The link between anxiety and ADHD in adults
It’s incredibly common for adults with ADHD to also experience anxiety - in fact, research suggests that up to 50% of people with ADHD will also have an anxiety disorder at some point in their lives.
But why is this?
Understanding the ADHD-Anxiety connection
ADHD and anxiety are separate conditions, but they often overlap and influence each other. ADHD affects the brain’s ability to regulate attention, impulses, and emotional responses. Anxiety, meanwhile, is rooted in the brain’s threat - detection system - an overactive response to perceived danger, often accompanied by excessive worry or fear.
When these two conditions co-occur, they can create a vicious cycle:
You forget a deadline or misread a social cue (due to ADHD).
You worry excessively about the consequences (due to anxiety).
The worry makes it harder to concentrate, plan, or sleep.
Which worsens your ADHD symptoms - and the cycle continues.
Why Adults with ADHD often feel anxious
People with ADHD are constantly navigating a world that wasn’t designed for their brains.
They may:
Worry about forgetting things, missing appointments, or making impulsive mistakes
Feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of tasks they struggle to prioritise
Experience chronic stress due to underperformance or rejection
Develop anticipatory anxiety - worrying about feeling anxious in certain situations
Mask their ADHD symptoms in social or professional settings, which is emotionally draining
This constant strain can lead to generalised anxiety, social anxiety, or even panic attacks.
Emotional Dysregulation and Anxiety in ADHD
Another key feature of ADHD is emotional dysregulation - an intense, rapid emotional response to everyday events. Small setbacks can feel huge, and criticism or rejection can trigger overwhelming feelings of distress (sometimes referred to as rejection sensitivity dysphoria, or RSD).
Over time, these intense emotions can feed into anxiety:
You begin to fear emotional reactions you can’t control.
You avoid situations that might trigger them.
You constantly anticipate the worst.
How Solution Focused Hypnotherapy Helps Break the Cycle
This is where Solution Focused Hypnotherapy (SFH) can be so helpful. SFH addresses both the neurological roots of anxiety and the emotional challenges of ADHD, helping you regain a sense of calm, clarity, and control.
Here’s how:
1. Calming the Fight-or-Flight response
SFH uses deep relaxation and guided trance to calm the amygdala—the part of the brain responsible for fear and stress. When the nervous system feels safe, symptoms of anxiety naturally reduce. Clients often describe feeling "lighter" and more able to think clearly, even after just a few sessions.
2. Rebalancing the brain
By reducing anxiety, we help shift the brain out of “survival mode” and back into the prefrontal cortex—the area responsible for logic, decision-making, and executive function. This supports better concentration, emotional regulation, and problem-solving.
3. Building emotional resilience
Solution Focused Hypnotherapy helps rewire your thought patterns using positive psychology, visualisation, and solution-focused conversations. You learn to focus on what’s working, develop confidence in your ability to cope, and stop catastrophising.
4. Interrupting the Anxiety - ADHD Loop
With regular sessions, you begin to:
Worry less about forgetting things or making mistakes
Feel more confident managing your emotions
Become less avoidant of triggering situations
Experience fewer physical symptoms of anxiety (like racing heart or tense muscles)
Sleep better—which improves both anxiety and ADHD symptoms
Supporting long-term change
SFH doesn’t just treat the symptoms - it helps you develop a different relationship with your mind. Through mindfulness-based trance, you learn how to pause, breathe, and respond calmly - rather than reactively. You build new neural pathways that support calm focus, emotional regulation, and self-trust.
This is especially helpful if you’ve tried CBT, medication, or coaching but still feel “stuck” in cycles of anxiety or overwhelm.
Final Thoughts: ADHD and Anxiety are treatable
If you’re living with both ADHD and anxiety, know this: you’re not weak, broken, or failing. Your brain simply needs a different kind of support - one that honours your neurodiversity, reduces internal pressure, and helps you move forward with clarity and confidence.
Solution Focused Hypnotherapy can help you quiet the noise, strengthen your sense of self, and feel more in control of your life - without judgement, and at your own pace.