What I Treat
I specialize in the treatment of adult Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and anxiety.
ADHD and anxiety can present identically. Symptoms of both include but are not limited to:
Difficulty regulating strong emotions
Trouble calming down from excitement or upset
Trouble focusing on a task
Trouble concentrating
Perseverating (getting stuck on an idea) to the exclusion of all things around you
People pleasing
Difficulty listening to others or interrupting others
Perfectionism
Forgetfulness
Loss of time
Sleep procrastination
While these two disorders present very similarly, they have entirely different origins. Proper diagnosis is critical in receiving the most appropriate and effective treatment. That is my specialty- astutely diagnosing symptoms, exploring root causes, and offering treatment. Working with a clinician who has the right training and expertise is even more important given research revealing that approximately eighty percent of people with adult ADHD also suffer from co-occurring anxiety, depression, or substance abuse. Treatment can become very complicated and complex, very quickly.
ADHD is a disorder of impaired self-regulation and deficits in executive functioning.
Executive functions are defined as:
Self-regulation in the form of self-directed behaviors used to specify and organize goal-directed plans
Ability to implement and sustain actions over time toward these goals to achieve outcomes that will benefit you
Focusing on continued action, even when the desired outcomes aren't immediate and for which there may even be short term costs
Some of the skills you will learn in therapy to manage deferred outcomes and tedious tasks are time and task management, breaking tasks down into behavioral components, being aware of procrastination and escape behaviors, catching automatic thoughts and thinking traps related to task interfering behaviors, among others.
Sometimes it is difficult to put into words what is actually causing you difficulties or troubles.
The descriptors below might better depict what is going on in your life that you need support with. I regularly work with individuals who are experiencing:
Communication difficulties
Problems boundary setting
lack of meaning in life
relationship problems
life changes
anxiety and stress management
depression