ADHD in Ireland is both under-diagnosed and misunderstood and this has a serious impact on the lives of people with ADHD. As the stigma focuses more on disruptive behaviour than internal difficulties, the difficulties of those with ADHD are ignored or dismissed.
All of this means that adults with ADHD often find themselves struggling with low self-esteem, anxiety and depression after a lifetime of being criticized and denied the support and accommodations that would allow them to adapt in a neurotypical world.
Before discovering their ADHD, adults have often built up decades of labels and stories about themselves based on others’ criticism and misunderstanding: that they aren’t good enough, that they are “lazy” or “too much”, “too sensitive” or that everything would work out if they could “just try harder”. Even those few who were diagnosed as children often didn’t receive the understanding that was necessary, and find themselves realizing as adults that, in fact, ADHD wasn’t something that began and ended as they crossed the threshold of the school doors.
For these reasons, those with ADHD often work to reevaluate their lives through the lens of ADHD, as well as the stories they have been told about themselves. Many find it helpful to explore elements of their past in this light, or the things that they tell themselves in the present.
My therapy for people with ADHD can also involve learning emotional regulation tools, as ADHD is usually, but not always, accompanied by deeply felt emotions. It may include developing practical scaffolding to support executive function, or reassessing where certain weaknesses become strengths and how that can help one find their niche.
The client chooses the direction sessions take, and we work together in a supportive space.
Rebecca Bourke 