ADHD Counseling $75 Per Session

ADHD Counseling for the Neurodivergent, a Chronic Disorder
Services include: ADHD Evaluation, Diagnosis and Treatment

Hours of Professional Training in ADHD Evaluation, Diagnosis and Treatment as of November 2024

  • 35 hours in: Treating ADHD in Adults
  • 15 hours in: Current Research & Diagnosing
  • 10 hours in: Mindfulness with ADHD
  •   6 hours in: DBT skills for ADHD

I myself was diagnosised with ADHD over 30 years ago. In my past, I have struggling with school, getting choirs done, relationships, dealing with failure, over spending, and the list goes on.

Typical treatment of ADHD consists of psycho-education, coaching, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and medical interventions.

But with each client I will create a customized plan to meet their specific needs.

helping you get control of your life

Anchor

What is ADHD

symptoms

ADHD Symptoms

People of different ages & genders can experience ADHD in unique ways. Having said that, the core symptoms of ADHD will still be present. The differences come out through a persons behaviors and presentation of the same symptoms, because of the structural and functional differences between each persons culture, age and gender.

facts

ADHD Symptom Facts

  • Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) affects people of all races and genders.

  • While ADHD appears to be more common in males, females are often under-diagnosed or misdiagnosed due to differences in symptoms

  • Currently the data suggests that men (12.9%) have a higher prevalence of ADHD than women (5.6%).

  • Boys and men are more likely than girls and women to be referred for services, even when their symptom profiles are exactly the same.

  • Most likely the reason for different rates of diagnoses are often attributed to factors like cultural and gender biases and expectations.

  • Due to a lack of education on ADHD in women and girls, they’re more likely to be improperly diagnosed with other mental health conditions like: bipolar disorder, personality disorders, depression, and anxiety.

  • For both men and women, the later in life people try to seek a diagnosis, the more complex it can become, because more comorbidities (factors) have to taken into consideration, such as, trauma, medical conditions, etc.

  • College stu- dents with ADHD experience impairment in many domains of functioning (Weyandt et al., 2013), including the aca- demic domain. Students with ADHD take longer to finish their degrees, have lower GPAs, and have a higher likeli- hood of dropping out when compared to students without ADHD (Bodalski, Elizabeth A.;Flory, Kate;Canu, Will H.; 2023)

  • One reason for these academic difficulties could be that college students with ADHD are more likely to procrastinate than their typi- cally developing peers. (Bodalski, Elizabeth A.;Flory, Kate;Canu, Will H.; 2023)

  • Due to a lack of education on ADHD in women and girls, they’re more likely to be improperly diagnosed with other mental health conditions like: bipolar disorder, personality disorders, depression, and anxiety.

  • For both men and women, the later in life people try to seek a diagnosis, the more complex it can become, because more comorbidities (factors) have to taken into consideration, such as, trauma, medical conditions, etc.

  • The age of onset of ADHD symptoms is typically before the age of 12, but it can be as early as 2 to 3 years old.

  • ADHD is a lifelong neurodevelopmental condition, which means that people don’t “grow out of it.” But symptoms can change over time, especially with an early diagnosis and proper treatment.

  • When untreated, symptoms can intensify during the teenage years because of hormones.

    • For example, changes in estrogen can affect the intensity and presentation of ADHD symptoms at different stages of life, such as: puberty, monthly menstrual cycle, perimenopause & menopause.

  • As a therapist specializing in adult ADHD, about 90% of my ADHD clients have been diagnosed later in life.

general

General ADHD Symptoms

ADHD Symptoms is characterized by impairing levels of inattention, distractibility, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. It affects approximately 5% to 8% of the population.

Those core symptoms: inattention, distractibility, hyperactivity, and impulsivity manifest in a variety of behaviors, such as:

  • procrastination

  • forgetfulness

  • Fatigue

  • hypersexuality

  • impatience

  • insomnia easily losing focus

  • anger

  • feelings of guilt and shame

  • shyness due to social anxiety and sensory sensitivities

  • perfectionism

  • people-pleasing

  • intense emotional reactions

  • easy overwhelmed

  • frequently losing items

difficulty sustaining attention in tasks” or “losing things necessary for tasks or activities.(Bodalski, Elizabeth A.;Flory, Kate;Canu, Will H.; 2023)

gender

ADHD Symptoms Focusing on Gender Differences

ADHD Symptoms in Men and Boys:

Men and boys with ADHD are more likely to show external behaviors like:

  • Hyperactivity (e.g., fidgeting)

  • Disruptive behavior

  • Interrupting others during conversations

  • Aggressive behaviors

  • High risk behaviors (e.g., substance misuse, speeding, unhealthy sexual behaviors, excessive financial spending)

  • Heightened emotions or emotional dysregulation for males can look more like temper tantrums and anger outbursts

A common co-occurring disorder for men with ADHD is called Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria. Typically this disorder is revealed with external symptoms such as:

  • Anger outburst

  • Apathy in relationships

  • Seeming insensitive to other people’s emotions

  • Teasing others or being sarcastic

  • Self-centeredness with decisions

  • Needing to be right or proving others wrong

  • Defensiveness

Men also have to deal with symptoms related to male gender bias. When they are emotionally sensitive they can be shamed for being in touch with their emotions instead of meeting society’s expectations of ‘being tough or strong’.

ADHD Symptoms in Women and Girls:

Women and girls with ADHD are more likely to internalize their behaviors like:

  • Overthinking

  • Intrusive thoughts

  • Negative self-talk

  • Depression

  • Anxiety

  • Maladaptive daydreaming

  • Body-focused repetitive behaviors (e.g., skin picking, hair pulling, leg bouncing)

  • Spacing out during conversations

  • Eating disorders

  • Crying with deep emotion

Like men, women with ADHD can have the same co-occurring disorder Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria. However, for women RSD is revealed with internal symptoms such as:

  • perfectionism

  • people-pleasing

  • codependency

  • body dysmorphia or negative body image

  • low self-esteem

  • overachieving or underachieving

  • intense emotional reactions

procrastinate

ADHD Procrastination

It is well documented that persons with ADHD procrastinate more frequently than non-ADHD persons. Emotion dysregulation and low self-esteem are commonly seen among those with ADHD, both likely connected to underlying deficits in executive functioning. Given that procrastination is a form of emotion-based avoidance, it seems that both emotion dysregulation and low self-esteem could help to account for the relation between ADHD symptoms and procrastination. If one is not equipped with skills to regulate distressing emotions that come up when completing an undesirable task, this might lead them to avoid the task altogether. Further, since avoidance of a task prevents or delays the experience of failure, procrastination may be a self-protective strategy employed in response to low self-esteem. Since recent literature sug- gests that emotion dysregulation contributes substantially to low levels of self-esteem in the college student population. This means, there could also be a serial pathway in which ADHD symptoms would predict emotion dysregulation, which in turn would predict lower self-esteem, which in turn would predict more frequent procrastination (Bodalski, Elizabeth A.;Flory, Kate;Canu, Will H.; 2023).

Difficulties with pro- crastination are likely tied to underlying deficits in executive functioning, which have been shown to partially account for the relation between procrastination and ADHD symptoms in college students. Procrastination, defined by Küchler and colleagues as “the irrational and voluntary delaying of necessary tasks”. is tied to a number of nega- tive outcomes such as depression, anxiety, fatigue, stress, and poorer academic performance in college. one variable that may help to account for the relation between ADHD symptoms and procrastination is difficulties with emotion dysregulation, a component of executive dysfunction frequently experienced by adults with ADHD. An indirect effect through emotion dysregulation would also be supported by current conceptu- alizations of procrastination as a maladaptive emotion regu- lation strategy that provides short-term mood repair (Bodalski, Elizabeth A.;Flory, Kate;Canu, Will H.; 2023).

Emotion regulation is a process that involves not just the mod- ulation of emotional arousal, but also the awareness, under- standing, and acceptance of emotions, as well as the ability to act in desired ways regardless of emotional state found that about 30% to 70% of adults with ADHD have significant difficulties with emotion dysregulation . (Bodalski, Elizabeth A.;Flory, Kate;Canu, Will H.; 2023).

The literature also indicates that problematic emotion dysregulation helps account for the relation between ADHD and negative outcomes such as maladaptive anger while driving (Oliver et al., 2015), social impairment (Flannery et al., 2016), and suicidal ideation. Evidence also indicates that training in emotion regulation skills can help to decrease procrastination (Eckert et al., 2016), which further supports that these two constructs are closely linked. (Van Eck et al., 2015) in college students. (Bodalski, Elizabeth A.;Flory, Kate;Canu, Will H.; 2023).

In Dooling- Litfin & Rosen’s, 1997 study, college students with ADHD reported lower levels of self-esteem than peers without ADHD, even after controlling for the effects of socioeco- nomic status, gender, and aptitude test scores. More recent literature is also consistent with the idea that ADHD might be linked to lower self-esteem. Ample literature also suggests that low self-esteem is associated with higher levels of procrastination. Ferrari and Sanders (2006) mention that one type of pro- crastination that adults with ADHD engage in is avoidance procrastination, which they define as “behavior delays motivated to protect one’s self-esteem and social image”. Therefore, it seems likely that lower self-esteem might lead to more frequent attempts to protect one’s self- image by avoiding tasks that might reveal flaws of some kind, thus accounting for the relation between ADHD and procrastination.

ADHD symptoms were associated with greater emotion regulation problems, lower self-esteem, and greater general procrastination. All of these associations were stronger for inattentive symptoms of ADHD than for hyper- active/impulsive symptoms.

References

Bodalski, E. A., Flory, K., Canu, W. H., Willcutt, E. G., & Hartung, C. M. (2023). ADHD Symptoms and Procrastination in College Students: The Roles of Emotion Dysregulation and Self-Esteem. Journal of Psychopathology & Behavioral Assessment, 45(1), 48–57. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-022-09996-2

Treatment

ADHD Treatment Options