Can You Do ADHD Therapy Without Medication?

If you've got ADHD, you're probably facing daily challenges like procrastination, distraction, and feeling overwhelmed. Medication can be a helpful tool for many people, and there are also situations where you might not want or be able to use ADHD medications.

Treating ADHD naturally means we bring our attention to the various coping strategies you have developed to deal with the challenges of having a neurodiverse brain, gently bringing some curiosity to how these coping strategies came to be, and what else might be possible at this time in your life.

Understanding ADHD Without Medication

ADHD is a complex condition that affects attention, impulse control, and executive functioning. One of the characteristic challenges that ADHD folks face is difficulty with task initiation - that horrible feeling when you know you need to do the thing, but you just can't make yourself do the thing.

ADHD medication, especially stimulants like Vyvanse and Concerta, increase activtation in key brain areas, helping people initiate tasks more easily. Of course, stimulant medications are not the only way we can increase stimulation and activation. Many people with ADHD discover non-medication alternatives at some point in their life - caffeine, urgency, fear of failure and self-criticism often function to increase stimulation and activate our sympathetic nervous system. We put our foot on the gas, initiate the task, and it's finally behind us. Blaster mode for the win.

Except now we've developed a habit of relying on blaster mode, which comes with its own consequences. Other parts of us may become overwhelmed by the fear, anxiety and panic that can come from reaching for stimulation in this way. If our nervous system goes into freeze when we are faced with certain tasks because they are too overwhelming, we will need even more stimulation to get unstuck, and a cycle begins.

How Therapy Addresses ADHD Without Medication

Like all therapy at Clearwater Counselling, ADHD therapy without medication will be tailored to you and your needs as an individual. However, there are a few general ways therapy can help:

• Learning how to regulate your nervous system: Moving from blaster mode to sustainability means being able to recognize what state you're in and developing tools to regulate up and down as needed.

• Creating containment and structure: Do-able goals and guidelines set you up for success.

• Building self-compassion: What if you were just a human who was as deserving of kindness as anyone else?

• Reducing barriers to getting started: If it's overwhelming, break it down into smaller parts. Again and again until you're on your way.

  
  

The goal of ADHD therapy is not to get rid of your ADHD or the parts of you that get overwhelmed or want to push through. The goal is to find other ways of reducing overwhelm and increasing task initiation that are sustainable and respectful to you as a person.

You might be thinking - there's no way this works. Kindness? That won't work for me. It turns out that the research on intrinsic motivation - the kind of motivation that makes you want to do things without any external pressure or reward - shows that motivation increases when we feel capable, connected and autonomous. Building skills in nervous system regulation and self-compassion builds confidence, a sense of shared humanity, and more choice over how we approach things.

If you've got questions, or you want to schedule a meet and greet to do a vibe check - click the book now button below to book a free 20 min consultation. I'd love to say hi.

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