ADHD or difficulties concentrating due to anxiety?

When I was training nearly all the cases presenting were classed as anxiety or depression. Nowadays everyone seems to have ADHD – or think they might have it.

S was 15-years’-old when I saw him. He’d become very anxious while on a summer activity course and had to abandon it. Things improved but then came out again when he had to return to school. He’d been anxious in school twice before but this appeared to be to do with social pressures. A counsellor had suggested he might have ADHD. There had been some reports of problems concentrating and maybe some impulsivity. His sister had been diagnosed with ADHD but not treated and was also anxious with some self-harming.

Testing showed a degree of adrenal exhaustion and cortisol imbalance; his gut was also not quite right in terms of yeast balance. He had some CBT for anxiety management and we worked on his gut balance as well as giving some medication for anxiety – he responded, with a blip when he became quite suicidal, but we held on and things improved. These days, people have heard about SSRIs and suicidal feelings in adolescents so tend to leap to wanting to stop them if this occurs. In fact, this is pretty rare and the benefits of the medication almost always outweigh any potential risks. That does not make the press/social media.

He did not have ADHD – he had anxiety and so could not concentrate.

S is doing well now and I hope that soon we can reduce his medication, though he is quite worried about that!