to manage. These are all the tools that have helped me — and others who struggle with ADHD — keep my life in order.

Don’t let the stigma associated with ADHD medications prevent you from exploring treatment options. What people need to understand is the detrimental impact that living with untreated ADHD has on a persons body & mind. Living a life permanently in fight or flight mode, excess stress hormones & generally neglecting their health in many ways. This is more damaging to the body than any medications. Unfortunately medication isn’t suitable or not recommended for everyone, but when it is, it can be incredibly effective. For me it’s about improving a persons quality of life. Everyone is worthy of that 🫶 #adhd #adhdmedication #adhdstigma #adhdsupport #adhdawareness #adhdwomen #adhdmen

Shame really likes to follow ADHD around! Therapy can really help with this but if therapy isn't available to you, increasing your self-compassion can really help you to tackle ADHD related shame.

https://www.verywellmind.com/adhd-and-shame-20435 #:~:text=Shame%20is%20an%20emotion%20that%20plays%20a%20big,problems%2C%20including%20depression%2C%20anxiety%2C%20drug%20and%20alcohol%20problems.

Why People With ADHD Have Shame Shame is an emotion that plays a big part in the lives of people with ADHD. Here are the common reasons why people with ADHD would feel this way.

I'm a real advocate for the importance of compassion in helping people with ADHD, and there's plenty of research to support using a compassion focused approach in ADHD therapy, too. This podcast gives some lovely examples of how self-compassion (there's a whole series on compassion) can help those of us with ADHD to quieten our inner critic and help us to cope with Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria.

Taking Control: The ADHD Podcast | Why Self-Compassion is Necessary When Living with ADHD Why do you treat yourself worse than you would treat a dear friend?That's the central question of today's conversation and it centers on our ability to muster self-compassion, a practice of treating ourselves well when we need it, rather than thinking of ourselves only in terms of our...

Interesting read on the impact of trauma on ADHD, and the transformative power of somatic therapy. Somatic therapy helps to integrate the mind and body to promote healing and resilience - I use it frequently in my practice so it's nice to see it mentioned in relation to ADHD.

ADHD and Trauma: Untangling Causes, Symptoms & Treatments ADHD may cause trauma, and vice versa. Here, learn how to untangle symptoms and how an emerging natural remedy called somatic therapy can help patients heal psychological wounds by reconnecting the body and the brain.