ADHD Emotions

  • |

    The Impact of Emotions In Managing Your ADHD

    ByMarla Cummins ADHD Emotional Regulation, Blog

      Compassion. Anger. Exhuberance. Frustration. Passion. Impulsiveness. Zealousness. These emotions are just a few we associate with people with ADHD. And you may often read how modulating emotions and managing frustrations can be a challenge for adults with ADHD. True. Yet, beyond this, the other issues related to emotions and ADHD are often not adequately addressed in treatment. This is a mistake. Because, as Dr. Thomas Brown highlights in his most recent book, Smart but Stuck – Emotions in Teens and Adults with ADHD, your emotions greatly impact your ability to carry out your various executive functions in both positive and negative ways. Let’s take a look… Executive Functions To start, below is an overview of Dr. Brown’s Model of Executive Functions Impaired in ADHD….

  • Rules and Accountability Stifle Me – I Have ADHD!

    ByMarla Cummins Blog

    You may find yourself reticent to adopting rules and structure for yourself because doing so may feel like it, well, just hems you in. For adults with ADHD too much structure can feel stifling, to be sure. And imposing the wrong kind of structure certainly may get in the way of your creative process. But the right kind and amount of rules and structure can also help you accomplish what is important to you. And rather than restricting you, they can free you from the stress, overwhelm and decision paralysis you may feel at times. This Is The Way I’ve Always Been In addition to, perhaps, feeling as though rules will box you in, you may also think you are just not cut out for…

  • |

    Increasing Follow-Through With ADHD – Dealing With Boredom

    ByMarla Cummins ADHD Time Management, Blog

      I bet you’ve said to yourself plenty of times, “Why can’t I just finish this?!” I know it is particularly frustrating when it is something that is important to you, not just something you think you should do. Maybe you’ve created a plan with deadlines, no less. And there isn’t even a gremlin (inner critic) lurking about, getting in your way. But you still can’t make it to the finish line… You start. You stop. You start again. Maybe you just have a little bit more to go to finish – the last 10%. And then you might move on to something else. You may even forget about the task. When this happens you might be at a loss when trying to answer the…

  • |

    Are You Feeling It?

    ByMarla Cummins ADHD Emotional Regulation, Blog

    While dealing with the challenges of ADHD you are likely to experience many different emotions and feelings. Yet, I often hear from clients some variation of the following when they are talking about their feelings. “But this is coaching, so I probably shouldn’t go into this too much.” Somewhere along the way many of us got the message that taking care of our feelings and moving toward our goals are incompatible. Not true.

  • |

    The Power of Putting On The Brakes

    ByMarla Cummins ADHD Tools & Strategies, Blog

    I know it when I feel it. It usually begins with this odd ringing noise in my head. If it continues, it might build into this energy in my body that makes me feel like I might combust at any moment! When I get this feeling now, I recognize that I am entering the territory of overwhelm; a territory that many with ADHD visit with some regularity. In the past, I might have spent a fair amount of time trying to get something done or, alternatively, trying to decide what that something should be. Usually, I just ended up wasting time. And the pressure just kept building – I could not think coherently. It took me a long time. But I have figured out that…