Episode 2- ADHD, masking and the late diagnosis. FT Emma Llewellyn

Episode 2 is all about ADHD. My guest for this episode was blogger and content creator Emma Llewellyn. We talked about receiving a late diagnosis of ADHD and the lengthy process of getting said diagnosis, as well as waiting for medication. We also discussed symptoms of ADHD and quick ways of managing those symptoms.

Thriving with ADHD is an online blog created by Lou Brown. Lou is a doctor of Philosophy, a registered nurse and an experienced, accredited ADHD coach.

Here's an extract from one of her posts,

Emotional dysregulation and ADHD.

The prevalence of emotional dysregulation among children diagnosed with ADHD is estimated to be between 24-50%. In adults diagnosed with ADHD, the majority of emotional dysregulation is estimated to be around 70% (Shaw et al., 2014)

Individuals with ADHD often experience difficulties regulating their emotions. These challenges are thought to have the most significant impact on an individual with ADHD’s well-being and self-esteem, far more than the core symptoms associated with ADHD (hyperactivity-impulsivity and inattention).

Emotional dysregulation is an inability to modulate one’s emotional experience and expression, which results in an excessive emotional response. This extreme response is considered inappropriate for the individual's developmental age and the social setting in which it occurs.

ADHD-related emotional dysregulation is thought to result from poor executive function control, which contributes to an individual having (Barkley, 2015):

• Highly volatile emotional trigger sensitivity and emotional impulsivity due to poor self-restraint. Emotional impulsivity contributes to ADHD symptoms such as impatience and low frustration tolerance, quickness to anger/reactive aggression/temper outbursts, and emotional liability.

• An inability to refocus attention away from intense, challenging emotions can make it difficult to reduce or moderate a primary emotional response. Refocusing problems can also contribute to thought rumination.

• Difficulties with self-soothing to moderate their primary emotional response due to poor working memory

• Difficulties are organising and executing an appropriate secondary response due to problems appraising, flexibly manipulating and organising information, generating and appraising alternative responses and their possible outcomes, and planning an appropriate response.

As a result, individuals with ADHD are more likely to:

• Experience and display emotions more intensely, particularly during interpersonal interactions – possibly due to being overwhelmed by the emotion

• Become overly excited

• Focus on the more negative aspects of a task or situation.

• Express frustration or anger and become verbally or physically aggressive.

• experience problems in social relationships, including social rejection, bullying, and isolation

• experience relationship and marital problems, relationship breakup and divorce

• Have difficulties achieving work or academic goals/requirements, receive a school suspension or expulsion, lose their job or fail to be promoted

• Be involved in road rage and car accidents.

• Report increased psychological distress from their emotional experience.

• Develop anxiety and depression.

• Have conduct problems, be involved in crime and be institutionalised.

I want to thank Emma for having such a deep and candid conversation with me about her ADHD. Her everyday struggles and diagnosis process were so relatable for many of us, and I’m so grateful she wanted to share that with me. She's an incredible woman, partner and mother.

Listen to us discussing our challenges and coming to realisation after realisation because I believe there's nothing more soothing than talking to someone who gets it.

References

Barkley, R.A. (2015). Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: A Handbook for Diagnosis and Treatment, 4th ed. New York: Guilford Publications.

Gerrig, R. J., & Zimbardo, P. G. (2002). Psychology and Life, 16th ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Gross, J. J. (2007). Handbook of Emotion Regulation. New York: Guilford Press.

Gross, J. J., & Thompson, R. A. (2007). Emotion regulation: Conceptual foundations. In J. J.Gross (Ed.), Handbook of Emotion Regulation (pp. 3-24). New York: Guilford Press.

Jonson, C.A. (2017). The Relationship between ADHD and emotional regulation and Its Effect on parenting stress – Thesis. The University of Louisville. Retrieved from http://ir.library.louisville.edu/honors/144

Koole, S.L. (2009). The psychology of emotion regulation: An integrative review’. Cognition & Emotion, 23: 1, 4 — 41.

Nicholson, A. (2017). Calming the Tide: Emotional Regulation in Young Adults with ADHD – Thesis. The University of Calgary. Retrieved from http://theses.ucalgary.ca/jspui/bitstream/11023/3614/1/ucalgary_2017_nicholson_andrew.pdf

Shaw, P., Stringaris, A., Nigg, J. & and Leibenluft, E.(2014). Emotional Dysregulation and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 171(3): 276–293.

Surman, C., Joseph Biederman, J., Spencer, T., Yorks, D., Miller, C., Petty, C., & Faraone, S.(2011). Deficient Emotional Self-Regulation and Adult Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: A Family Risk Analysis. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 168(6), 617-623.

Theule, J., Wiener, J., & Rogers, M. (2011). Predicting Parenting Stress in Families of Children with ADHD: Parent and Contextual Factors. Journal of Child and Family Studies.

Van Stralen, J. (2016). Emotional dysregulation in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorders, 8(4), 175–187.

Voss, K.D., & Baumeister, R.F. (2011). Handbook of Self-Regulation: Research, Theory and Application, 2nd ed. New York: Guildford Press.