Post #5: Treatment For ADHD

Step 1: Psycho-education

Learning about ADHD symptoms and how they present is of dire importance to be the most functional self. There are many ways that theses symptoms can cause distress or be barriers to completing daily activities that you won't know are connected to ADHD unless you are told. You can learn about these symptoms in many ways: reading books about ADHD, going on websites that talk about symptoms, reading reserach papers, watching videos on Youtube, or talking to your therapist.

Step 2: Identifying how ADHD symptoms impact functioning

There are many ways that the symptoms of ADHD can impact your daily functioning and it is important to connect these symptoms to the problems you are facing. An example of this is that you may regularly lose things of importance to you (ie. phone, wallet, water bottle, etc) and this causes an increase in stress, especially if you are running out the door. By identifying this as a symptom of ADHD you can now know how to put a system in place to better help you.

Step 3: Implement skills to increase functioning

Once you gather all the ways that the symptoms of ADHD impact your daily life, you can now put into place some skills or routines that help you alleviate the negative impact of these symptoms. In the previous example we talked about losing things regularly, a way to increase functioning might be to have a place in your home that you put these important things always. Now all ADHD symptoms are not this easy of a fix or feel manageable to overcome, so talk to your therapist about skills you can learn or how to overcome these barriers. 

Step 5: Communicate your needs with others

Communication with others is key for them to understand what your needs are around your symptoms of ADHD so that they can support you. This can look many different ways like: compassionate response when noticing that you are getting frustrated, help remembering certain things, understanding when you are late or overwhelmed, and many more. You don't have to do this on your, having a support network will make this easier.

Step 6: Working on goals with your therapist

Working with a therapist will help you learn about your ADHD, establish goals are functionality, and be in a safe space to explore your brain. This is the best way to help you feel confident in your abilities to manage your symptoms of ADHD while learning to love your brain.