Perhaps a more useful way to look at ADHD is as a collection of symptoms and coping mechanisms. It’s almost as if there’s an internal battle happening to decide what your external presentation will be.
This is where internal family systems (IFS) therapy enters the chat. This unique form of treatment recognizes our deeper Self and the “parts” that make up our personality. IFS cannot only help people with ADHD manage symptoms but also reduce related emotions like guilt and shame. Let’s take a look.
A Few ADHD Outcomes
ADHD is typically diagnosed during childhood. However, it can last in adulthood or be discovered for the first time later in life. Adults with ADHD may struggle with issues that complicate their personal life, careers, and self-esteem. Such issues include:
- Chronic lateness
- Inability to stay focused
- Social avoidance
- Over-talking and over-explaining
- Critical inner voice
Addressing realities like this is precisely where IFS therapy can be an ideal option.
What Is IFS?
Your IFS therapist will help you understand that we all carry around different internal sub-personalities that should be supporting our core Self. Unfortunately, these parts can be well-intentioned but end up causing more problems along the way. In the name of protecting the Self, the sub-personalities overwhelm the Self and thus, make things worse. Think of it as well-meaning children taking over a family’s dynamics.
Can IFS Help People with ADHD?
The first thing your therapist will do is help you identify your dysfunctional parts and break them into three general categories:
Managers are designed to help keep things running smoothly. If, however, they take on more than they can handle, managers will make short-sighted decisions.
Firefighters, as the name implies, rush in to deal with the issues that other parts cause. Their approach is simplistic and should never be relied upon as long-term solutions.
Exiles are those parts of you that are deeply wounded — often from a young age. They bring up painful emotions and therefore can get exiled by managers and firefighters. This choice does not resolve the underlying needs.
For someone with ADHD, these sub-personalities may believe that the most urgent need is to suppress negative self-judgments, shame, and feeling like a failure. Meanwhile, your core Self wants very much to create new, healthier paradigms but is being shouted down by an endless parade of “emergencies.” IFS guides people with ADHD to forgive the malfunctioning parts and instead, go much deeper when looking for productive and sustainable new strategies.
Adapting IFS for ADHD
IFS therapy is useful for many conditions and problems. When aimed at ADHD, IFS must take into account factors that are unique to the disorder, e.g.
- Remember that ADHD is not a sub-personality. It’s a process that can wield influence over our internal parts.
- Make the most of the natural creativity and curiosity typically present in folks with ADHD.
- Keep things flexible and fluid so the process is more catered to the specific nature of someone who is neurodivergent.
Take-Home Messages
When you can distinguish your parts from your core Self, you are on the road to a far more self-living, healthy life. IFS is not about exposing “bad” parts. All of our internal sub-personalities are designed to assist us. The trick is to not let them do too much. Rather, with help from your IFS therapist, you can train them to work as a support team for your deeper Self. Would you like to learn more? If so, I’d be happy to be your guide.