Having adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) can be frustrating.

Merely struggling with compensating for the challenges so they don’t interfere with daily functioning and learning new ways to do things can be taxing. There is a constant internal battle of symptom and strategy waging inside yourself when you are coping with ADHD.

In fact, a lot about ADHD is exhausting; however, putting up with or hearing from people who misunderstand or have misconceptions about ADHD has to top the list.

Recently I was on a social chat forum online when the question was asked: What is the most frustrating misconception about ADHD that you have heard?

10:00 a.m. Accidentally pressed “reply all” to everyone in my company, offering sincere condolences to a co-worker who lost her mom three years ago, which spurred dozens of emails companywide on who died, and whether or not the company should send flowers.

Oops.

10:50 a.m. Wrote a premature announcement on a website that I would not be blogging there anymore –which got me cut off from access to the blog.

Yikes!

12:00 p.m. Forgot my towel at the public pool. Had to air off using the hand and hair dryers.

Embarrassing.

5:30 p.m. Showed up at my daughter’s book group on time for once! The mom answers the door and tells me it’s next week.

Really?

That is an average beginning to most days.

I recently wrote of an informative NBC News article of June 2, 2013 (see part 1 here). Investigative reporter Rebecca Ruiz laid out medical research evidence pointing toward non-genetic alterations in brain chemistry — that is, organic changes in the brain’s chemistry after birth.

Specifically, Ruiz’s article was centered around the behavioral concept of resiliency. She provided medical research and testimony, as well as case study, that early formative experiences may produce structural adaptations to genes

Amazing, that early experiences can have such an impact on the developing physical brain. But what about later in life? Short of the eventual physical decline of aging in the brain structure, are there other experiences which significantly alter the actual organic brain?

Drink and drugs immediately come to mind… But these affect functioning ability, no?

All around us there are competent, smiling people with good hearts and good jobs. Stand-up men and women who do their best to provide for their family, friends, children, and co-workers. People who laugh easily at others’ jokes, generously offer advice and compassion, and put others’ needs before their own.

But if we look a little more closely, we might see a flicker of self-doubt in the eyes of these fine folks. If we listen with a little extra care, we may sense a subtle lack of self-worth lurking beneath their surface. If we watch a little more attentively, we may see some effort behind their smiles and a waver in their confidence.

These are the people who are living their lives under the influence of powerful, invisible childhood emotional neglect (CEN).

There was a fascinating article that recently showed up on NBC News.com on June 2.  It dealt with the overarching concept of resiliency possibly being rooted in childhood, and featured some survivor stories of recent tragedies of natural disasters.  It presented that some people did well; others less so.

The article nicely brought a mental health issue with the potential to affect us all one step closer to the general public.  As well, though, it pointed toward something fascinating — that in terms of causalities of mental health and illness, there is “nature and nurture” and then there is something else.

“Nature” widely has been understood to be our genetics;  “nurture” our early life experiences.  Human behavior has been catchphrased as shaped by these two for centuries.

But then there is brain chemistry.  The genetics category, you say?  Not so fast. Apparently it can be altered by early formative experience.

Self-compassion is an essential part of “wellness, psychologically, relationally, physically and even spiritually,” said Joyce Marter, LCPC, a therapist and owner of Urban Balance, a counseling practice in the Chicago area.

It also helps us confront hardships, and make beneficial changes in our lives. Self-compassion “allows us to engage our brain and body’s basic soothing system,” said Dennis Tirch, Ph.D, a psychologist and director of The Center for Mindfulness and Compassion Focused Therapy.

By supporting ourselves, we create “a secure base” to deal with challenges. “As a result, cultivating self-compassion can help us to have the motivation and the courage to engage in behavioral changes, leading us to live bigger lives, and move towards what matters to us.”

Unfortunately, many people — especially those with mental illness — can sometimes be particularly hard on themselves.

Senator Roy Blunt from Missouri yesterday published an editorial in USA Today lamenting President Obama’s lack of movement on mental health legislation after the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy.

And while Senator’s Blunts concerns are perhaps well-intentioned, his invocation of Sandy Hook in relation to “mental health” is about as tenuous a connection one could make about two, largely unrelated subjects.

Because in his editorial, Senator Blunt glosses over one inconvenient fact — Sandy Hook’s perpetrator, Adam Lanza, had no diagnosed mental disorder, nor was he apparently ever seen by a mental health professional outside of school for specific learning-related issues.

To my fellow over-thinkers, ruminators, and introspective-dwellers: I know what it’s like to feel “stuck in your head.”

It’s those moments when your mind starts to wander, and all your reflections and ponderings (whether they may be trivial or significant) begin to simulate a mountain that’s too exhausting to climb. I like to refer to this as ‘introspection overload’ — thinking that decides to examine a subject matter intricately and closely, inviting further thoughts to join the party, even though you reason that it’s probably time to take a few steps back.

This is one of the reasons why I love journaling. I have drawers devoted to several years of journal-keeping (including a precious gem from my second-grade self).

The tragedies in Aurora and Newtown in 2012 sparked a lot of debate about America’s mental health policy. Despite vigorous debate on all sides, there’s been no clear solution yet.

However, a point that many seem to miss when debating the issue is the Affordable Care Act and just how much it will do for expanding access to mental health treatment in this country.

According to numbers from the National Alliance on Mental Health, it’s estimated that one in four adults experience a mental illness during the course of a given year. That’s about 55.7 million people.

So it’s no wonder that the Care Act would aim to extend and improve coverage for mental health treatment. Let’s take a look in some of the details.

Many ideas that were once thought of as stupid actually turned out to be huge successes. In fact, most of these inventions we can’t live without today.

Take the telephone, for instance. Originally, in 1876, Western Union rejected it, explaining in an internal memo: “The device is inherently of no value to us.”

The automobile was met with similar reservations. The president of Michigan Savings Bank told Henry Ford’s lawyer not to invest in the Ford Motor Company, because: “The horse is here to stay but the automobile is only a novelty, a fad.”

Satellites didn’t seem that useful either. T. Craven, the FCC commissioner, had this to say in 1961: “There is practically no chance communications space satellites will be used to provide better telephone, telegraph, television or radio service inside the United States.”

Is it really possible to snap out of your worries in no time?

It seems so, according to a paper recently published in the journal Medical Hypotheses.

The paper is based on two major assumptions. One is that inward cognitive attention is the cause of all emotional suffering. And two is that emotional suffering can be overcome by simple acts of outward cognitive attention.

Evidence suggests that emotional distress — and all major psychiatric disorders — are associated with a state of excessive inward attention. And inward attention that is excessive in its intensity or duration could easily become pathological or troublesome.

Self-care is the basis for our well-being. And when stress strikes, we especially need to attend to our emotional, physical and spiritual needs and practice nourishing, healthy habits.

But, for many of us, that’s exactly when our self-care dips. We neglect our needs and get trapped in a web of overwhelm.

In her excellent book The Art of Extreme Self-Care author Cheryl Richardson shares a valuable idea that can help: creating a “self-care first-aid kit.”

She describes it as a “well-prepared plan of action put in place before you need to use it. It consists of things you can do on a physical, emotional and spiritual level that will give you comfort, connection and a feeling of steadiness while navigating the rough waters of a crisis.”