Although some think of ADHD as a childhood issue, children with ADHD become adults with ADHD and may require treatment and support for their symptoms their entire lives.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, stimulant medications (including Adderall, Vyvanse, and Ritalin) are considered the “best known and most widely-used” treatment for ADHD. There are non-stimulant medication options available as well, and the Food and Drug Administration has approved medication treatment for ADHD starting at age 6.
However, although these medications are proven safe and effective, not everyone diagnosed with ADHD can take medication for their symptoms. Some have another medical condition that contraindicates—or negatively interacts—with the ADHD medication, have adverse reactions to these medications, or simply don't want to take medication. For example, Steffen Hermann, 37, who was diagnosed with ADHD at age 14, was prescribed Ritalin in adolescence. The medication interfered with his sleep to the point that he had to discontinue it.
Additionally, many who take medication for ADHD also use other remedies and treatments to cope with and address their symptoms. Medication can be effective but is not a magical cure-all, so even those who take medication for their ADHD symptoms can benefit from other interventions that might help them.
Everyone deserves support for their symptoms, and they have the right to determine what treatment options are the best fit for them. These decisions must always be made under the supervision of a qualified professional. Learn more about alternative approaches for managing ADHD.
What Is a "Natural" Remedy?
Sometimes, alternatives to medication are referred to as "natural" remedies. This term is misleading because many medications are developed through the use of plants, minerals, and other naturally occurring resources. Additionally, many so-called treatments that are described as “natural” are not actually studied for effectiveness or safety, putting users at risk for adverse side effects and even death.
Also, classifying pharmaceutical treatment options as “unnatural” perpetuates stigma around the decision to take medication for a diagnosis. Those with ADHD whose treatment plan involves medication are sometimes shamed for their decision to use “unnatural” treatments, and sometimes this stigma even prevents someone from even considering medication as a treatment option.
We can explore various methods and treatment approaches to support ADHDers without stigmatizing or vilifying other safe and effective options.
Self-Accommodation
Because ADHD brains operate differently from non-ADHD brains, self-accommodations like scheduling modifications and environmental shifts can greatly help difficulties associated with ADHD. For instance, if you naturally focus better later in the day, that might be the best time to schedule certain tasks rather than forcing yourself to do them in the morning.
Additionally, alarms, visual schedules, and multiple calendar reminders can address deficits from executive dysfunction.
Ari S., an adult with ADHD, shares: “I use a lot of calendar reminders and phone alarms. Everything goes into my calendar immediately. I know if I wait, I'll forget something, so I always do it immediately. If I can't do it immediately, I set a date and time to do it. That activates the 'deadline fear' ADHD hack so I end up doing the thing.”
If I can't do it immediately, I set a date and time to do it. That activates the 'deadline fear' ADHD hack so I end up doing the thing.
Luna Corbden, an adult with ADHD, shares that various executive function tools can be helpful, and cycling through various tools can maintain novelty, making different tools more helpful. They state, “I develop them as I go, often cycling through them.”
Mind-Body Practices
A mind-body practice combines body movements, cognitive focus, and control of body processes like breathing to relax the mind and improve self-regulation. Regular mind-body practice can improve skills like focus, problem-solving, emotional regulation, and impulse control by improving one’s awareness of the body and control over one’s nervous system responses.
The peer-reviewed research on mind-body practices for ADHD symptoms shows that it can be a beneficial tool, but the overall effect of these practices on ADHD symptoms is inconclusive. With that said, if you find these practices beneficial, you can use them to build skills to alleviate ADHD symptoms.
Mind-body practices include:
Steffen Hermann shares that daily physical activity helps him manage his energy levels and sleep cycle. He also reported the benefit of a meditation practice but finds this challenging: “I struggle to keep it up. Thirteen minutes are sufficient to increase focus for the entire day, but sitting for 13 minutes takes a lot of energy as well.”
Thirteen minutes are sufficient to increase focus for the entire day, but sitting for 13 minutes takes a lot of energy as well.
However, this is not the right fit for everyone. Aroop Roelofs, an adult with ADHD, states that these practices “generally only made things worse for me” because it was not a good fit for how his brain operates. Ari S. shares that mindfulness exercises “did absolutely nothing except stress me out."
Neurofeedback
Neurofeedback involves monitoring your body’s voluntary and involuntary functions to better tend to your needs, regulate emotions, and learn to control these functions to relieve stress. Interoception refers to our awareness of our body’s internal sensations. Many ADHDers struggle with interoception, which can make it difficult to regulate emotions and monitor what they need.
If I am not attending to my body’s experience, I might not realize I am becoming frustrated until I am at a bursting point, and I might forget to eat, drink water, or perform other self-care tasks needed to survive.
Neurofeedback often involves being connected to a machine that displays the body’s functions, such as heart rate, blood pressure, and breath. When using the biofeedback machine, we can directly observe what's going on in our bodies and practice skills to regulate and affect how these processes are happening. For those with ADHD, neurofeedback can help with emotional regulation, cognitive processes like sustained attention, sleep quality, and alleviating symptoms of anxiety and depression.
Psychotherapy
ADHD has a high rate of co-occurrence with many other diagnoses, including anxiety, depression, and substance dependence. This is due in part to the stress caused by existing in a world that is not designed for ADHD brains and in part because the genes that can predispose someone to develop ADHD also increase risk for these other diagnoses. Psychotherapy can help both develop skills to alleviate symptoms of ADHD and treat these co-occurring diagnoses.
Some therapies that have been shown to help those with ADHD include:
- Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is an approach to therapy treatment that involves challenging unhelpful or untrue thought processes to improve the emotional state and change behavior. Research has shown that CBT is very effective in helping build skills to alleviate ADHD symptoms, and when combined with medication, clients show more improvement than when treated with medication alone. CBT can also improve impulse control, emotional regulation, and attention span.
- Mindfulness-based therapy: Mindfulness therapy aims to teach individuals to notice their current environment and internal experiences without judgment. For ADHDers, it can help regulate impulses and emotions and help bring the individual’s attention to the present moment, increasing attention span. Some research has shown that mindfulness-based therapy yields comparable symptom improvement for ADHDers to medication treatment.
- Solution-focused therapy: Solution-focused therapy is a short-term therapy that targets specific goals and symptoms. Because it is time-limited, it can be an affordable treatment option for those who cannot afford long-term therapy. Solution-focused therapy can improve attention span and reduce distractibility in those with ADHD.
Aroop Roelofs shares that he found therapy beneficial once he found a provider who was a good fit because he had space for “learning to deal with the problem itself rather than the symptoms.” He says that therapy would “make me observe things myself more and make decisions based on those observations, rather than trying to meet expectations that I did not understand.”
Ari S. says that he found a therapist who understands his brain and helps him manage by “flowing with the current” rather than fighting against his ADHD. At the same time, he notes that some providers list ADHD as a “speciality” but then give “basic platitudes and unhelpful exercises.”
Therapeutic Video Games
Sometimes, children with ADHD struggle to engage in treatment. This can occur for many reasons. The child might struggle to engage in non-preferred activities (which is extra challenging for someone with ADHD!) or might be reluctant to acknowledge their ADHD due to stigma.
In the spirit of meeting clients where they are and offering interventions tailored to their needs, some companies have worked to develop video games designed to engage specific cognitive skills and alleviate ADHD symptoms. Various therapeutic video games exist, and in 2020, the Food and Drug Administration approved EndeavorRX to treat ADHD in children ages eight to 17. Guardians can get a prescription from the child’s doctor, and the child follows a protocol of playing the game for 25 minutes per day.
Bottom Line
There are many non-pharmaceutical options to alleviate symptoms of ADHD and improve the quality of life for those with the diagnosis. While there is no shame in receiving medication treatment for ADHD, many want to pursue other options, and even those who take medication often benefit from a multi-pronged approach to their treatment.
Always consult with your treatment team when considering what supports are right for you, as the same treatment approach will not work for everyone. You deserve support and treatment tailored to your needs, values, and preferences.