Dr. Dawn-Elise Snipes explains ADHD symptoms like inattention and impulsivity as differences in neural wiring, not laziness. She connects these symptoms to emotional fallout like guilt and anxiety, which can trigger addictive behavior. Recovery strategies include workplace accommodations and breaking tasks into shorter segments.
Hey there everybody, and welcome back to the Addiction and Co Occurring Disorders Treatment Manual. Today we're discussing unit one, part six, an introduction to ADHD. I'm your host, Dr. Donnellice Snipes. In this part, we're going to define Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and explore how it may interact with mood, physical and addiction issues. A lot of people struggle with Attention Deficit Disorder or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. People who have ADD or ADHD often fail to pay attention or make careless mistakes in the things they do. They have difficulty following through with tasks, especially long tasks or complex tasks. They have difficulty organizing their life. They may dislike tasks that require sustained mental effort. They're easily distracted, forgetful. They often fidget or have difficulty sitting still. People perceive them as being constantly on the go. They just can't sit still. They may talk excessively, have difficulty waiting their turn, and often interrupt or intrude on others, whether it's in a game or in a group or in a conversation. So these symptoms can be very problematic. And these symptoms are not being lazy or being rude or something that somebody can just be taught a simple skill for. People with add, ADHD actually have differences in their wiring, their mental wiring and their neurotransmitters that make it more difficult to do some of these things. So I think it's important to spend some time, if you think you've got ADD or adhd, to think about how each one of these symptoms could trigger addictive behavior, anxiety, anger, guilt, grief, or jealousy. And three healthy ways of dealing with each symptom. For example, failing to pay attention or making careless mistakes. That is something that is very common in people with ADD or adhd. But then it can trigger a feeling of guilt in them when they don't do something right. It can trigger a sense of anxiety when they start to do things because then they start wondering, am I going to do, do something right or am I going to screw up again? It can trigger a sense of grief in them because they don't feel like they can be the person that they want to be. It can trigger jealousy in them because other people can more easily focus on things and they have to work so much harder to pay attention and not make careless mistakes. Additionally, if the person is undiagnosed, or if they're interacting with people who don't understand they've got adhd, other people may be extremely critical of the person with ADHD when they make careless mistakes, saying, you're not living up to your potential or that worse yet, that was a stupid mistake or something similarly harmful. So this particular symptom can trigger all of those things that we've been talking about. Not following through with things or disliking. Tasks that require require sustained mental effort are also things that are difficult for people with adhd, but things that they have to do in the typical environment in the typical job. There are a lot of reasonable accommodations that can be made for people with ADHD at work and I encourage you to apply those same reasonable accommodations to your recovery. For example, tasks that require sustained mental effort, like doing this activity, break it up into shorter bits. So for example, look at how each symptom could trigger addictive behavior and then at a different time, look at how each symptom could trigger anxiety and then at a different time how each symptom could trigger anger. So you're not having to sit for 50 minutes and focus on doing one thing. You're breaking it up into manageable segments that you can look at and go, okay, that's something I can get done.
