Why does ADHD make it hard for me to focus?

The main symptoms of ADHD are:

Inattention: Difficulty focussing on tasks, especially if considered boring or repetitive

Hyperactivity: Feeling restless and a difficulty in sitting still

Impulsivity: A tendency to speak or act, without thinking first of the consequences.

ADHD is thought to be related to having a low level of Dopamine in certain parts of the brain. Dopamine is a neuro-transmitter, or ‘chemical messenger’ that is responsible for important processes such as reward, motivation, attention and movement.

Amongst other things, dopamine helps us pay attention to tasks. When you are working on an important task, or something that we are interested in, parts of your brain should release Dopamine. In this mental state, you will feel calm and focussed, it will be difficult to be distracted by what is going on around you, making it easier for you to complete the task at hand. Think of something that you really enjoy. A game or a hobby perhaps? This might be a time when your brain is releasing a good amount of Dopamine making, you feel calm, relaxed and focussed.

In our lives, we often have to complete tasks that may not be so interesting or important, and if you have ADHD this can be a real struggle. Less Dopamine is available in the ADHD brain, meaning that you are not able to get to that calm and focussed state. You might feel restless, be easily distracted and may feel irritable, meaning that the task may not get completed.

Sometimes we may have long-term projects to work on in our lives, such as renovating a house or completing a dissertation. The lack of Dopamine in the ADHD brain means that these long-term tasks are difficult to focus on, and often get pushed back. You might instead find yourself working on a quicker or easier task. When the deadline for this project approaches, and the work is not nearly done, you will probably feel stress and anxiety, increasing the levels of other chemical messengers, such as Cortisol (a stress hormone) and Noradrenaline (another chemical messenger that is involved in the fight-or-flight response).

This stress response helps you in getting the task done, but at the cost of stress, anxiety and burn-out, and can lead to your work being rushed, or careless mistakes being made. This can then affect your self-esteem and mood.

As you know, the ADHD brain is an easily distracted one. This can often lead to the feeling of a busy mind, and has an effect on short term or ‘working’ memory. You might be trying to get ready for work, but also be distracted by other noises from outside, or by thoughts of what needs to be done later in the day. Your brain has less capacity to store new information when in this state of mind, and so if you are moving around important items such as your phone, wallet or keys at this time, you are likely to forget where they are.

What can I do about all of this?

The good news is that there are many strategies to help the ADHD brain function better in every-day life. Coaching or Guided Self-Help can help you learn a variety of techniques to minimise the effect of the lack of Dopamine in the brain. For example, keeping your wallet, keys and phone in the same place at home, and at work can make you less likely to lose or misplace them. Giving yourself ‘soft’ deadlines to break up a bigger project into a series of smaller ones, and asking friends or colleagues to motivate you, can help get those bigger projects over the line.

Medication can also help bridge the Dopamine gap in the ADHD brain. All ADHD medication, through a variety of different mechanisms, increases levels of Dopamine in the brain, with the aim of getting you to that calm and focussed state when working on a task.

Think that you might have ADHD?