ADHD Might Require a Shift in Thinking
A guest post by Liz Adams, Ph.D., Minnesota Neuropsychology
When you experience a let-down from a symptom of ADHD (e.g., being late to a meeting, forgetting an important detail, making a small but important mistake), ask yourself, "What’s on the other side of this coin?" What positive behavior accompanies these difficulties?
ADHD can be a detriment to certain tasks, such as writing long papers, completing tedious chores, or sitting through lectures, but it is beneficial in other activities, such as coming up with novel solutions, developing more efficient strategies, creating new ways of looking at a problem, and deftly handling fast-paced work. Learning to acknowledge your ADHD wiring and way of doing things helps create a shift in your mindset.
Here are some suggestions for making the shift:
• Change your self-talk around your ADHD symptoms. For example, when you notice your attention waning, thank your brain/body for reminding you, "It’s time to take a break."
• Acknowledge the mismatch between your current task demands and your preferred processes.
• Take the negative bias out of it. When you observe yourself seeking distraction or forgetting details, please take it as information on how you function and use it to inform future decisions.
• Learn your flow. What creates flow for you?-things in the external environment, your body, the type of task, the time of day? Learn this about yourself, and then recreate the conditions for you to be in flow.
This approach will slowly but surely lead you to tasks, activities, hobbies, social groups, and professions that fit you best.
As the influential neuropsychologist Donald Hebb wrote, "Neurons that fire together, wire together." You can change your experiences by shifting your associated thoughts. Shift away from thinking, "I'm incapable," when a task stymies you to thinking, "I've got a unique approach and will figure out a way that works for me."
The diagnosis of ADHD can be the beginning of a healing process. Through self-awareness and recognition of the effect of neurochemistry on behavior, one can shift from the perpetuating cycle of self-limiting beliefs to awareness, compassion, and growth.
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