Adhd in adults hyperfocus professional#

Murray says the combined stress and ADHD symptoms can harm an adult’s personal relationships, causing friendships to sour and marriages and partnerships to enter turbulent waters. There is a reduced cognitive capacity for making decisions, goal-setting and problem-solving-the things we think of as related to cognitive self-regulation.”ĭr. “It’s both brain structure, and size of some specific sections, along with brain function, as related to some of the brain chemicals. “What we can see over time, especially when stress is at the level we could consider toxic or chronic-or traumatic-you can see some effects on the brain,” she says. There is a decrease in the executive functioning abilities of the brain, often seen in the person’s ability to organize information and activities and to manage emotions. Murray adds that research has shown repeatedly that stress cause changes to the brain. “I have also heard lots of stories about how the symptoms of ADHD can create stress, and I think that is true, too.”ĭr.

“When someone says that ‘stress is making my symptoms worse,’ I think there is a fairly strong body of literature with examples of that happening,” says Dr. Research supports the lived experiences expressed by members of our online forum. In other words, difficulties caused by ADHD symptoms can cause you to feel stressed, and stress can make those symptoms worse. “There is most likely a bidirectional, multidirectional, relationship between ADHD and stress.” “That relationship is complex,” she says.

She says we need to think about the question in terms of the relationship between ADHD and stress. Her research examines how stress contributes to emotional dysregulation.

Adhd in adults hyperfocus professional#

I think it depends on how stressed I am and whether it feels really out of control or not.”ĭesiree Weems Murray, PhD, a former member of CHADD’s professional advisory board, leads the UPSIDE Team at the University of North Carolina. A third contributed, “Sometimes stress makes my symptoms worse. “My symptoms are really made worse by stress,” shared another writer. Several other members chimed in with their similar experiences. “Stress always makes my ADHD symptoms worse, and to top it off, when my ADHD isn’t under control, that creates more stress,” wrote one member on a popular online ADHD forum.

The part of the brain most affected is the prefrontal cortex-the same part of the brain that is impaired by ADHD.ĬHADD’s resources on ADHD and stress offer ideas and guidance for finding ways to reduce your own stress or the stress within your family. It seems as if ADHD symptoms cause stress and then the stress increases ADHD symptoms.Ĭhronic stress causes chemical and structural changes to the brain, affecting its ability to function. For someone with ADHD, stress can be a constant companion, and that feeling of unending stress makes ADHD symptoms worse. Stress-a state of worry or mental tension caused by a difficult situation-is something that we all experience, but we don’t all experience it in the same way or for the same reasons. April is National Stress Awareness Month-though the majority of individuals and families affected by ADHD are likely to tell you that every month can be stress awareness month.