Anxiety Counseling for ADHD Children

Teaching skills for managing ADHD and anxiety

It is often hard to tell- what came first, the anxiety or the ADHD- but the truth is ADHD often has a friend, and its name is anxiety. As a result, we often times call it ‘comorbid’ meaning ADHD with anxiety. ADHD children often also have diagnoses of anxiety, depression, learning disabilities or OCD which is why we recommend a thorough evaluation to determine how the anxiety may be impacting your child.

If therapy has never helped before, it may be because of this dual diagnosis and how anxiety can severely impact ADHD treatment. At Dandelion Family Counseling, we specialize in Anxious ADHD children and how to best support your child in overcoming both.

We often see kids misdiagnosed and find that when medications, therapies and support are not effective, it is because something has been missed or not yet diagnosed. Regardless, we are experts in helping determine what is impacting your child and have strategies to overcome both ADHD and Anxiety.

➤ ADHD and anxiety in children

When you are battling anxious ADHD, the anxiety is amplified! ADHD allows the child to hyper focus on exactly how different they are, and even though they try every day to do well, it is never enough. No wonder so many kids with ADHD are also anxious! They invest all their effort and energy into meeting others’ expectations, but kids often tell us it just isn’t enough. At home, they may be an emotional mess because they’ve used all their energy just to be ‘almost good enough.’ Anxiety is different for ADHD kids. They are extra aware of the differences between them and their peers, and they also tend to judge themselves heavily for all their missteps.

Having anxious ADHD causes them to be extra aware of their social challenges, failures in time management and executive functioning, and can lead towards depression if left untreated.

➤ What are examples of child anxiety?

Excessive worrying that causes significant distress
Feelings of worthlessness
Comparing yourself to others
Avoiding situations due to threat or worry
Irrational fears
Difficulty with changes or transitions because they fear the uncertainty
Decreased ability to focus due to being stuck or paralyzed

➤ What does anxiety look like?

Hyper-focusing
Crying
Meltdowns
Ruminating
Temper tantrums
Overthinking
Avoiding eye contact
Tangents
Stimming behavior
Stomach aches and other physical symptoms
Difficulty falling asleep
OCD Behaviors
Fidgeting

➤ What are common words kids use?

Fear
Worry
Anxiety
My tummy hurts
Nightmares
I feel sick
I don’t want to go to school
No one likes me
The teacher doesn’t like me
I’m dumb
What if…
Don’t leave me
It doesn’t matter
I can’t do it
No one wants to play with me
(Asking lots of questions in general)

So is it anxiety, ADHD or both?

There is a small difference between anxiety and the anxious tendencies of many ADHD kids. One of the most important things you as a parent can do, is to work with an expert on ADHD with anxiety. That is who we are. We are the Anxious ADHD experts in Huntersvile. We use play therapy, CBT (Cognitive Behavioral therapy), parenting support and more to treat both anxiety and ADHD when it happens at the same time.

The Dandelion Difference

We do our best to make the process of therapy exactly what you need.

Teacher Recommendations

Unlimited Calls and Email

Written Accommodations

Yoga and Mindfulness

Weekly Parent Sessions

Due to our intensive parenting support process, in addition to individual weekly child sessions, weekly parenting sessions are expected at the beginning of therapy. The duration of these sessions depends on the level of distress in the family and the level of parenting needs. With meeting weekly, many families meet their goals in 6-8 months!