Navigating the complexities of ADHD can be a challenge—if you often feel overwhelmed and discouraged, you’re not alone. Dr. Mark Bertin and Dana Crews explore ADHD-friendly ways to begin or deepen a mindfulness practice that helps you thrive while managing this complex medical condition.
Practicing mindfulness and compassion helps us see our lives more clearly. Instead of staying caught up in unskillful habits and reactivity, it encourages us to live with more awareness and intention. While mindfulness and compassion serve a uniquely supportive role in ADHD care, anyone can benefit from a similar approach.
ADHD is not what most people think. Correctly diagnosed, it is a confirmed medical condition; the genetics of ADHD are nearly as strong as the genetics that predict height. ADHD undermines a wide-ranging skill set called executive function, which represents self-management abilities including attention, behavior, time, tasks, effort, and emotion.
While everyone has their emotional ups and downs in life, it is our executive function abilities that allow us to navigate them effectively. Therefore ADHD often leads to escalating challenges with emotional dysregulation, self-criticism, and stress. It even undermines the planning skills one would use to manage ADHD itself. Because of that cycle, ADHD impacts everything from work and school to relationships and physical health. Kind and comprehensive care of ADHD must acknowledge this wide-ranging impact.