ATTENTION-DEFICIT/HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER & ANXIETY: How They're Linked, What to Do & How To Create Your Signature Plan for Peace & Productivity

A bird sitting on a tree is never afraid of the branch breaking because its trust is not on the branch but on its own wings. -Charlie Wardle

Difficulty focusing, staying on track, and finishing what you have started together with intrusive thoughts, toxic worry, and anticipatory anxiety will leave you feeling fatigued, disheartened, and, eventually, despondent. Your sense of self-efficacy will plummet, and tagging along will be your self-esteem and confidence. This frustrating chain of events occurs when Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) converges with an anxiety disorder, whether generalized or social anxiety , and especially when accompanied with

panic attacks. Their impact, best described as a collision, wreaks havoc on the body and brain, and depletes cognitive resources needed for energy and executive functioning. As the demands of the mental activity increase, your ability to calm your mind long enough to focus substantially diminishes.

ENERGY

You need energy (healthy and ample doses of it) to get through your waking hours. When your energy is vibrant, your day feels lighter and easier. As your energy drops, it signals that it is time for slumber. Following your circadian rhythm, this should occur toward the later part of the day, in preparation for sleep. For many, fatigue and lethargy seep in between 12 and 3pm., the early afternoon hours. Although this has become common in today's fast-paced, technology driven and ever growing complex and distracted world, it is not desirable. Early (or even late) afternoon fatigue signals you are not optimizing your energy levels. Unless very young, very old, or requiring rest to heal from an illness, surgery, or other physical condition, your energy level should be available to you, just as a full tank of gas would be for a nearby excursion or road trip.

EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING

Executive functioning, your brain's control center, refers to your ability to self-regulate (both emotionally and behaviorally), plan, critically think, and problem solve. Another key executive functioning skill, affected when living with unmanaged levels of ADHD or anxiety, is working memory .

You use working memory every day. When you read, calculate, write, plan, learn , organize, follow conversations or multi-step directions, and think about something while?you're thinking about something, you're tapping into working memory. Your brain's working memory functions help you remain focused and engaged. But, what happens when the system becomes overloaded? Every brain has a limited working memory capacity. While limited is normal, a poor working memory, on the other hand, can be a hindrance to learning and impede the other executive processes. In fact, working memory is strongly linked to learning and scholastic success and may be a better predictor of academic performance than one's intelligence quotient (IQ), and weaknesses in working memory are often observed in children diagnosed with an attentional disorder, such as the inattentive component of ADHD (as opposed to the more impulsive/hyperactive type).

A recent study conducted by van der Meer et al. (2018) found that individuals with ADHD often have heightened levels of anxiety, which have been correlated with substandard performance on working memory tasks, and their results demonstrated that anxiety critically modulated the relationship between the severity of ADHD and the brain's neural activity for working memory.

DIAGNOSTIC IMPRESSIONS

While everyone, from time to time, experiences anxiety, it becomes problematic when the worry and fear are excessive and interfere with everyday functioning. This also applies to levels of attention and activity. Whereas we will all experience periods in our life when our attention and focus wane, and perhaps our activity level becomes excessive and/or impulsive; however, these naturally occurring cycles are not chronic or destabilizing enough to warrant diagnosis. When the latter symptoms appear in childhood, continue throughout adolescence and adulthood, and have affected socio-emotional and behavioral development and academic or work performance, then the diagnosis of ADHD may fit and help explain the individual's neurodevelopmental wiring and challenges. With some, the inattentive presentation is more pronounced, while for others it's more of the hyperactive or impulsive behaviors that surface. Most common in ADHD, however, is the combined presentation that includes, to varying degrees, inattention, impulsivity and hyperactivity.

Having both an anxiety disorder and ADHD generally results in a compounding effect, creating a substantial increase in expression in each disorder's individual signs and symptoms. For example, if you are working on an important project and need to apply sustained and focused attention or you are planning a once in a lifetime family vacation that also includes grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, and you have both ADHD and an anxiety disorder, then the process of focusing and planning will be exponentially harder than if you just had one of these disorders. Mind wandering , a typical human experience, can easily go awry with this combination of diagnoses. The simultaneous experience of having both can result in the most extreme expression of the symptoms shared within their clinical presentation.

While neither causes the other, anxiety can, in part, develop as a sequelae to ADHD, whereas one does not develop ADHD due to an anxiety disorder. If you are biologically prone to developing anxiety, then the difficulties that arise from ADHD can leave you feeling overwhelmed and insecure, which then unfortunately devolves into constantly doubting yourself. However, if you are not prone to developing anxiety, then ADHD alone will not develop into the experience of chronic worry, irritability, gastrointestinal distress, and/or fear of trying new things and stepping out of your comfort zone.

Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

There are many adults who have unknowingly lived with ADHD; never having received an official diagnosis. The degree to which this condition is debilitating will depend on its severity and the individual's lifestyle.

Certain career choices align well with ADHD, while others, such as desk jobs and work environments that are more slower in nature and predictable, may not. Typically these individuals will thrive in environments that include novelty, stimulation, movement, and/or the freedom for creative and thinking expression.

The right environment may mask many of ADHD's most challenging presentation. However, regardless of the ideal environment, having ADHD also requires managing its symptoms for peak performance. You will not become a professional football player, fighter pilot, or Hollywood movie director without having gone through the tedious and repetitive drills and training required to hone your skills. Even career choices that are ideal with those seeking stimulation and novelty require deliberate practice and focus. Without compensatory skills, there will be repercussions, as undiagnosed and untreated ADHD can have a negative domino effect, leading toward a descending series of failed endeavors, relationships, depression, and ultimately attempting to self-medicate through the misuse of alcohol and drugs.

Anxiety Disorder

While there are several subcategories featured within the family of anxiety disorders, the most prevalent is Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), described as a pervasive feeling of dread and apprehensive expectation. The individual with GAD will find it difficult to control or manage the worry. They live in a chronic state of tension, accompanied by hypervigilance and physical symptoms, such as muscular tension and gastrointestinal distress.

When anxiety also includes panic attacks, which depending on their frequency and severity can morph into their own separate disorder known as Panic Disorder, we now have a more complicated clinical challenge.

Panic Disorder

Panic attacks represent the quintessential experience of extreme overwhelm and terror in which your body, within minutes, autonomically arouses and springs into action, believing all is not well in the world and danger is lurking nearby. When the panic attacks continue and include at least 4 of the 13 listed physical and cognitive symptoms, as presented in the Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Fifth Edition-Text Revision (DSM-5-TR), and there is significant avoidance of and worry about having a recurrent attack in which the disturbance is not due to a substance or medical condition, then the diagnosis of panic disorder is issued.

What Does a Panic Attack Feel Like?

Ubiquitous to the experience of a panic attack is the sense of impending doom and the feeling that you are losing your mind. Generally, the symptoms peak quickly (within 10 minutes), as the surge of adrenaline levels spike by potentially 2 1/2 times or more, positioning your body into fight or flight. As adrenaline floods your bloodstream, your blood sugar spikes and your breathing becomes more shallow, preparing your brain and body for heightened senses as you prepare to enter the high alert zone.

Symptoms include, but are not limited to, dizziness, chest tightness or pain, heart palpitations, gastrointestinal distress, sweating, nausea, vomiting, chills, trembling or shaking, and/or feelings of choking. It is not unusual to believe you are having a medical emergency, such as a heart attack, and find yourself driving or being transported to your local emergency room. Once you've been medically examined, the outcome typically involves the prescription for benzodiazepines and a brief mention of a lifestyle change to mitigate stress by the attending physician.

AVOIDANCE: Anxiety's Super Power

If you have experienced a panic attack, you will, in all likelihood, do everything in your power to avoid ever having another one, and this avoidance is the key super power to anxiety's hold on a person. Whether driving on highways, boarding an airplane, scheduling routine medical check-ups, giving a presentation, etc., there will be a feeling, a thought, and then a decision as to whether you will attempt this again, or not! Anxiety and panic attacks cannot take root when you face your fear(s). However, without proper intervention and support, facing certain fears will be highly unlikely.

Long-term strategies to mitigate the risks of anxiety disorders and panic attacks involve creating a lifestyle that supports physical and mental health, such as living with purpose, having healthy relationships, exercising, eating well, obtaining restorative sleep, and engaging a mindfulness mindset or practice.

But what about short-term? There are things you can do in the midst of a panic attack that may prove helpful. These include diaphragmatic breathing and grounding techniques. When anxious, there is a sense of urgency of wanting or needing to use a technique that will immediately work, and although these are solid strategies, they, unfortunately, are not guarantees that the attack will stop in a timely manner. The challenge here is to simultaneously experience the discomfort and access a deeper, more rhythmic and diaphragmatic breath. Paying attention to your breathing is key to enhancing your emotional state, and the more you practice this type of breathing outside of a panic situation (such as in yoga ), the more available it will be for you when in a crisis.

• Breathe in through your nose and exhale through your mouth. Imagine you are fogging a mirror with your breath.?
• When?breathing, inhale to contract the?diaphragm to create space for your lungs to?expand, and when you exhale, relax the?diaphragm and gently push the air from your lungs.
• ?Inhale and exhale to a slow count of 4.????

Grounding techniques are immediately available strategies that can help in managing the intensity and frequency of overwhelming emotions and feelings of distress, such as a?panic attack. It allows you (and your brain) to step away from the negative thoughts and feelings through a?distraction method?using your 5 senses.?This method includes firmly situating your feet on the ground, taking slow, deep breaths (as described above), acknowledging aloud or silently (if in a room with others) what is observed in?the present environment, and reminding yourself that you are safe. Having a favorite mantra that you repeat when distressed can also be helpful.

5. Acknowledge five things you see around you.

4. Acknowledge four things you can touch around you.

3. Acknowledge three things you can hear.

2. Acknowledge two things you can smell.

1. Acknowledge one thing you can taste.

ADHD & ANXIETY IN CHILDREN

Mental health professionals are observing and reporting a meteoric rise in rates of anxiety (both in children and adults), especially during the pandemic. While anxiety disorders have a deep biological underpinning and can be described as chronic intermittent?disorders, their manifestation requires the ideal set of circumstances to flourish. For those who developed anxiety during the or post-pandemic and also have ADHD, the outcome has been both concerning and debilitating, especially for children. Since ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder, meaning it must have been present in childhood to meet diagnostic criteria, it is important to spend some time on how the interplay of both diagnostic conditions can impact the youngest among us.

Children and adolescents with ADHD are also at risk for developing a comorbid anxiety disorder. An anxious child with ADHD will not have the emotional availability to efficiently learn and retain information. Cognitive energy is being used to manage the anxiety, leaving little in the reserve tank to learn new information and efficiently consolidate academic material.

With proper diagnosis and treatment, the prognosis is good; whereas undiagnosed and untreated children typically experience a poor outcome, and may go on to develop other challenging diagnoses, such as a mood or oppositional defiant disorder, as an outcome of low self-esteem, and the inability to tolerate frustration, delay gratification, and manage distractions. Before it ever comes to this, in their younger years, children's expression of anxiety may present itself as separation anxiety, in which the child experiences significant distress when separated from family members or close caretakers.?

Separation anxiety typically does not go away on its own. In fact, unaddressed and untreated, it can and tends to morph into phobias, panic and/or generalized anxiety disorder.?If this young child also has challenges with regulating attention and behavior, then the outcome typically follows the course outlined above. As soon and as young as possible, teaching children to self-regulate by first co-regulating with their parents should be prioritized in the home. Adult caregivers, such as parents, aunts, uncles, teachers, coaches, and other mentors play a significant role in shaping the child's self-regulation skills, starting from birth, through co-regulation, which is an interactive and connecting process. How adults show up and the energy they bring into a child's environment matter. Is the energy calming or soothing? Does it demonstrate a quiet strength? Does it provide the child tools to self-regulate?

The parent-child relationship is the most powerful mental health intervention known to mankind. -Bessel van der Kolk

MAKING POSITIVE CHANGES IN ADULTHOOD

Whether or not ADHD and anxiety were dealt with in childhood, it is never too late to receive appropriate intervention and learn the key skills necessary for successful execution. For those who have consistently used effective coping and compensatory strategies to mitigate the effects of both ADHD and anxiety, then this is the time to continue using your skills and, perhaps, choose to expand your repertoire by learning new ones (so as to have additional helpful tools in your emotional and executive functioning toolbox). There is always room for improvement in the important areas of your life.

Neuroplasticity teaches us that we can always learn a new, or better, way of doing things, as the brain continues to modify, change, and adapt throughout our lifespan (if we challenge it to do so).

What if you are now in your mid 20s, 30s, 40s or older and suspecting that you may have undiagnosed ADHD and perhaps even anxiety? What can you do?

Let's start by taking a look at your current situation. The following are lifestyle habits that contribute to executive functioning fatigue and anxiety, and mimic signs and symptoms of ADHD.

Living in a Constant Sense of Urgency State

Whereas adopting a sense of urgency in all likelihood has worked well for you in getting tasks accomplished and tending to responsibilities in a timely manner, this cannot be how you live your life 24/7. There is a time and place for efficiency, and a time and place for disconnecting entirely from the clock. When done well, you have work-life integration or balance.

However, constantly living under the gun, getting things accomplished at the 11th hour, and multi-tasking will, eventually, catch up with you and affect your health. Every now and then, relying on the surge of adrenaline to do last minute preparations or finalization for a big project, presentation, etc., is not an issue. As Leonard Bernstein so eloquently stated in the quote below, this should never be one's go-to modus operandi for daily living.

To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan, and not quite enough time.

It is advised that you use this method sparingly. If constantly finding yourself completing important tasks or projects under the pressure of not enough time, then you may have undiagnosed or poorly managed ADHD. This behavior is more of an ADHD symptom than anxiety. Adopting a mindfulness practice will help.

Inadequate Sleep

Our modern world blurs the boundaries between day?and night; between the diurnal and the nocturnal. A staggering and growing number of sleep deprived and caffeine infused individuals is resulting in hormonal imbalances, compromised immune systems, and executive functioning challenges. This is especially true for older teens and young college students. So many are reporting signs of symptoms of anxiety and panic attacks, and difficulties paying attention and focusing. Lack of restorative sleep will cause these difficulties.

Sedentary Lifestyle

Perhaps you are a college student, have an office job, or drive long distances for work; all three contributing to long hours sitting and maybe not enough healthy insertions of getting up and moving. Extended periods of time sitting and not moving can lead to diminished focus and anxiety.

Your mind needs stillness and your body needs movement to function at peak potential. A calm mind and an active body are key ingredients for overall solid mental and physical health. In addition, movement helps to release emotions that may have become trapped in the body, and present themselves as muscle tension, pain, and/or other related ailments.?

Poor Nutrition

Nutritional psychiatry is an accelerating field that incorporates food and supplements in the treatment of psychiatric or mental health conditions. It is not unusual for individuals with irritability, inattentiveness, and/or anxiety to report appetite and digestive disturbances and gastrointestinal imbalances.?Its greatest culprit is sugar. Sugar, in its various and clever forms, is a simple carbohydrate that your body converts into glucose for energy use. It is unfortunately disguised in so many of the processed and packaged foods in our local supermarkets.?

Refined sugars are processed, and extracted from natural sources. They are?found in everything from baked goods to snack foods, candy, and the list goes on.?Raw fruits, on the other hand, provide natural sugar and are excellent sources of essential nutrients, such as potassium, dietary fiber, vitamin C, and folate.?

Sugar provides a short energy boost, and then an energy plummet or crash. Over time, the consumption of sugar will create havoc on your body's immune system.?For sustained energy and focus, it's best to remove sugar from the diet, with the exception of moderately consuming nutrient rich fruits that are ripe and in season.?

A fast-paced, lack in restorative sleep and exercise, and poor diet lifestyle will deplete you of the necessary energy to efficiently feel good, productive, and accomplished. You don't have to (and actually shouldn't) make changes all at once. Start small, choose one habit , get some momentum going, and commit to doing it for 30 straight, uninterrupted, days. In 30 days, incorporate a new habit. Repeat & Continue!

CREATING YOUR PERSONAL AND SIGNATURE PEACE & PRODUCTIVITY PLAN

Mindfully targeting your most problematic symptoms of ADHD and anxiety will yield extraordinary results in the attainment of balance and equanimity. The good news is that each and every step you make toward your growth and healing will make a difference; it won't be right away, but incrementally you will start to feel a sense of peace and productivity.

Conduct a Mini Self-Assessment

Within the last month, which of the following has been True for you:

• My sleep has been restless.
• Upon waking up, I do not feel refreshed.
• I have experienced a major life event within the past year, such as a change in job, starting a relationship, moving to a new city, having a child, caring for an aging parent, etc.
• I have been relying on caffeine to get through my day.
• I feel a constant sense of pressure and urgency to complete my responsibilities.
• My diet consists of sugary, fast- or comfort-foods.
• I have a medical challenge that affects my energy, such as a thyroid or heart condition (but not limited to these two) that I am still attempting to manage and heal from.
• I have experienced bouts of depression and/or grieving a loved one (who may have passed months or years ago but the grief still feels raw and current). The loss can also include the loss of a pet.
• I am attempting to function in a toxic relationship or environment.
• I have been sedentary; sitting and/or inactive for longer periods of time.
• I constantly multi-task (and actually feel a sense of pride in my ability to do so).

A response of just one YES to any of these items will significantly affect both your internal sense of calm (or peace) and productivity. Our brain and body require a coordinated approach to performing at one's best. Each of the items above represent a link on a chain.

Schedule a Professional Assessment

A good psychiatric and/or psychological assessment can be key to getting to the bottom of what's going on and then getting the necessary help needed to ameliorate or manage the challenges. While you may know what you know, you don't know what you don't know and this is where the wisdom of the professional and differential diagnosis emerges. A differential diagnosis is used to help diagnose physical or mental health disorders that cause similar symptoms. A trained mental health medical professional, such as a psychiatrist, can help determine what you're dealing with diagnostically and help conceptualize your challenges in a helpful manner, and more importantly, outline a course of action targeted specifically for your needs and well-being. Your psychiatrist may also recommend psychotropic medication to help manage and take the edge off of your more pronounced symptoms, especially if panic attacks are hindering your school or work attendance, or creating such dysfunction that you are unable to move forward with your day or life. There will also likely be a recommendation to participate in psychotherapy; with someone skilled in treating anxiety disorders and ADHD.

Share the results of your mini self-assessment with your provider. If your point of entry into the mental health network began with a psychiatrist or licensed psychotherapist, then this professional may recommend a psychological evaluation to help ascertain the severity of symptoms, personal and cognitive strengths and weaknesses, root or underlying causes of your challenges, insight into your personality style (including defense mechanisms), and additional conflicts and challenges that may be contributing to or exacerbating your current symptoms. Through a thorough psychological or neuropsychological evaluation, many conditions (that can mimic your symptoms) can be ruled-out. Once you have an accurate clinical conceptualization of your challenges, the next step is to educate yourself as to what is the best course of action that is specifically right for you! Your team, thus far, may have already made excellent recommendations. From there, it will be your responsibility to determine what will work for you by seeking information and collaborating with your treatment team.

Education is Key

Now that you have delved deeper into your challenges and invested in a professional consultation, take the information that you've learned and learn more. Educate yourself further on ADHD and anxiety, and how it applies to your personal situation. This will help you become more invested in your health and treatment plan. The more you know about your condition(s), the better equipped you will be to communicate your needs to your treatment team and manage your intervention plan.

Seek?Psychotherapy

When you seek psychotherapy or counseling, you are making yourself a priority. Remember, you do not have to do this alone, nor should you. In fact, attempting to power through your life with these disorders without the benefit of a team approach will in all likelihood result in frustration and failure. You've already invested time in the consultation and the research. You are now ready to do the work. Whether you are in need of a few or many sessions in which a professional perspective is helpful, or a little more support, such as when going through a major life transition, one of the best gifts you can give yourself is the gift of healing. Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is one of the more popular types of talk-therapy and is well-supported in its benefits for those with ADHD and anxiety. It is not, however, the only therapy available.

Therapy provides a safe place to process your personal circumstances and the flurry of thoughts and emotions associated with their challenges.?The current movement in therapy is toward an integrative approach, connecting mind and body.?The outcome is typically greater clarity and focus.?With so many mental health professionals offering telehealth, it's never been more convenient to seek professional guidance.?

Once some of your immediate symptoms (especially of anxiety) become better managed, you may find yourself wanting to add an executive function coach to the mix. This professional will offer skills and strategies, important feedback, and serve as an accountability partner within the areas of executive functioning that have been most challenging for you to achieve success.

Choose Mindfulness

To stop living under the pressure of chronic urgency, adopt a mindfulness (as opposed to mindlessness) practice to your life.

Mindfulness, the act of paying attention to the present moment with a non-judgmental attitude, has become quite the buzz word in recent times. Endlessly featured on social media, magazines, television, and YouTube videos, its overuse may contribute to the dilution of its meaning and, therefore, its therapeutic benefits.?In essence, mindfulness is the basic human ability to become fully present, without feelings of overwhelm or over-reactivity.?It is your antidote to stress!?

Research has documented that mindfulness techniques help improve a plethora of physical complaints such as lowering blood pressure and alleviating?gastrointestinal distress. Developed at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in the 1970s by Professor Jon Kabat-Zinn, mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is an 8-week evidence based curriculum that offers intensive mindfulness instruction to help?people better manage stress, anxiety, depression, and pain. It combines meditation with hatha yoga and it teaches how to use mindfulness in daily life in order to cope with stressors.?

Get Restorative Sleep

Offered here are important tips for getting the best, and most restorative, sleep needed for energy and emotional balance.

• Your bedroom should be cool and?dark, and free from distracting noise and devices. Some find white noise or background sounds of nature soothing.?
• Dim the lights and reduce screen time a few hours before going to bed. This gets your brain and body ready for sleep.?
• Establish a relaxing bedtime routine. A nightly meditation practice can do wonders for stress management, and help you feel calm and serene.?
• Attempt to go to bed and wake up at the same time each day.?

Move Your Body

Exercise is an excellent stress and anxiety buster. Your body loves and craves movement. Both moderate and strenuous forms of exercise help relieve symptoms of anxiety, reduce stress, and improve attention, focus, and productivity. This does not have to involve a 1-hour weight lifting session or a 5 mile beach run. It can be as simple as performing a few sit-ups and push-ups, or a short walk around the neighborhood.?A?20-minute?stretch?can be so restoratively soothing to both your mind and muscles, and this brings us to our next stress busting activity and an excellent segue into yoga.?

Yoga is a deeply rooted, healing practice emphasizing the mind-body connection. It incorporates postures, breathing, and meditation. The physical practice of yoga can be viewed as a moving meditation, connecting breath with movement.?

Pranayama?is the formal practice of managing the breath, and a steady, rhythmic breath is central to yoga and stress?management. Its consistent practice yields compounding results, meaning each and every time you participate, you're decreasing the effects of stress. The Ujjayi (or ocean) breath is the most common form of breath control used in yoga. It can help bring calmness to your mind and body.?

Eat Nutrient Dense Food

Consume fresh, whole foods as close as possible to?their natural states.?I believe best-selling author, Michael Pollan sums up eating in these 3 key points: Eat real food. Moderate your portions. Make sure your plate has lots of greens.

Dietary?supplementation may be helpful, and is individual to each person's specific needs. Real foods are single-ingredient foods. As the number of ingredients increase, the whole-ness or natural-ness of the food decreases.?

There are many paths to health and well-being. Creating a personal plan requires knowing yourself well and choosing thoughts, activities and people that will not only challenge you to become your best, but also support the lifestyle you're aiming for and the goals you have personally set. What worked for your best friend or neighbor may not be right for you. Living life with mindfulness and at a more comfortable pace, restorative sleep, exercise, consuming nutrient dense foods, and managing your thoughts and your internal, on-going narrative are key to almost all good health practices and it's difficult to get around any of those if you want to function at your highest, most energized level. How you go about incorporating these into your life is on you.

YOUR MORNING ROUTINE

Once you have decided on what you will be doing and how you will be doing it, wrap a system around your plan; meaning incorporate these habits into your morning routine.

How you start your day will significantly affect how your day unfolds, and oftentimes your morning routine begins the night before. If your morning routine involves a work-out, have your gym clothes and bag ready to go. If a visualization and journaling practice, with a delicious cup of hot coffee, are part of your wake-up repertoire, then have everything prepared the night before so that you can easily grab your coffee and journal (with your favorite pen) and view your vision board without interruption or frustration. Designate a sacred space for these activities that is clutter-free and enjoyable for you to spend time in; where you feel a deep sense of peace the moment you enter this area. If it involves being outdoors, connecting with nature, then you earn bonus points.

Additional Activities to Consider for Health & Healing

• Manage your consumption of information, especially news.
• Listen to uplifting music.
• Listen to an uplifting podcast.
• Spend time in nature on a regular basis.
• Do not isolate. Reach out to individuals you have either lost touch or have not had time to connect with and use this opportunity to re-connect and catch up.
• Volunteer.
• Enjoy a hobby.
• Write, draw, create.
• Garden.
• Daily, identify 3 things you're grateful for.

Finding the right treatment or combination of interventions for your needs may be a trial and error process at first. As you make the first few steps, the path will emerge and from that point, additional or other, more appropriate interventions will surface. Add, delete, or weave interventions, as needed!

The information presented in this blog is intended for?general knowledge?and is not a substitute for medical advice or treatment. As with most things in life, there isn't a magic pill or "cure-all" but there are strategies to help regain control of your life.

REFERENCES

American Psychiatric Association. (2022).?Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders?(5th ed., text rev.).

Fones, C.S.L., Pollack, M.H., Susswein, L., & Ottoab, M. (2000). History of childhood attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) features among adults with panic disorder. Journal of Affective Disorders, 58(2), 99-106.

Kabat-Zinn, John. (2021).?www.mindful.org

National Resource Center on ADHD: "ADHD and Coexisting Disorders," "Medication Management."

van der Meer D, Hoekstra PJ, van Rooij D, Winkler AM, van Ewijk H, Heslenfeld DJ, Oosterlaan J, Faraone SV, Franke B, Buitelaar JK, Hartman CA. Anxiety modulates the relation between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder severity and working memory-related brain activity. World J Biol Psychiatry. 2018 Sep;19(6):450-460.

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