The connection between ADHD and anxiety (and how to cope)
Clinically reviewed by Dr. Chris Mosunic, PhD, RD, CDCES, MBA
Learn about the connection between ADHD and anxiety, and the impact they have on mental health. Plus, 10 mindful coping strategies to help manage ADHD and anxiety.
When attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and anxiety combine, they can create a unique set of challenges that can impact mental health and daily functioning. Understanding the complex relationship between ADHD and anxiety can help you develop effective coping strategies to reclaim peace and productivity in your life.
What is ADHD?
ADHD is a neurodevelopmental difference that affects millions of people worldwide. People with ADHD may find it challenging to focus on tasks, stay organized, follow detailed instructions, or meet deadlines. This can lead to feelings of frustration, low self-esteem, and underachievement. ADHD can affect various aspects of life, including education, work, and personal relationships. Everyone might experience some of these symptoms occasionally, but those with ADHD may find them more severe or frequent.
The symptoms of ADHD can be categorized into two main types.
1. Inattentive symptoms of ADHD
Difficulty staying focused on tasks or play activities
Struggling to follow instructions, or failing to finish work or chores
Trouble organizing tasks and activities
Avoiding or disliking tasks that require sustained mental effort
Losing items or being forgetful
Being easily distracted
2. Hyperactivity-impulsivity symptoms of ADHD
Fidgeting, moving around or feeling restless
Finding it difficult to engage in leisure activities quietly
Often feeling rushed or on the go
Talking excessively
Interrupting or intruding on others
What is anxiety?
Anxiety is a natural and common emotional response to perceived threats or stressful situations. It's a feeling of fear, worry, or unease that can be mild or severe. It's normal to experience anxiety occasionally, such as before you make an important decision or when you face challenging situations, but it becomes a concern when these feelings are persistent and interfere with daily life.
There are several symptoms of anxiety:
Persistent worry or fear
Restlessness
Difficulty concentrating
Irritability
Muscle tension
Sleep disturbances, such as difficulty falling or staying asleep
Anxiety disorders can impact your quality of life, and your ability to work, study, and engage in social relationships. However, treatments including therapy, medication, and lifestyle changes, can help you manage symptoms.
What’s the link between ADHD and anxiety?
ADHD and anxiety can each amplify the symptoms of the other. For instance, the inattentiveness associated with ADHD can lead to missed deadlines or forgotten tasks, which in turn can increase anxiety about performance and reliability. Similarly, anxiety can disrupt concentration and exacerbate feelings of restlessness or impulsivity, which are some of the hallmark symptoms of ADHD.
Research suggests that those with ADHD are more likely to experience anxiety disorders. Understanding this connection can help you manage these conditions effectively.
Neurological underpinnings: ADHD and anxiety share common neurological pathways, indicating that the same areas of the brain may influence both conditions. This overlap can make people more susceptible to experiencing both sets of symptoms.
Stress and coping mechanisms: Constant challenges with focus, organization, and expectations can lead to feelings of inadequacy and overwhelm. For many, anxiety is a reaction to these ongoing stresses.
Performance anxiety: Struggling in academic, professional, and social settings due to ADHD symptoms can lead to a fear of failure and rejection, which may further heighten anxiety levels.
Hyperarousal: A constant feeling of being on edge can mimic and exacerbate anxiety symptoms. This can make it difficult to relax, contributing to an ongoing cycle of anxiety.
Executive function challenges: Both ADHD and anxiety can reduce the ability to plan, organize, and regulate emotions. This can create a loop where ADHD symptoms worsen anxiety, and anxiety reduces the ability to manage ADHD effectively.
10 steps to build a mindful routine to cope with ADHD and anxiety
Coping strategies that include mindfulness techniques can help you cultivate a sense of peace, improve focus, and reduce overwhelm from ADHD and anxiety.
1. Start your day with mindfulness
Begin each morning with mindfulness techniques, such as meditation, deep breathing, or gentle yoga. This can ground you and set a calm tone for the day before you dive into daily activities.
2. Incorporate mindful eating
Eat slowly, savor each bite, and focus on the flavors and textures of your food to help you enjoy your meals more and reduce any anxiety around meal times.
3. Establish mindful work breaks
Set aside short breaks during work or study to practice mindfulness techniques. This could be a brief walk, a few minutes of stretching, or a short meditation. These breaks can help reset your focus and support your mental health.
4. Practice mindful listening
Try to focus fully on the person speaking by observing their words, tone, and body language without immediately planning your response. This can improve your relationships, reduce misunderstandings, and lower social anxiety.
5. Engage in mindful movement
Activities like walking, stretching, or tai chi can help you focus on the movement of your body and your breath and reduce physical symptoms of anxiety and ADHD.
6. Schedule time for reflection
End your day with a period of reflection. Consider what went well, what you’re grateful for, and what you’ve learned, shifting your focus from worries and anxieties to positive experiences and growth, improving your mental health
7. Adopt a mindfulness reminder
Choose an object or a visual reminder to practice mindfulness throughout the day. It could be a piece of jewelry, a desktop wallpaper, or a sticky note with a mindful message. Whenever you see your reminder, pause for a moment to breathe deeply and center yourself.
8. Mindful decluttering
Regularly tidy your living and working spaces. An organized environment can reduce stress and improve your ability to focus, making it easier to manage symptoms of ADHD and anxiety.
9. Develop a mindful bedtime routine
Create a calming night time routine to help signal to your body and mind that it's time to wind down. This might include reading, journaling, or listening to soothing music. Avoid screens an hour before bed to improve sleep quality.
10. Learn to respond, not react
Take a brief pause before responding to stressful situations or triggers. This can help you respond more thoughtfully and less impulsively, which reduces anxiety and improves decision-making.
How to manage anxiety when you have ADHD: 10 tips
Managing anxiety when you have ADHD involves addressing both conditions, with coping strategies that can adapt to fit your needs and lifestyle.
1. Establish a consistent daily routine
Structure can be incredibly beneficial for people with ADHD and anxiety. A predictable routine can reduce the number of decisions you need to make and can lower anxiety levels. Plan your day, including work, meals, exercise, and relaxation, to create a sense of stability.
💙 Learn how to get into a new groove with the New Routines meditation.
2. Break tasks into smaller, manageable steps
Large tasks can be overwhelming and trigger anxiety. By breaking tasks into smaller steps, you can make them more manageable and less intimidating. Celebrate small victories to build momentum and confidence.
3. Practice mindfulness and relaxation techniques
Mindfulness techniques such as meditation, deep breathing, or yoga can help manage both ADHD and anxiety. Even a few minutes a day can help calm the mind, increase focus, and reduce feelings of anxiety.
💙 Mindfulness for Beginners is a 30-day program that can get you started.
4. Limit exposure to stimuli
Excessive noise or clutter can increase anxiety in people with ADHD. Create a calm, organized workspace and living area. Use noise-canceling headphones if you find yourself easily distracted by external sounds.
5. Exercise regularly
Physical activity can be powerful in managing ADHD and anxiety by releasing chemicals into the brain that can act as natural painkillers and mood elevators. Regular exercise can help improve concentration, sleep, and mood.
💙 Make your exercise a physical—and mindful—experience with A Mindful Run.
6. Prioritize sleep
Lack of sleep can worsen both ADHD and anxiety symptoms. Establish a regular sleep schedule by going to bed and waking up at the same time every day. Create a bedtime routine that promotes relaxation, such as reading or taking a warm bath.
💙 Get much-needed rest using the Deep Sleep Relax meditation.
7. Seek professional help
Therapy, particularly cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), can be effective in managing anxiety and ADHD. A therapist can help you develop coping strategies, organizational skills, and ways to challenge anxious thoughts.
8. Use tools and apps to stay organized
Use apps for time management, reminders, and organization to help reduce the anxiety that comes from feeling forgetful or being overwhelmed by your to-do list.
💙 Need to calm down quickly? Try the One-Minute Reset from Chibs Okereke.
9. Connect with others
Sharing your experiences with others who understand can help reduce feelings of isolation. Support groups, whether in-person or online, can provide a sense of community.
10. Practice self-compassion
Both ADHD and anxiety bring challenges. Practice self-compassion by speaking kindly to yourself and acknowledging your efforts, even if things don't go as planned.
💙 Radical Self-Compassion is a program focused on RAIN (recognize, allow, investigate, nurture), an applied meditation for cultivating mindfulness-based compassion.
ADHD and anxiety FAQs
What does ADHD with anxiety feel like?
Experiencing ADHD and anxiety can feel very challenging. ADHD symptoms, such as inattention and impulsivity, can make it difficult to stay focused and complete tasks. Anxiety, on the other hand, adds worry and fear, often about the very issues ADHD can heighten, such as missing deadlines or forgetting important chores. This combination can lead to feeling perpetually overwhelmed. It may affect your mental health and emotional wellbeing, making everyday life difficult.
Is anxiety a coping mechanism for ADHD?
For some people, the nervous energy from anxiety can fuel behaviors in an attempt to cope with their ADHD. Anxiety might prompt a person with ADHD to develop hyper-organized behaviors or over plan as a way to control their environment and compensate for their difficulties with attention and impulsivity. However, while these behaviors might temporarily alleviate fears, they can also lead to an exhausting cycle of worry and hyper-vigilance. It's important to recognize when anxiety fueled behaviors might be serving as a coping mechanism and seek healthier ways to manage ADHD symptoms.
What is the 3-3-3 rule for anxiety?
The 3-3-3 rule is a simple mindfulness exercise designed to help ground you when you're feeling anxious. Look around and name three things you can see. Listen carefully and name three sounds you can hear. Move three parts of your body. This exercise can help bring your focus back to the present moment, diverting it from anxious thoughts and providing a quick, effective way to manage moments of high stress or panic.
Does ADHD get worse with stress?
Stress can worsen ADHD symptoms by impacting executive functioning, which can already be challenging if you have ADHD. When under stress, you might find it even harder to concentrate, organize, prioritize, and regulate emotions. This heightened difficulty can create a vicious cycle. ADHD makes it challenging to manage stress, and increased stress worsens ADHD symptoms. Coping strategies such as mindfulness techniques, exercise, and adequate sleep, can help reduce these effects and improve overall functioning.
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