ADHD and Therapy
Living with ADHD can involve years of adapting to environments and expectations that do not quite fit. You may have a diagnosis, be waiting for an assessment, be thinking about self-identification, or simply be recognising familiar patterns in your own life.
You do not need a diagnosis to take your experience seriously.
The effort of adapting can be tiring
Masking can be protective. It can also be exhausting. Other people may see you as coping while you are using a great deal of energy just to get through work, social situations, appointments or daily tasks.
ADHD can affect everyday life in different ways
You may be dealing with:
- overwhelm, attention or organisation
- difficulty beginning or finishing tasks
- burnout and self-criticism
- sensory or social strain
- the relief and grief that can come with understanding yourself differently
There is room for the whole context
ADHD does not exist in isolation. Work, relationships, identity, physical surroundings, past experiences and the expectations you place on yourself can all matter.
If you are LGBTQ+, those experiences can be intertwined in particular ways. They do not need to be reduced to a single label.
