ADHD Strategies - Emotional Regulation - Accountability Post

Hello, fellow ADHDers. This is another addition to the ADHD strategy series. This one is getting real. As mentioned before in other posts here, no two ADHDers are alike. Not everyone will relate or have all of the same symptoms or experiences. This post is about emotional regulation. About 70% of adults report problems with anger or emotion as part of their ADHD. (joelniggphd.com, Joel Nigg is a nationally recognized researcher with more than 200 scientific publications and work that has been cited in the literature over 15,000 times.)

“Emotional regulation” means a set of abilities that include our ability to recognize our own and others’ emotions, to adjust our emotional intensity to match the situation, and to modify our emotional reactivity in line with our own goals, intentions, and social demands. (joelniggphd.com)

“Processing emotions starts in the brain,” says Thomas Brown, Ph.D. “Sometimes the working memory impairments of ADHD allow a momentary emotion to become too strong, flooding the brain with one intense emotion.” (www.additudemag.com)

Emotional Regulation

Come up with a plan to, “remember to remember” and externalize the cues.

We will know what we need to do at the precise moment we need to do it. We will have a plan ready.

“Emotional dysregulation is a term used to describe an emotional response that is poorly regulated and does not fall within the traditionally accepted range of emotional reaction. It may also be referred to as marked fluctuation of mood, mood swings, or labile mood.” (www.webmd.com)

What Causes Emotional Dysregulation?

Poor regulation of emotions in individuals with ADHD can be the result of struggles and issues with being able to focus attention, remembering instructions, and managing multiple tasks, which can lead to the following:

- Impatience and low frustration tolerance

- Problems regulating emotional response

- Ruminating thoughts

- Poor self-soothing

- Experiencing and displaying emotions more intensely

Strategy: Focus on Prevention

⭐️ Healthy Lifestyle

⭐️Scheduled Self-Care

⭐️Sense of mastery

⭐️Grounding Techniques

⭐️Schedule ahead

⭐️Identify Negative Thinking Patterns

⭐️Tip 1. Consider a healthy lifestyle. This includes eating well, getting enough sleep, and limiting drinking.

Some examples:

This could be done by practicing good sleep hygiene. Some examples could be, unplugging from electronics an hour before bed, going to sleep every night at the same time, or turning the light down completely at least 15 minutes before you would like to sleep.

Studies have shown that exercise boosts mood by regulating chemicals in the brain. Studies have also shown it’s an effective outlet for burning off stress! So an example of this could be trying to aim for 20 - 30 minutes of exercise per day.

Another important example of a healthy lifestyle is staying away from illegal substances & non-prescribed medications. Using drugs and/or alcohol increases the chances and vulnerability to stronger emotions and that this vulnerability lingers for one to two days the following use as well.

⭐️Tip 2. Another consideration is to schedule downtime every single day. Maybe this can be a time for important self-care. Some ideas could be listening to calming music, flipping on fun music and dancing, soaking in a warm bath, or doing some meditation.

“People with ADHD need downtime. We need alone time. We need time to process things in our brain that we haven’t had time to do. We don’t process as it’s happening. We have to break it all down later when we can give the act our undivided attention.” (www.additudemag.com)

⭐️Tip 3. Consider doing one thing each day to obtain a sense of mastery. These are things like the completion of daily chores, learning a new task, or brushing up on a skill. Why would this be something to consider? The feeling that we have mastered something can give us a sense of accomplishment, capability, and confidence. Long story short - possibly giving us a nice mood boost.

⭐️Tip 4. Using grounding techniques for self-soothing could be considered as a tool to prevent ‘spiraling’. It is not uncommon that during times of emotional upset that our thoughts begin to spiral and we feel overwhelmed.
An example of an effective grounding technique is the 5-4-3-2-1 game.

5 things you can see

4 things you can hear

3 things you can feel against your skin

2 things you can smell

1 thing you can taste

Or an easier way to remember or think of it, be grounded in your current environment using the five senses.

Another idea for a grounding technique would be to count the number of different colors you can see where you are.

Or try a simple breathing technique.

⭐️Tip 5. Scheduling ahead allows us to better prepare and plan for stressful situations. This could be an option if there is a stressful event coming up or it could be preparing for upcoming hormone fluctuations.

⭐️Tip 6. Try thinking about identifying negative patterns of thinking. Stay mindful by keeping aware of negative patterns of thinking that lead to strong emotional reactions. Negative and distorted thinking comes in many different forms. These can lead to strong emotional responses that can sometimes be misleading or incorrect.

If you haven’t already checked this out, there is a great training guide that really dives into emotion, https://www.7cups.com/help-managing-emotions/

This is a blurb from the above training here:

“Reduce Vulnerability Exercise (Fulton State Hospital, p. 51)

Instructions: In order to reduce the risk of painful emotions controlling you, maintain healthy habits. Healthy habits help with managing mood swings, depression, anger, or irritability. Work on the following “STRONG” skills. Tell someone you trust what your goals are, and monitor your progress.

Sleep as much as you need - not too much, not too little.

Take medications your doctor prescribes. When sick take care of yourself.

Resist using street drugs or alcohol.

Once a day, do something that gives you a feeling of being in control, mastering your world.

Nutrition - eat a balanced diet, don’t over or under eat. Don’t make decisions about food based upon your emotional state at the time.

Get exercise - try to do 20 minutes a day.”

Positive Note

Since this post might have come off a little heavy, I would like to leave it on a positive note.

Learning techniques can help us cope better if we are struggling in certain aspects. But not all of the traits that come along with ADHD make us struggle. Some of these traits can be used to our advantage. People with ADHD are often very creative and empathetic. These characteristics can be huge assets in our society.

Plan and Accountability

Ready to try it out? This post can also double as another accountability post! We are all welcome to consider making a one-day, two days, or a week, (whatever you want) commitment to try one or a couple of these techniques daily to see how it goes. Feel free to share a technique that wasn’t listed here!

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