you financial It s common for children diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) to struggle with anxiety, whether it s a few symptoms or a full-blown disorder. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that up to 30% of children with ADHD also have an anxiety disorder, 1 and a review of the current research shows comorbidity between ADHD and anxiety reaching 25% in many samples. 2 Some of the symptoms of ADHD, such as frequent interrupting, blurting out, fidgeting, and forgetfulness, can be very intrusive and increase stress levels for children. If children are consistently reprimanded for talking out of turn in school, for example, they are likely to experience higher stress and low self-esteem. The connection between ADHD and Anxiety Many children diagnosed with ADHD struggle with working memory, time-management skills, and organizational skills. This can make it difficult to follow daily routines and complete short- and long-term tasks. It can also result in chronic stress. Children with ADHD also struggle with emotional regulation. ADHD often causes kids to become flooded with emotions, positive or negative, which can be difficult to manage in the moment. If a child is flooded with feelings of anxiety, for example, that child might struggle to make sense of his thoughts and become caught in a cycle of negative and anxious thinking. Article continues below Concerned about ADHD? One of our 3-minute Self-Assessments may help identify if you or your child could benefit from further diagnosis and treatment. Adult ADHD Quiz Child ADHD Quiz Watch for these anxiety symptoms in your ADHD child Difficulty regulating emotions and coping with anxious thoughts can manifest in different ways for different kids. While some kids might completely check out and turn their anxious thoughts inward, others are likely to act out with negative behaviors. Tuning into your child s baseline behaviors will help you assess for co-existing anxiety when notice a shift in behaviors. Symptoms of anxiety in children: sleep disturbance (difficulty falling or staying asleep) increased irritability argumentative withdraws from peers school refusal clowning around in school hair twirling, skin picking, or other anxious behaviors. Anxiety symptoms can mimic ADHD symptoms Misdiagnosis can and does occur when it comes to children with ADHD and/or anxiety. The best course of action to ensure an accurate diagnosis is a thorough evaluation by a neuropsychologist. Anxiety looks a lot like ADHD for many children, so it s important to have your child evaluated to determine the best course of treatment. The following are just a few of the many ways in which symptoms of ADHD and anxiety overlap: Inattention: An anxious child might check out and tune into his worries. To the teacher or parent, this looks like inattention. For an ADHD child, inattention is a symptom of the disorder. Poor peer relationships: A child with social anxiety will struggle to make and maintain friendships due to fears about rejection or difficulty regulating emotional thoughts while engaged with peers. A child with ADHD is likely to have low impulse control and poor social skills, which makes it difficult to sustain friendships. Slow work habits: Anxious children can struggle with perfectionism, making it difficult to complete in-class and homework assignments. An ADHD child struggles with the workload due to poor organizational skills and reduced attention span. Constant movement: Anxious children tend to move around a lot (foot tapping, tipping chair) and ask constant questions in an attempt to manage anxious energy. ADHD kids fidget because of low impulse control. While there are symptoms that overlap, it s important to note that anxious children display more perfectionist behaviors and worry about socializing with others, while ADHD kids struggle with impulse control and organization. A complete neuropsychological evaluation, including at least one classroom evaluation, will help determine whether a child s behaviors are rooted in ADHD, anxiety, or some combination of the two. How to help your ADHD child manage symptoms of anxiety Keep a trigger tracker: Understanding what particular stressors cause the most anxiety for your child helps your child learn to predict anxiety-inducing situations and manage symptoms as they arise. If test anxiety triggers distorted thinking, for example, your child can meet with the classroom teacher to determine test-taking strategies that might help in the moment. Your child can keep a worry thermometer in his backpack or desk to jot times when he felt hot with anxiety during the school day. He can color in the thermometer to the appropriate level and write down the time of day. This will help the classroom teacher understand his anxiety hot s pots. Kids can also use the worry thermometer at home, or use a worry journal to keep a list of anxious and intrusive thoughts. Teach thought stopping: Anxious kids struggle with flooding. Anxious thoughts tend to overwhelm kids all at once, and it can be difficult to recover once the brain shifts into a pattern of anxious thinking. Teach your child to practice thought stopping at home. In a calm moment, have your child practice saying, No. Stop telling me that, worry brain. I can do this. When kids talk back to their worry brains and replace anxious thoughts with positive ones, they can interrupt the worry cycle and reset themselves. Teach deep breathing: Deep breathing is a great strategy for young children. Deep breathing slows down the heart rate and relieves muscle tension. Encourage your child to visualize blowing up a balloon while taking a very deep breath. Your child should inhale for a count of four, hold for four, and exhale for four. The Stop, Think, Breathe app is an excellent resource for children with anxiety and ADHD. Through guided meditations and mindful breathing, kids learn to manage their anxious thoughts and replace negative/anxious thinking with calm/peaceful thinking. Consider psychotherapy: If your child s anxiety impacts his daily living (school, home, outside activities) and interferes with his ability to access the curriculum at school and enjoy his life, it s time to seek a licensed mental health professional. Through psychotherapy, kids can learn to manage their emotions and work through their triggers of stress and anxiety. Seek a referral for a child psychotherapist who specializes in anxiety for best results. Article Sources [1] CHADD, National Resource Center on ADHD: A Program of CHADD, 4601 Presidents Drive, Suite 300, Lanham, MD 20706-4832, Prepared by the CDC, 2015. http://www.chadd.org/Portals/0/Content/CHADD/NRC/Factsheets/coexisting.pdf [1] DB Schatz, AL Rostain ADHD with Comorbid Anxiety a review of current literature, Journal of Attention disorders, 2006 Sage Publications Last Updated: Sep 12, 2017 good move
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