ADHD Treatment Options

Contrary to what you might have heard on social media, ADHD treatment is not solely limited to taking prescription medication.  Medication is just ONE way of treating ADHD in children, teens, and adults.  

Here's another way of looking at it:  if you have a toolbox and all it contains is a hammer, you would be missing out on all the other wonderful things you could build if you had a full toolbox with various other tools inside it.

Medication is just ONE tool.  It's a good one, but it's not the only one!

If you or some you love has been diagnosed with ADHD, please consult with a counselor or psychotherapist to discuss treatment options.  Medication is just one tool in the toolbox of helping individuals with ADHD to thrive. 

Be well!

Teresa

Teresa Heald, LCSW

The Best Way to Treat Depression

There are so many reasons that people may feel depressed, too many to count!  But please know that depression is a medical (mental health*) condition and as such, it generally requires medical treatment.

The best way to treat YOUR depression may not be the best way to treat your neighbor's or your child's or your friend's depression.

So, what is the BEST way to treat depression?

Seek and follow the treatment recommended by your licensed health care providers.  

A great place to start is with your primary care provider--such as a doctor, nurse practitioner, or physician's assistant--or a psychotherapist or counselor.  Any of these medical providers can assess you for depression and create a treatment program tailored just for you and your unique needs and situation.

You don't have to endure depression.  There is treatment available.  Take the first step today and contact a licensed medical provider for help.

You deserve to feel better!

Teresa

Teresa Heald LCSW

*Some medical conditions, such as thyroid disorder and Celiac disease, can cause depression as a symptom of those conditions.  Often once those underlying conditions are treated, depression lifts too.  Please talk to your primary care provider for more information; your provider may run some blood tests or other tests to rule out an underlying medical condition that may be the cause of your depression.

Self Help for Struggling Couples

Are you and your normally close spouse struggling to get along?  Are resentments building, free time diminishing, and avoidance (of time together) increasing?

Good news, because there is hope to help your struggling marriage. Marriage Meetings for Lasting Love by Marcia Berger LMFT (New World Library, 2014) provides an on-going answer to married couples growing apart.

This strategy, which involves a set marriage meeting for 30 minutes every week, fosters love, encouragement, teamwork, and (yes even) romance for struggling couples.  Couples focus on four specific areas and limit the time they spend discussing issues in order to improve how they relate to each other.

A weekly marriage meeting is a great idea for generally healthy marriages* that need some help or for partners who have lost some of the spark they once felt.  This strategy is appropriate for couples who already know how to communicate in a non-blaming and respectful manner.  If this describes your marriage, then read through the book with your spouse, and begin to implement the 30 minute weekly marriage meeting.  You may be surprised at the positive results!

If you and your partner have trouble communicating, perhaps several sessions with a couples counselor will provide you with the guidance and tools you need to improve your life together.  THEN implement weekly marriage meetings for on-going marriage enrichment.  Best wishes for a happier life together!


*For marriages in which untreated addictions, abuse (physical, sexual, emotional, financial), or other serious safety/health issues arise, both parties would greatly benefit from seeing individual therapists to address and work to resolve their own issues.  Couples counseling is NOT an appropriate answer to these serious issues in a marriage. 

Secrets to Thriving with ADHD

Do you or someone close to you struggle in day-to-day life with ADHD?

Good news!  One of my specialties is helping adults, teens, and kids to THRIVE--not just survive--with ADHD.  I have two grown sons who were diagnosed with ADHD in elementary school, long before I was a therapist.  I learned many tips from their mental health care providers, doctors, teachers, and therapists.  I also learned and continue to learn and create effective techniques as a therapist, to help YOU and the people you love to live great lives with ADHD.

Here are a few secrets to thriving with ADHD.  These secrets took me YEARS to learn!  I would be so happy if you shared these with as many families impacted by ADHD as you can so that they can thrive too!

1.  Reduce your household inventory.  A big challenge for many people living with ADHD is the disorganization and clutter in their homes and lives.   The best way to address this is to drastically reduce the amount of stuff in their homes and lives.  This means a huge and massive decluttering.

2.  Plan ahead.  Oh how long it took me to learn this secret to help my kids and clients and how effect it can be!  The act of planning reduces impulsive actions, and many of the relationship and work problems that impact people with ADHD are caused by their impulsivity.  Planning greatly reduces this!

3.  Work on getting enough sleep.  Sleep is so vital for healthy functioning and good relationships.  Check out this post for some tips on getting a good night's sleep.

4.  Exercise daily.  Exercise improves mood, releases endorphins, and helps reduce stress (and living with ADHD can be stressful!).  Find exercise that you enjoy and indulge in this form of self-care daily.  ALWAYS CHECK WITH YOUR PRIMARY DOCTOR FIRST BEFORE BEGINNING ANY EXERCISE PROGRAM.

5.  Get out into nature as often as possible.  Nature has so many benefits, including helping to calm an overactive mind.  When I say "nature," I mean quiet, uncrowded green space (or snowy space, or beach and water space).  Indulge as often as you can and reap the benefits that nature freely offers us.

6.  Focus on and build your strengths.  So may people immediately focus on the negative aspects of ADHD:  the distractability, the forgetfulness, the interrupting behaviors, and trouble with memory and impulse control.  When my oldest son entered basic training in the US Army, I was discussing my concerns over his ADHD and how he would fare as a front-line infantryman, and my colleague, a well-respected marriage and family therapist, energetically exclaimed that being an infantryman in the Army was a perfect job for my ADHD son:  he has the capacity to multi-task in life and death situations.  I am relieved to tell you that my son successfully completed deployment to a war zone, faced and survived battle, and earned several medals as a result of his exemplary service to our country.  ADHD can be a strength indeed!

7.  Talk therapy (also called counseling or psychotherapy).  While ADHD has benefits, it also has drawbacks.  ADHD is a lifelong condition that has the capacity to negatively impact many areas of a person's life.  Having an understanding and knowledgeable mental health professional with whom to talk can greatly improve relationships, functioning at school and work, and help a person to learn even more ways to thrive with ADHD.  If you live in Idaho and feel that counseling can help you learn to live with ADHD (or learn to live with SOMEONE ELSE who has ADHD!), please email me (teresahealdconsulting"at"gmail.com) to inquire about scheduling a counseling session and begin to discover even more ways to thrive with ADHD!

Why Psychotherapy?

Why spend time each week talking to a therapist?  Why not just call your best friend, or spill your story to your co-worker over the water cooler, or talk to your spouse?  Do people really need therapists? Aren't therapists just for the severely mentally ill?

What good questions.  Let me answer this way:  The lives of the overwhelming majority of my clients--as long as they remain actively involved in the course of treatment--improve not only during treatment, but in the months and years beyond treatment.  There's scientific evidence that supports this on-going change, particularly with psychodynamic psychotherapy, which I practice.*

But what you need to know is that psychotherapy is deeply important work.  It has made a profound difference in my own life as a former client in year's past.  It is life changing.  And, in some cases involving suicidal thoughts or self-harm, therapy is life-saving.

Psychotherapy can help you overcome the negative aspects of early childhood difficulties or outright traumas.  It can help to not only restore but expand your ability to function after a painful break-up, job loss, or health crisis.  Psychotherapy can help you address problems you may have with anger, addictions, depression, anxiety, grief and mourning, parenting, romantic relationships, care giving, and managing change.

Psychotherapy, with a well-trained and compassionate therapist, can improve your life.  If you are facing any problem or situation that is making your life difficult, miserable or outright intolerable, don't give up.  There is hope!  There is so much you can do, and a first step may be to love yourself enough to find a caring therapist.  Why not begin to thrive instead of just survive? 

Be well!


*Shedler, J. (November 01, 2010). Getting to Know Me. Scientific American Mind, 21, 5.