Weird Ways ADHD Might Be Impacting Your Relationships

“People with ADHD Self-Medicate with Conflict and Drama.” This is the sentence, the title of an online article, that led to one of our kid’s ADHD diagnosis… not being disruptive in the classroom, not underperforming at school, and not complaints from teachers.

My training did not prepare me for the myriad of ways ADHD can impact relationships. I left my master’s and Ph.D. programs with minimal knowledge of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and thought of it mostly as a disorder that impacts productivity and looks like disruptive boys in a classroom. It’s so much more than that.

Since that diagnosis, I’ve learned a lot about the ADHD brain. Professionally, through this new lens, I’ve watched ADHD-related relationship issues play out in my office with couples over and over again, and while the list of th ...