How This Type of Therapy Can Be Helpful for ADHD (CBT Therapy)

We've all probably heard of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, before (and if you haven't then this video is still great for you). The question is, what exactly is it, and why can CBT be helpful for those of us with ADHD?

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Citations:
Safren, S. A., Perlman, C. A., Sprinch, S., & Otto, M. W. (2005). Mastering your adult ADHD: A cognitive-behavioral treatment program. New York: Oxford University Press.

**thought log coming later today!**

[jessicashellenhamer]

I got my ADHD diagnosis today. The psychologist recommended your channel. I had already found your channel.... but the fact that psychologists are literally recommending your channel is freaking amazing. Congratulations!

[jesselasalle]

I've gone through 4 different therapists who specialized in CBT and it honestly just made me more frustrated and stressed. My ADHD just feels cold and lonesome. I'm always told that I'm one of the nicest people they've met, but I don't often think that's true. I hate being confrontational, but there are flares when someone tries to be bullheaded. I'm afraid of being alone, and I constantly feel I'm getting further and further away from people unintentionally.

[thalmorbiznitch]

For what it's worth, CBT can feel super invalidating and actually make things worse for people with trauma, so if you have ADHD + Trauma (and a LOT of us do), then look into DBT, which focuses more on your reactions to emotions and regulating through triggers instead of just trying to prevent them

[Quonzer]

The title had me thinking of something VERY different at first.

Then I read the description.

[Mandrake_root]

Definitely have benefited from cbt. It’s like, the way it’s described almost sounds like we’re saying “just think differently and everything will get better” but really it’s like “bad things happen that are overwhelming, changing how we think and behave make those things easier to handle”

[Vixulation]

CBT therapist here and trainee psychologist. I have ADHD and my best advice to anyone interested in therapy is to make sure you find a therapist who has specialist experience and training to work with people who have ADHD. Bog standard CBT might be a struggle for some with ADHD. Especially if you're someone who struggles with the concept of homework, diaries etc...

[HowtoADHD]

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, since apparently I need to specify 🤣 UPDATE: Ok I changed it in the title too. Sorry to disappoint anyone who expected this to be about marijuana or uh. Adult stuff 😂

[JoshSteveo]

Sad to say I found CBT to be utterly useless due to my difficulties with understanding and processing emotions. I found DBT to be more effective, and am currently waiting for ACT with a therapist.

[SIGSEGV]

The CBT here stands for cognitive behavioural therapy, in case anyone clicked on this video for other reasons

[smfahner]

No hard feelings toward CBT, but for me personally, I find dialectical behavioral therapy (which she mentions towards the end!) more helpful for my needs ❤️ so if CBT isn't working for you, I highly recommend giving DBT a try! Don't give up on therapy, just keep trying to find the right fit for you!

Also side note: I'd love to see a whole video on DBT!

[justabunneh]

My generalized anxiety coupled with my ADD has really crippled my social life. I've been meaning to reach out to a CBT therapist for help. I'm already 30 and nowhere near in life where I wanted to be.

[danielbarry]

I have always struggled to control my immediate emotional responses to negative (and positive!) events, since my recent diagnosis at 25 I found this channel provided life-changing support to help me, as well as provide advice to my ADHD students 🙂.

[Kabloomey]

The feedback loop @4:48 is the most difficult part to get out of with my ADHD. It has taken lots of brain self-training to instead step back and think about my reaction and thoughts and not react out my first thoughts, later leading to the negative regretful feelings.
To those reading this, it is possible and like every other habit takes step at a time. This includes great bounds forward along with stumbles and steps back. Best of luck!

[junipersprites]

The timing for this video couldn't be better, thank you so much.

I really struggle with my emotional regulation. When I'm overwhelmed, I tend to cry. It often becomes a barrier for me to communicate with others about the root of the issue, which frustrates me because I can't express how I'm feeling without being a blubbering mess. Then I start feeling ashamed or angry with myself for crying, which causes me to cry even more, and so on... In other words, the downward spiral as you so aptly put it.

I had a particularly rough day of school today where we simulated a high-stress medical situation (I'm a nursing student). Afterward, I began crying because I felt so overwhelmed and really struggled with processing my feelings at that moment. I instantly began comparing myself to my peers, belittling myself for feeling so stressed and crying over a plastic mannequin. When my professor (very kindly) e-mailed me following the session to check in, I broke down with frustration and embarrassment.

Your video has been a great tool in helping me unpack the day at my own pace. I'm working on understand the reasons behind my emotions and behaviors, acceptance of my emotions, as well as re-frame my assumptions of how others perceive me.

Thank you again, this channel has been a life-line in helping me learn how to manage my ADHD and grow as a person :')

[setphaser]

Most psychologists are not trained in trauma, only CBT, which is a Band-Aid and something you can learn and apply pretty quickly compared to long term mental health issues like anxiety and depression which are often life long. Had I had a trauma trained psych 10 years ago, i could have made so much more progress in my life. ❤

[chrishorner]

Careful googling CBT without safe search engaged!

[Izzy-cpyt]

Thank you for saying we can't directly control our emotions/feelings. In college I had a therapist who was supposed to be helping me with the insane stress and anxiety I was experiencing nearly 24/7 as a result of the, frankly abusive, bigoted heads of my major's department. Nearly every session she would tell me how these professors could "only" bother me if I "let them". As if watching my best friends be on the receiving end of racist and ableist comments and being personally denied resources big and small was supposed to just not bother me? It was so invalidating that she constantly wrote off the mistreatment we were enduring (including gaslighting) and just kept telling me to shrug it off and, essentially, accept that they were mistreating us at just take it.

This was really validating to hear, and it wasn't even the main point of the video 😅 but thank you 💖

[NathanBeatty]

This dropped at the absolute exact moment I needed it. Thank you!

[sarahpillari]

CBT was a game changer for myself as well in therapy. I absolutely recommend it, but I'm aware there are folks who aren't ready for it, or have unfortunately been introduced to the concept (or the related therapy, DBT) without first addressing some very deep seated trauma.

Folks that have been hurt by this therapy, from what I understand/have seen anyways, are folks who never got a chance to really be heard or seen first. And it can feel invalidating when people try to explain things for you, your own feelings included.

I think it depends on the therapist and how the process of the therapy is introduced. Definitely need a therapist who is patient, compassionate, and willing to go at the pace that you set things. Unfortunately, that kind of person isn't always available or accessible, especially to folks in poverty in the US.

A friend of mine who is in poverty had attempted DBT and CBT, but it ended up doing more harm than good because the therapists were on a tight schedule. When you're on state insurance, you're limited to how many sessions and what kind of accessibility you have to help. There is an expectation that you need to get back on your feet ASAP to get back to work but when you carry immense trauma, that's just not going to work. So they felt dismissed and ridiculed instead.

Again, I personally would recommend anyone who felt ready to explore this kind of therapy to do so, just be aware of what might be limiting for you (insurance, ect) and what kind of therapist you're finding.

[Cindanela]

I do hope CBT helps people. For me it never really worked. It annoys me since there is pretty much no other therapy but CBT where I live. But I guess my therapist also just tried curing my social phobia when that was just one small part of my problems.