As a young child, Brett Harrington didn’t have much trouble identifying why she was underperforming at school. The problem was that she couldn’t concentrate. Even so, it took until she was in her late-thirties to find out exactly why – she had ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder).
It is not unusual for people to carry on for many years before the condition is finally identified. In fact, there has been a rise in adult ADHD diagnoses – in the US alone, the number more than doubled in the decade to 2016.
The brains of people with ADHD are wired differently. Low levels of key neurotransmitters are believed to play a role, and the result is that those with the disorder struggle to focus, plan, organise their time, follow through on tasks or pay attention. As Harrington puts it, “It’s a struggle to make our intentions match our outcomes.”
She was diagnosed partly thanks to a friend who gave her a copy of the book Driven to Distraction, by Edward Hallowell and John Ratey. About the same time, a marriage guidance counsellor suggested that she might have ADHD. “I’d known for a long time that something was amiss, because I wasn’t the person I wanted to be, or performing the way I wanted to perform.”
Afterwards, she struggled to find practical solutions that would make a difference in her daily life. How can I make myself better and get stuff done, she wanted to know? As she searched for clues, Auckland-based Harrington ended up training as an ADHD coach, as well as studying as a counsellor and art therapist. She now works with both children and adults.
Although medications can calm the brains of people with ADHD, they can’t fix everything. They won’t help restore lost self-esteem or teach the life skills someone has missed out on learning, for example. That is where a coach like Harrington comes in.
“Being neurodiverse may have impacted on a person’s sense of self and made them feel there’s something wrong with them,” she says. “And that’s likely to have a follow-on psychological impact such as anxiety, maybe depression. ADHD is an attention-ruiner, and if you have your attention ruined constantly, then it can be a life-ruiner.”
People with ADHD may experience rejection-sensitive dysphoria – extreme emotional pain triggered by the perception that they have been rejected or criticised by important people in their life.
Many of the adults who come to Harrington have been struggling for a long time. Usually within six to eight sessions she can identify an individual’s particular issues and equip them with the tools and strategies they need.
She has treated high-achieving businesspeople, doctors and lawyers who perform at work but find relationships and family life are affected. ‘They’ve managed to leverage their drive and intelligence, but they’re tired of the struggle and get to the point where they can’t live like that any more,” explains Harrington. “Some of these people may be getting push-back at home for being late or messy or disorganised. I’ll be talking about how to manage things and they’ll say, ‘Wait, I do this all the time in my job, how come I can’t do it for myself?’ It’s partly because the individual has been trained how to do their job, but we’re not always trained how to function as a human being from day to day. It’s assumed we’re going to figure that out.”
Although the exact cause of ADHD isn’t known, there does appear to be a genetic element. A recent study in Denmark and Norway found there was an increased risk for children of mothers taking the anti-seizure medications topiramate and levetiracetam during pregnancy.
It is estimated that one in 20 New Zealanders has ADHD. Symptoms can be more subtle in women and girls. They are more likely to be inattentive, forgetful daydreamers, and therefore less disruptive.
Getting assessed for ADHD may be a lengthy process and waiting times for an appointment can be six months or more. Under the current system, those who are prescribed drugs have to get their prescriptions month-by-month if they want them funded by Pharmac. “For people who have a hard time getting organised, there are a lot of hoops to jump through,” says Harrington.
