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ADHD Tipping Point

Many adults with undiagnosed or diagnosed ADHD find they are able to compensate for their adult ADHD challenges, keeping stress in check just enough to cope with their normal routine life situations.  They may have been able to adapt well enough to “hide” or disguise some of their adult ADHD symptoms until one day they find their strategies are no longer working – they have reached an ADHD tipping point where they feel overwhelmed by a life change that has been thrown them headfirst into chaos and disorganization.

ADHD Tipping Point Triggers

ADHD tipping point triggers typically involves a life change of some sort. The type of life change can be any one of a number of reasons that inevitably make one feel that things are no longer going well, leaving them with old coping strategies that no longer work. The ADHD tipping point may come with a job change, a move, having a child, going back to school, being promoted at work, getting married or divorced, buying a home; any number of daily life events can be the ADHD trigger point where life seems to be falling apart to the point that the pieces cannot be reassembled without professional help.

Common Symptoms 

Very often the ADHD tipping point is not under your control. Seeking out a mental health professional can help you through the crossroad of change and help you get your life back on track. The crossroad of change gives you the choice of staying on the road to chaos or finding new ways to cope. An adult ADHD psychiatrist may determine the need for medication and other adjunct therapies to help you build new ways to live with adult ADHD. Some of the common ADHD tipping point symptoms include:

  • Poor ability to cope after significant life changes, both positive and negative. Some people with ADHD experience their first tipping point after a significant life change, even a positive one such as getting married, buying a home, having a baby, getting married or moving into a new living situation. Life changes usually bring new or different expectations and responsibilities.
  • Difficulty with a successful transition into a new work role or position. While a different career, job duties, a promotion, or even a new job position may have been just what you were hoping for. With a little time you may discover your skill or ability to do the job is not working out well. You may start to look at work as a place of doom and gloom. Overtime, your ADHD tripping point may actually get you demoted from a new position or may even get you fired.
  • Changes in family dynamics. With today’s culture of combining households and turning a one-family house into a two-family house come with new responsibilities, changes in household routines, and adapting to living with added stress from having “more mouths to feed and care for.” Additional household members could be an elderly parent, a child and their spouse, a new roommate or two, a new baby, an adopted child or foster child. Your ADHD tipping point may be overtaxed by all the change and can leave you feeling guilty and ashamed that you cannot handle the new situation.
  • Decreased activity levels can be an ADHD tipping point. People who are normally active, on the go, participate in regular exercise, or follow a routine exercise and activity regime find that when their exercise and activity levels decrease they slowly start to “fall apart.” Regular exercise helps to create structure and routine which in turn helps to manage ADHD symptoms better. Decreased activity and exercise levels may be due to family responsibilities, an injury, illness, change in working hours, and even changing weather patterns.

Psychiatric Help

Anyone can face a tipping point in our life. Being able to successfully negotiate past and learn from these tipping points helps us to grow in many different ways. Those with Adult ADHD tipping points can use their strengths of creativity, adventure, and “thinking outside the box,” to work with a trained ADHD psychiatrist to change the outcome into a positive one. Call the office for a confidential appointment.

About Darvin Hege

Dr. Darvin Hege has 25 years of experience dealing with adult patients who have adhd, bipolar disorders, drug addictions, panic attacks, depression, stress, and other mental health disorders. He offers evening and weekend office hours at his Atlanta, GA practice. Call today at 770 458-0007 for an evaluation for relief of your psychiatric disorders and for help deciding the most effective and safest treatment.

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