Is it ADHD or Anxiety? Or Both?
“I either have ADHD or anxiety or both. But something is not right.”
Those were the first words I spoke to the therapist administering my ADHD evaluation.
Despite suspecting for over a decade that I may have ADHD, I had avoided a formal diagnosis.
But then the pandemic happened and I lost all of my carefully crafted structure and routine.
And just as things were starting to normalize, I was diagnosed with breast cancer.
So it stands to reason why I would seek some help for whatever it was that I was feeling.
As it turns out, ADHD’s top comorbity is anxiety…comorbidity meaning the simultaneous presence of two or more diseases or medical conditions in a patient.
Which is why I wanted to take a little time today to discuss ADHD and anxiety…what is the difference between them, can ADHD cause anxiety, and what are some ways you may be able to reduce the anxious feelings you’re experiencing.
ADHD or Anxiety
First, let me state that I am neither a therapist or a doctor. So my approach to discussing anxiety today will be from more of a definition and actionable steps you can take if you start to feel a little flutter in your chest.
If you feel that there are underlying emotions or trauma that are causing you to experience situational anxiety or one of the anxiety disorders we will discuss in just minute, I highly recommend you seek the guidance and support of a mental health professional.
So let’s start out by giving definitions for both ADHD and anxiety.
I think both of these words get bandied about so much in conversations…like I’m feeling so ADHD right now or my anxiety is off the charts…that we may not think about the fact that these are real disorders with diagnosing criteria and actionable coping strategies.
First, let’s discuss anxiety.
In general, anxiety is that nervous feeling you get in the pit of your stomach or the stress of juggling work and home life.
Think of it as your brain’s way of saying, ‘Hey, something important is happening!’
Anxiety is something that most people will experience at some point, maybe even on a regular basis.
But when anxiety doesn’t subside when the triggering event is over, when it feels so overwhelming that it is almost paralyzing, or when it starts interfering with your daily life—that’s when it may have crossed over into anxiety disorder territory.
An anxiety disorder isn’t just feeling stressed or worried or nervous.
It’s more like a constant loop of fear, racing thoughts, and physical symptoms—like a tight chest, trouble sleeping, or that feeling of being on edge all the time.
An official diagnosis for an anxiety disorder includes but is not limited to:
Generalized Anxiety Disorder— which is an excessive, persistent, and uncontrollable worry and tension about a variety of everyday events or activities
Social Anxiety— Which includes an extreme fear of social situations or judgment of others.
Panic Disorder—Which includes sudden episodes of intense fear aka panic attacks
Phobias—Which are Intense fears of specific things or situations
When it comes to defining ADHD, I’m pretty sure most of you watching or listening are familiar with the diagnosis and symptoms, seeing as this is an ADHD based podcast.
But for the sake of comparison to anxiety disorder, here’s a simplified definition:
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, aka ADHD, is a neurodevelopmental condition that impacts executive function and our brain’s ability to focus, control impulsivity, plan & organize, and regulate our energy & emotions.
So in a nutshell…ADHD starts inside our brain as we’re trying to kickstart our executive function so it can impact what we do outside our brain.
On the flip side, anxiety starts as a reaction to something on the outside and moves inside our brain to create feelings of nervousness, fear, or worry.
Can ADHD Cause Anxiety?
Let’s say it’s not necessarily definite but perhaps likely. 🤷♀️🤷♀️🤷♀️
And that doesn’t even account for those of us who aren’t diagnosed with an anxiety disorder but regularly experience situational anxiety, which is when you start to feel those anxious feelings in response to a new, unfamiliar, or stressful situation.
From an ADHD standpoint, your symptoms may cause you to experience situational anxiety by:
Setting very high expectations for what you can accomplish in a given time, but due to your time blindness, you can’t realistically deliver what you expected to in the time given.
Spending impulsively and avoiding your credit card bill when it arrives or avoiding telling your spouse what you’ve done.
Looking around at your kids toy room and knowing that you need to declutter or put things away but your struggle with the executive functions of decision making and organization make it hard to figure out where to start and what to do.
ADHD Anxiety Management
Is there any way to mitigate your anxious feelings?
Well, as with so many ADHD symptoms, it all really depends on you, your environment, your season of life, and your support network.
As I said before, if you believe your anxiety isn’t temporary or situational as I just described, you will want to speak with a mental health professional who can help guide you through healing the root causes of your anxiety disorder.
But if you’re just looking for ways to tamp down stress and restless, nervous feelings that rear their ugly head more often than you would like, here are some actions you can take to help manage your ADHD anxiety.
How Creating Routines Helps with ADHD Anxiety
Us ADHDers have a love/hate relationship with structure. We know how important it is and yet, it can become so boring. Blech.
But routines are essential to helping manage your anxiety because they lower the number of decisions you make. Because decision making is an executive function and us ADHDers needs to hoard as much executive function as we can for other functions like focus and task initiation, if possible.
Routines also give you a sense of control over what comes next and make your day more predictable.
Anxiety can rear it’s ugly head when you’re feeling worried or afraid. And predictability can mean less worry because you know what’s coming and less fear because you’ve already experienced the outcome.
How Mindfulness Practices Help with ADHD Anxiety
Incorporating regular mindfulness practices into your day can help lower anxiety levels by reducing negative thinking and can even release dopamine to help you better focus, plan and manage your emotions.
And mindfulness practices help with anxiety by keeping you present rather than spiraling into ruminating about something from the past or worrying about something in the future.
Some examples of easy mindfulness practices you can incorporate into your daily routine include deep breathing strategies, meditation, and a gratitude practice.
How Eating Brain-Boosting Foods Helps with ADHD Anxiety
Focus on foods incorporating foods into your diet that help boost the neurotransmitters serotonin, which can help regulate mood, and dopamine, which helps support executive function and is directly linked to your ADHD symptoms.
Increase your intake of foods with:
Magnesium from legumes, nuts, whole grains, dark chocolate or leafy greens like spinach
Zinc from foods like oysters, cashews, liver, and egg yolks
Omega-3s from fatty fish like salmon
B-Vitamins from sources like avocado and almonds
How Limiting Alcohol Intake Helps with ADHD Anxiety
While a glass of wine may help take the edge off initially, it can lead to anxious feelings as your body starts to process the alcohol. Alcohol also may have an impact on another important area to focus on…
How Improving Sleep Helps with ADHD Anxiety
Which came first, the sleeplessness or the anxiety??
I think this graphic from sleepfoundation.org perfectly shows the cycle many of us experience in our lives when we’re experiencing anxiety and having trouble sleeping.
Sleep is crucial to help the brain regulate emotions and decrease your stress response. If you are experiencing long term sleep issues, it is imperative that you ask your doctor for their suggestions on your specific situation.
If it’s just a matter that some nights you struggle with slowing down your brain or you struggle to get back to sleep if you wake up, here are some tips to help you get to sleep and stay asleep for the sake of your anxious brain:
Limit caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, and screens for several hours before bedtime.
Keep your room dark or wear a sleep mask
Wear earplugs if you like to sleep in silence or try using a sleep headphone band* to listen to calming white noise or delta wave binaural beats
Keep the room cool
Try to keep a consistent bedtime so you can “train” your body when it’s time to wind down for bed
How Exercise Helps with ADHD Anxiety
You may have heard me say that exercise is the most effective non-medication treatment for ADHD, but how does it also help with anxiety?
To start, it decreases the tension in your muscles which lowers your physical response to feeling anxious. When it comes to your brain, exercise increases the availability of serotonin and gamma aminobutryric acid aka GABA, which are important anti-anxiety neurochemicals.
And it helps to reduce our amygdala’s activity and dampens our reaction to stress. The amydala is the part of the brain that controls emotions, especially fear. As in the fear that is a defining characteristic of anxiety.
How Adjusting Expectations Helps with ADHD Anxiety
Us ADHDers are amazing at thinking big. And maybe sometimes a little too big.
We know what we’re capable of but sometimes forget that our strength may not lie in the follow through to make it happen or the time management skills to know how long it will take.
Meaning our creative brains write checks that our ADHD brains can’t cash.
By no means am I suggesting that you should think small or give up on lofty goals. Quite the opposite actually.
What I am recommending is when you start to feel anxiety because a project or task feels too big or you haven’t given yourself enough time to finish, it’s perfectly ok to revise your plan.
Aim to finish a portion by the original deadline. And then set another deadline for the next portion.
Maybe even consider doubling or tripling the amount of time you think you can finish something, just so you don’t wind up in a ball of anxiety making no progress because you haven’t given yourself enough time.
And if you’re thinking “this sounds great but I wouldn’t know where to start”, I’d love to help you. One of things I help my clients with when we meet on a weekly basis is figuring out their priority tasks and what they actually have time for in their schedule that week.
If you’re an ADHD mom business owner wondering how I may be able to help you manage expectations and reduce anxiety in your work and home life, click below to book your free, no obligation call with me to see how I can help.
*This link is an Amazon affiliate link, meaning I receive a small commission if you purchase the product via this link.
