When treating individuals with ADHD, most therapists know they’ll need to address concerns such as difficulty sustaining attention, or challenges related to organization or self-control. These factors are certainly important, but there is more to ADHD than lack of focus or impulsivity.
One feature of ADHD that therapists should be prepared to address is low-self esteem. Research with individuals who have untreated ADHD has found that these individuals tend to have lower self-esteem when compared to those without ADHD. If you’re doing therapy work with individuals who have ADHD, it’s essential to know methods for building self-esteem and confidence in this population.
Strategies for Promoting High Self-Esteem
Individuals with ADHD may recognize their deficits, leading to low self-esteem when they compare themselves to others. For example, they may feel inferior for struggling to stay organized or meet deadlines like their peers are able to do. As a therapist, you play a central role in helping patients with ADHD to reframe their negative thinking, develop healthy coping skills, and overcome a lack of self-esteem.
The strategies below can be beneficial for tackling self-esteem and confidence issues in patients with ADHD:
- Emphasize Strengths and Reframe ADHD: Patients with ADHD often fixate on their perceived deficits. Help them shift their focus to strengths such as creativity, resilience, and problem-solving skills. If they’re unable to come up with their strengths, ask them what their best friend or closest relative would say their strengths are.
- Reframe ADHD as a Difference, Not a Deficit: Use positive language to describe ADHD traits. For example, impulsivity can also mean spontaneity, and hyperfocus can be a powerful asset in certain contexts. It can also be helpful to describe ADHD as a condition that involves different ways of thinking, rather than deficits.
- Strength-Based Exercises: Have patients list their strengths or reflect on moments when their ADHD-related traits worked to their advantage. For example, they may notice that their talkativeness has allowed them to build a large circle of friends, or gain recognition from teachers for consistently contributing to class discussions.
Normalizing the ADHD Experience
Beyond using specific strategies for boosting self-esteem, it can be beneficial to normalize the ADHD experience, so patients recognize that their symptoms are not their fault. Instead, they are simply part of the neurological differences associated with ADHD.
Consider the following tips for providing ADHD help to patients:
- Provide Psychoeducation: Teach clients about the neurological basis of ADHD and the common challenges others with this condition face. Emphasize that ADHD is not a character flaw, but a legitimate health condition that can be treated and managed, just like diabetes or a heart defect.
- Use Success Stories: Share stories of successful individuals with ADHD to inspire and motivate clients. It can be empowering for patients to know that they can harness their strengths to achieve success, rather than allowing ADHD to have power over every aspect of their lives.
The Importance of Goal-Setting
Therapists are quite skilled in collaborating with patients to set goals, and this is an essential skill when counseling individuals with ADHD. Research has shown that goal-management training, which teaches people strategies for controlling their impulses and staying committed to goals, is effective for people with ADHD. When patients set reasonable goals and stick to them, their confidence is likely to improve.
As a therapist working with individuals with ADHD, it’s essential that you help these patients learn how to set goals and stay committed to them. The following tips are helpful when collaborating with patients with ADHD to set goals:
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- Break Goals Down into Smaller Steps: Achieving a major goal, such as completing a college degree or getting a promotion, can be daunting. However, when these goals are broken down into smaller steps, they’ll be more manageable. Work with patients with ADHD to help them set small milestones they’d like to achieve on their way to larger goals.
- Celebrate Small Wins: As patients make progress toward their goals, praise them for small wins. You might also encourage them to reward themselves for meeting small milestones on the way to goal achievement. Celebrating will help them to sustain motivation.
You might find that the strategies above are similar to those you’d use, even when working with patients without ADHD. However, the level of support required when setting and working toward goals may be higher for those with ADHD.
Therapeutic Approaches Tailored for ADHD Help
There are a variety of different therapeutic approaches that may be beneficial for ADHD, but the following can be especially impactful for improving self-esteem and confidence.
- Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
CBT can help clients identify and reframe negative beliefs about themselves, replacing self-criticism with self-compassion. Tailored ADHD-focused CBT can help patients reframe negative beliefs related to their perceived deficits.
- Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT)
SFBT emphasizes strengths and successes, helping clients envision and work toward their preferred future. This approach is particularly effective for boosting confidence because it focuses on what clients are already doing well.
- Coaching Interventions
Therapists can incorporate coaching strategies to help clients develop practical skills, such as organizing tasks, managing time, and maintaining routines. Success in these areas builds confidence.
These are not the only therapeutic modalities beneficial for ADHD, but they align well with confidence-building in patients with ADHD.
Services at Bridge to Balance
At Bridge to Balance, we employ therapists who are skilled in providing ADHD help and related conditions. We also offer training for clinicians. We have office locations throughout New Jersey in Voorhees, Piscataway, and Hamilton. We also have an office in Portland, Maine. Visit our webpage to learn more about our practice.
2)https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-36294-1_4
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