“I found therapy really helpful in understanding myself better, but once I worked through that, there came this point of…okay, what’s next? What do I do, on a daily basis, to improve?”
I’ve heard some variation of that statement from nearly every coaching client I’ve seen. I even said it myself, early on in my journey.
So, what gives?
ADHD coaching and traditional therapy are both valuable supports for adult ADHD, but they’re very different approaches. In this post, we’ll dive into how these methods tackle some common ADHD challenges differently, and why understanding the distinction might just be your golden ticket to better symptom management.
ADHD coaching vs therapy for ADHD: Overview
In general, an ADHD therapist tends to focus more on emotional processing, past experiences, and underlying psychological issues, while an ADHD coach emphasizes practical, action-oriented strategies for managing symptoms in daily life and planning for the future.
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Coaching vs therapy: Side-by-side comparison
To give you an even clearer picture of how they compare, let's break down the differences in how ADHD coaching and ADHD therapy approach some common ADHD symptoms.
Time Blindness
Ever feel like you're constantly running late, despite your best intentions? Find yourself over or underestimating how long a task will take, or how long it’s been since something happened in the past? Questioning your sanity when you look at the clock and realize you spent six hours playing video games when it only felt like 30 minutes? That's time blindness in action.
💬 Therapist Approach: A therapist might help you explore the emotional fallout of this symptom. They'll dive into your feelings of frustration or shame, helping you process past experiences where time blindness led to difficulties.
📢 ADHD Coach Approach: An ADHD coach can help you craft practical solutions. They might suggest using visual timers, setting multiple alarms, or creating a color-coded calendar system. They might dig deep into your current routines and processes (if they exist) to identify exactly where you’re spending your time, and how to adapt or avoid those time traps altogether. The focus is on developing strategies that work for your unique ADHD brain.
Impulsivity
"Why on earth did I do that…?"
If regret is a constant companion, impulsivity is a top suspect. Many people with ADHD struggle with limited impulse control - aka impulsivity, or its clinical alias, response inhibition. Whatever term you use, they all point to the same thing: people with ADHD find it much harder to pause and reflect before making a decision, because our pause button is too weak for our super-fast brains.
💬 Therapist Approach: In therapy, you might explore root causes of your impulsivity. In addition to ADHD, are there past traumas or other emotional factors at play? How did impulsive decisions impact your emotions, self-esteem, or relationships? Your therapist might use techniques like cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) to help you identify and modify patterns of thought and behavior.
📢 ADHD Coach Approach: An ADHD coach will focus on the here and now, teaching you specific techniques to manage impulsivity in daily life. They might teach you methods of increasing awareness around environments, situations, and other triggers that lead to impulsivity, help you find ADHD-friendly techniques for practicing the pause, or suggest environmental changes to reduce triggers for impulsive actions.
Emotional Regulation
Does your emotional thermostat seem to have only two settings - freezing or boiling? Emotional regulation is another one of those executive functions (life management skills in the brain) that works a little differently in ADHD. We feel emotions that make sense for the situation; but many of us feel those emotions much more strongly, and it can take longer to cool down.
💬 Therapist Approach: A therapist will help you dive deep into your emotional world, exploring past experiences that contribute to your emotional ups and downs. They might use various therapeutic approaches, such as Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) or somatic therapies, to address underlying emotional issues.
📢 ADHD Coach Approach: An ADHD coach will focus on developing practical strategies for emotional regulation in specific situations. They might help you identify emotional triggers, teach you mindfulness techniques or breathing exercises you can use in the heat of the moment, and help you tailor those strategies and tools to fit your unique life.
Task Initiation
Is your to-do list more like a "to-don't" list? Are you constantly overwhelmed by how much there is to do? Feel like the couch is a trap? Do you stare at your work for hours, feeling paralyzed, unable to just make yourself get started? These are all examples of task initiation or “getting started” challenges, which - you guessed it - is also very common in ADHD.
💬 Therapist Approach: In therapy, you might explore psychological barriers to starting tasks. Are you afraid of failure? Is perfectionism holding you back? Are there core beliefs about your self-worth or capabilities getting in the way? If so, where did they stem from? Your therapist will help you dive deep into these underlying issues.
📢 ADHD Coach Approach: An ADHD coach will teach you what’s going on in your brain when you’re struggling to get started. They’ll help you create actionable plans for initiating tasks, like incorporating body doubling (working alongside someone else) into your day, setting up accountability check-ins, breaking tasks into manageable steps or developing motivation-boosting routines to kick procrastination to the curb.
And the winner is…both!
So, which approach to ADHD management is best? The truth is, many adults with ADHD find value in both ADHD coaching and therapy. Think of them as complementary tools in your ADHD management toolkit. Therapy helps you understand and process the emotional aspects of living with ADHD, while ADHD coaching equips you with practical strategies to navigate daily challenges and plan for the future.
Managing ADHD is a journey - not a destination. Whether you choose therapy, ADHD coaching, or a combination of both, you're taking a powerful step towards a more organized, focused, and fulfilling life.
Ready to start? Meet your coach today for practical ADHD management solutions.
