ADHD and Depression

If you have been reading through this blog site, then you may already know that mood swings is an unfortunate symptom of having ADHD. When it comes to self-loathing I am my own worst critic, and this is something that I presume is shared among adults who have ADHD. When I get a low mood I would for hours absolutely hate myself, hating the fact that I cannot perform at the same level as people without ADHD. My memory not there when I need it most, or my impulsive nature ending up making me say or do something stupid.

When you look at it from an outside view, of course, I cannot help these things, as much as a person without legs cannot help not being able to walk, but it doesn't stop the mind telling you constantly that you're a failure, that you are useless and that you should kill yourself. This is exactly what I get myself and if it went for that fact that I know my children need me to be alive, is the reason why I looked for the reason why I feel this way. For you see it is a feeling that comes in waves rather than all the time, and the more I understood why this happens the less the waves of depression hit.

As you may already know ADHD is a neurobiological condition which not only effects the cognitive functioning of the brain, but also the emotional aspects. It is why the different medications mentioned cover both, discussing emotional side effects. Stimulants can remove emotion altogether, non-stimulants have the potential to increase suicidal thoughts so you can see why the emotional aspects are taken just as seriously as the cognitive.

Depression in ADHD is caused by the brain having a reduction in Serotonin. With this imbalance, it causes the low mood, the feeling depressed etc. Once the Serotonin has recovered again the depression feeling fades with it. Depression, forgetting things, concentration, they are all the differences of chemicals in the brain, and with the ADHD brain not being able to balance these out effectively, it can get overwhelming.

Non-Medicated Method
Now before I go into the medication side of controlling depression, I wanted to cover a method I have been using for years now to control when I am getting a low mood feeling and that is to be able to separate myself from my mind. Now this may sound like the words of a crazy person but please bear with me and I will explain. A few years ago I met an Indian woman who told me about Yoga. She was using it for weight loss, but the other benefits it brought interested me so I did what other people of these days tend to do, I looked up on YouTube.

Searching through many useless clips until I found Sadhguru, and although it takes time to really understand what he going on about, the one video below is the one that really got me thinking. You may need to watch it a couple of times to get it (I know it did me), but the idea that you, your body and your mind are separate entities is what got me really thinking and once I understood this it was the most important way I found to control depression.

What I did after watching this was to start understanding that my mind tends to run along by itself. This is especially true with an adult with ADHD, and if you do have the disorder you know that your brain brings many random things to you. It is thinking about random things that can cause the issues that bring about those low feelings and depression symptoms. An example of what I mean is let's say that something embarrassing happened to you a month ago, and your mind has just randomly brought it back, and it just keeps repeating it at that time in your day. The random thoughts which keep making you feel bad will most certainly make you feel depressed.

If you can understand that the mind is doing it and it is not you, was the first big step in how I controlled depression. Knowing that you and your mind are different the next stage is as Sadhguru says in the video, create distance between them.

How I do this is quite simple, focus on the thought which is making you feel low, and picture it as something you could push, and them push the thought into a different room in your brain, and simply shut the door. Now listen to what is in the room you are in now, listen to the absolute silence. It is not an instant working method and it takes a bit of practice to fully understand, as sometimes the thoughts may come back, if they imagine that the thoughts are pushing that door back open, so simply work to close it again. With practice, the silence is completely peaceful. That feeling is so calming that it makes concentrating on other matters far more easier.

Now that is really easy for me to just say to practice, to someone who has never experienced anything like this before. Of course you have heard of meditation but understanding it is another thing, even what I have mentioned above is still quite the overview to the years I have spent learning and practicing, there is though an easy way to get started.

Adam Brewer is someone I found as he is what he calls a wellness coach and what interested me in his work was that he has made a meditation for beginners audio guide, where he details how to cut down meditation to only 3 minutes, and it is something I wish I had 10 years ago when I was starting out. With a mind like ours that is nigh on impossible to settle down for any length of time, having meditation cut down to just three minutes means it is an excellent starting point. You can gradually build this up for far longer periods of time, but for just three minutes a day you can start getting your mind under control and doing what you want it to do.

He mentions that as you build this up you will get a decrease in stress and anxiety, which is truly part of meditation. As I mentioned earlier once you have got the basics of meditation down you can then move onto pushing depressive thoughts away and let your mind get on with it while you carry on your day. Now this audio guide isn't free I mean the guy needs to eat like the rest of us, but it really cheap being at only $19, and once you have mastered this you can move forward on your own and develop further at a faster rate than I did when I started. Take a look at his site by clicking Here and have a read. This really is a fantastic easy start into getting a controlled mind.

What about the Anti Depressants?
The method above has helped me control when my mind is having a low mood swing, but of course, it does not help with the lack of serotonin and if you absolutely cannot function because of depression, then moving onto antidepressants such as Dapoxetine can be an answer. Dapoxetine is an example of the more common antidepressants known as Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or SSRI for short. As the name may suggest SSRI's work to boost the amount of serotonin in the brain and they do this in a very similar way to how stimulants work with dopamine by suppressing the brain's ability to absorb.

So SSRI's reduces the amount of serotonin being absorbed and leaves excess amounts in the brain, and it is the more favoured method by the medical profession due to it's lower side effects.

Side Effects
Talking of Side effects lets look at the other side of antidepressants which really should be considered before taking any of these medications. There are many different potential side effects which can possibly affect you so if you notice any of these symptoms it is worth speaking again to your doctor, as there may be an alternative version that could be tried.

Some of these common side effects include:

• A dry mouth and nausea
• fatigue and drowsiness
• constipation and dizziness

Another side effect to really watch out for is insomnia, and the lack of sleep can lead to anxiety, agitation and irritability, so yes antidepressants can take away a low mood and replace it with a frustrated and angry one instead. This is especially important for someone with ADHD, as our moods can change a lot and if you were getting a shorter fuse from stimulants, imagine adding another medication which has similar symptoms to the mix.

Looking further into these side effects, if you have read my other medication articles you will see that they share similar traits. One such possible side effect refers to your sexual drive. It can literally stop in some people, as the anti-depressants much like certain medications, start to lower your libido and also cause a male erection dysfunction. If you do find this happening it is important to speak to your doctor and NOT just stop taking the medication. Stopping can cause serious withdrawal symptoms, simply because your brains chemistry has been changed by the medication. Your brain starts to adapt to the new changes and soon enough the brain feels that the way antidepressants change the chemical make up is normal. So rather than a typical withdraw symptom, like with nicotine for example, where the brain misses the drug, instead your brain starts to feel that it is not the same as it was with the antidepressants and it starts to think that you are unwell.

So it is an important thing to remember to come back off antidepressants you need to coordinate with your doctor, as it needs to be done with great care. the way the brain is changed is one of the reasons why I didn't choose this route and looked for alternative routes (hence the reason for the video above) If you do feel that you need to use antidepressants then it is something you should not feel bad about. Everybody is different and finding what is right for you is more important than opinions, but it is just important to be fully informed as to why you feel depressed is not because you are wrong in any way. It is simply down to a misbalance of chemicals in the brain.