ADHD is a condition attracting a lot of attention recently. Although it is often thought of to be a childhood condition, ADHD impacts a surprising number of adults. It is estimated that 6.76% of adults had symptomatic ADHD in 2020. The condition is more common in men. It is easier to identify in men as the symptoms (hyperactivity and impulsiveness) are more obvious; in women, the condition may present differently as symptoms of anxiety, depression, and poor self-esteem. But what is ADHD and how is it impacting your work life?
ADHD can make it difficult to perform duties at work. If you have it, you may notice you find it difficult to pay attention, people may accuse you of being forgetful, you may struggle to complete tasks on time, have difficulty keeping track of many projects, and feel restless during meetings.
In addition to its impact on work life, you may notice these other symptoms of ADHD: that you have trouble sleeping; difficulty controlling your emotions; that you often fidget and feel restless; that you have poor self-confidence; a lack of motivation; mood swings. ADHD is often also accompanied by anxiety and depression.
What is ADHD?
ADHD is technically a neurodevelopmental disorder which affects how the brain works and its structure. There are three main types of ADHD which are:
- Inattentive type: This when it is difficult to pay attention – you may find you are really easily distracted.
- Hyperactive-impulsive type: The main symptoms of this type of ADHD is hyperactivity and impulsivity. This is less common.
- Combination type: This is a combination of the above. It is quite common to have a combination of the two types of ADHD.
Some of the symptoms of ADHD can cross over with other conditions so it’s important to avoid self-diagnosing and to seek diagnosis from an experienced mental health professional.
Treatments for ADHD in adults
Treatment for ADHD in adults involves a combination of psychotherapy and medication. There is no cure for ADHD so the goal of treatment is to use medication to help improve emotional balance, impulsivity, and concentration. This then allows you to more effectively utilise other techniques as part of a wider toolkit for managing the condition. Psychotherapy can be an effective tool for teaching you how to effectively manage your behaviour and improve your quality of life.
How to survive in the workplace with ADHD – tips
Those with ADHD often struggle silently, and use ‘masking’ (modifying behaviour to fit in with social norms), to hide their behaviours, but this is not sustainable and can have a negative impact on mental health in the long-term.
Unfortunately the stigma surrounding ADHD is still very present, but one of the most helpful things you can do is to let your manager and team members know that you have ADHD. It can be beneficial for them to understand how it affects you in the workplace environment, and what they can do to make your life easier. Sharing this information will hopefully positively impact your experience in the workplace.
Utilise alarms: Time blindness management is a common issue for people with ADHD. Time blindness refers to when a person is unaware of the passage of time, finding it difficult to work out how much time has passed. One minute could feel like 30 minutes. Five minutes could feel like an hour. This makes completing tasks at work a challenge. You can help yourself by utilising alarms on your phone (or even getting a small physical alarm you can take with you around their office) and setting reminders on your phone to help with time blindness and ensure you don’t hyperfocus for longer than needed.
Plan shorter meetings: Trying to pay attention for a long period of time can be difficult for a person living with ADHD. Whilst it’s not realistic to be able to have control over all meetings, you can request to keep meetings short. If you do need to attend a long meeting, make sure you plan in or ask for brakes at regular intervals.
Find a quiet space: People with ADHD often have noise sensitivity also called misophonia. This means that noises that others might find normal can be incredibly distracting and overwhelming. The background noise from an open office can make a person with ADHD feel like they are being attacked. It can be beneficial to know there is somewhere you can go if the noise becomes too much. It may be worth discussing if your employer will provide you with good quality noise cancelling headphones for when you really need to focus and are struggling with noise sensitivity.
Ask for meeting agendas: People with ADHD can get bored and frustrated easily. It can be beneficial to request agendas for any meetings so you can understand why the meetings are happening which can help you to stay more focussed.
Expect work output to be variable: It can be easy to feel discouraged if you have a day where you don’t achieve as much as expected. But in truth everybody has some days where they achieve more and other days where they achieve less. It is important to understand this as it can lead to a lack of confidence and frustration with oneself.
Flexible working hours: Many people with ADHD feel sleepier in the morningS than the majority of people. It may be beneficial to negotiate slightly different working hours so you can start and finish work a bit later.
Utilise body doubling: Sometimes it can feel easier to complete tasks when buddied up with someone else so that you can work on the task together. This is a useful technique that can be utilised in the workplace.
Break large tasks up into smaller ones: People with ADHD can find it overwhelming to be faced with a big task. Breaking down large tasks into smaller, bitesize ones can be a really effective way of mitigating this.
Getting help for ADHD
Ultimately if you are concerned you have noticed some of the symptoms of ADHD, it would be worthwhile getting checked out by a specialist who can either rule it out or give you a diagnosis and provide you with a treatment plan to improve your quality of life.