Anxiety is an incredibly common issue for ADHDers. Studies have shown the comorbidity rates between the two of up to 50%. Not only that, but studies have also shown that the more severe your ADHD symptoms, the more likely you are to have anxiety or anxiety disorders [2][3].
Is it any wonder that ADHD can cause anxiety, though? ADHD makes it difficult for us to do things. It causes us to fail repeatedly. We build up a lifetime of experience of failing and getting reprimanded for it.
However, because we have ADHD, we can’t help it. Hell, we might not even know we have ADHD. When I was younger, my mom used to get mad at me because I repeatedly forgot the names of my relatives.
I just couldn’t remember no matter how hard I tried, though. I couldn’t HELP it.
So, from a young age, we essentially KNOW we are going to fuck up. We just ASSUME we are going to fail again. So, we fear it. We fear trying things in the future because we feel like we will fail again and be reprimanded for it. These experiences can be painful, stressful and even traumatic.
Add on top of that the emotional dysfunction (looking at you, RSD), and we can’t even deal with the reprimanding. We just don’t know how to deal with feeling like a COMPLETE FAILURE.
We just don’t know how to process these emotions.
And what do you call an excessive fear or worry about future events? Anxiety.
I know, of course, that there are many different types of anxieties and that the experience can be different for everyone. This is simply my interpretation of how my ADHD caused my anxiety.
When I take my meds, it does do away with all my anxiety. Even without my meds, my general level of anxiety has gone down as I got a handle on my ADHD symptoms.
And various studies agree with this; stimulants have been shown to reduce anxiety in ADHDers [4].
(Interestingly, studies have also shown that anxiety can inhibit impulsivity in ADHDers [1]. In other words, anxiety can act as a coping mechanism. I’ve experienced this personally as anxiety prevented me from doing and blurting out things impulsively (due to fear of being judged).
It also helps my memory. Anxiety keeps me on my toes, making me second guess myself about if I’ve locked up when I left the house or if I turned my oven off or not.
Medication has gotten rid these ‘positives’ too. Thankfully, I have better coping mechanisms and my meds to help me manage.)
[1] Schatz DB, Rostain AL. ADHD with comorbid anxiety: a review of the current literature. J Atten Disord. 2006 Nov;10(2):141-9. doi: 10.1177/1087054706286698. PMID: 17085624.
[2] Katzman MA, Bilkey TS, Chokka PR, Fallu A, Klassen LJ. Adult ADHD and comorbid disorders: clinical implications of a dimensional approach. BMC Psychiatry. 2017;17(1):302. Published 2017 Aug 22. doi:10.1186/s12888-017-1463-3
[3] Oh Y, Yoon HJ, Kim JH, Joung YS. Trait Anxiety as a Mediator of the Association between Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Symptom Severity and Functional Impairment. Clin Psychopharmacol Neurosci. 2018;16(4):407-414. doi:10.9758/cpn.2018.16.4.407
[4] Coughlin CG, Cohen SC, Mulqueen JM, Ferracioli-Oda E, Stuckelman ZD, Bloch MH. Meta-Analysis: Reduced Risk of Anxiety with Psychostimulant Treatment in Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. J Child Adolesc Psychopharmacol. 2015;25(8):611-617. doi:10.1089/cap.2015.0075