Jack is 44 and was just diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder or ADHD last year, although he had suspected that he had it for decades.

Now a communications specialist, Jack did well in school and was able to succeed in the professional world. But when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and took away much of the structure and organization in his life, he found it difficult to stay motivated and remain on task while he worked from home.

“I had never sought help before, but it was an isolating experience and made me realize I should get a formal diagnosis and then get some tools that I can use personally and professionally,” said Jack, who asked to be referred to by his first name. “I was willing to try anything.”

Skills group offers support for people with adult ADHD

Jack joined a new UCHealth ADHD Skills Group for Adults that works with people who are looking to build executive function skills and hone strategies to counter their inattention issues.

ADHD can have many symptoms, but typically involves issues around forgetfulness, impulsivity and disorganization. While we all experience these traits occasionally, those with ADHD say it impacts their daily life.

“I would recommend the clinic to others who are struggling and think they might have ADHD,” Jack said. “All of the tools, strategies and resources we talked about are useful in general for everyone, not just those with ADHD, and offered good life skills that many of us wished we’d learned earlier.”

The group, consisting of a dozen participants, meets virtually twice weekly for 45 minutes over eight weeks, and participants discuss issues such as habits and behavioral interventions to help manage ADHD symptoms. The lessons include help with time and stress management, organizational tips and resources for additional psychological issues that may be exacerbating inattention problems.

“These are really great skills that a lot of people can benefit from, whether they have the diagnosis or not,” said Andrea Lawrence, a UCHealth licensed clinical social worker and behavioral health integration therapist. “If you’re not concentrating, you’re not concentrating.”

Participants don’t have to have a confirmed ADHD diagnosis, but need to be receiving treatment for another mental health condition that could be interfering with their ability to focus, including anxiety, depression or obsessive-compulsive disorder.

“There are a lot of things that can be mixed in with an ADHD diagnosis,” said Anna Sihon, also a UCHealth licensed clinical social worker and behavioral health integration therapist who runs the skills group with Lawrence. “We want participants to be able to pivot and move into a different treatment phase if they need to get more specific assistance to help them.”

ADHD knowledge continues to evolve

Over the past few decades, theories about ADHD in children and adults have changed.

Most people in their 30s through 60s likely didn’t get diagnosed and treated for ADHD in their school years, as the general concept in the medical community was that kids would outgrow ADHD symptoms.

Now, ADHD researchers say about a third of children with ADHD who go untreated through high school might appear to outgrow it, but instead, have developed coping mechanisms and chose occupations that play to their strengths. In other words, they don’t outgrow their condition but develop skills to manage it.

“It’s a testament to how incredible our brains are since we’re all trying to fit into societal expectations of productivity, and yet some of us have the ability to think outside the box and see things in a different way,” Sihon said.

The UCHealth class explores how people with ADHD often experience trauma and grief after years of being told they were lazy, undisciplined or unmotivated.

But an upside of that constant drumbeat of negativity has meant that people with ADHD have learned how to be resilient. They have fine-tuned their coping skills and work-around behaviors, and have many strengths such as creativity, problem and crisis solving and spontaneity, ADHD experts say.

Their ability to hyper focus – the “H” in the ADHD acronym – is often misconstrued as just meaning “hyperactive.” Instead, it can mean “hyper focused,” a trait that makes them driven, intense, and able to see patterns and connections that others might not, said Lawrence and Sihon.

Behavioral interventions help manage adult ADHD

The duo wants participants to use behavioral interventions to help manage symptoms and build habits around attention and focus, in addition to using medication options. That includes assistive “hacks” to make daily life easier, such as using:

• Calendars/planners for deadlines and goals for everyday tasks, as well as long-range projects.
• Timers to help with short study “bursting” at 15-20 minute increments, interspersed with five- or 10-minute reward times with a fun distraction.
• Body doubling with phone apps or websites such as focusmate.com that use virtual co-working to help a person complete tasks.

For Jack, participating in the class helped him find resources as well as meet people from different backgrounds and life situations who struggle with similar issues, such as processing and organizing information.

“Having a community and a connection with people who understand what you’re going through has been really valuable – especially hearing others talk about their coping skills and how to be gentle with yourself.”

Adults with ADHD report worsening issues from the COVID pandemic

Growing up with ADHD, Jack learned to adapt, survive and fit into a system that was neither accommodating nor understanding about the different way his brain worked.

“I’ve spent so much of my life building systems so I could function in the world …. It’s the emotional trauma that I’m processing right now.”

Just as research is showing the long-term physical impact of COVID on our bodies, so too are doctors discovering its psychological effects as well. And for some people with ADHD, the ordeal was doubly taxing.

Studies have shown that during COVID, people with ADHD reported increased symptoms that negatively affected their lives.

“Many of us already had poor work-life boundaries, but with COVID, we weren’t leaving our houses and had no social and physical outlets,” Sihon said, adding that computers, cellphones and a social network that we are constantly tuned into can adversely impact our psyche.

“If we take it a step further, we can look at the way technology has changed our lives over the past 50 years in terms of family and work, and who has access to us and when. It’s altering how we behave, and for some of us, we haven’t been able to change in a way that helps us or allows us to stay engaged. Instead, we end up having problems with concentration and task completion: Our structure needs to be reset.”

For Jack, that shift in thinking came with realizing his ADHD gives him intuition and empathy about others and himself.

“A big part for me is just learning to give myself permission to do things differently,” he said, “Every coping system that I’ve ever built was constructed around trying to be like everyone else. But I can be successful and accomplish what I want to do with my different ways and embrace that. It feels cliché, but it’s OK to be different, and do things differently.”