5 Ways to Support a Spouse with ADHD and Work as a Team

You love your spouse. You love their compassion, clever sense of humor, spontaneous spirit and many other terrific traits. But you find yourself getting more and more frustrated with them. You find yourself taking on most of the responsibilities, like cleaning and paying the bills. In short, it doesn’t always feel like a 50/50 partnership, said Terry Matlen, MSW, ACSW, a psychotherapist and ADHD coach who also has ADHD. Your spouse is likely just as frustrated as you are. After all, having ADHD can be exhausting. “[Y]our spouse is working 10 times harder than someone without ADHD, just getting through the day,” Matlen said. “For me, ADHD often feels like living in a room with a dozen TVs all at about half volume and each playing a different station,” Dan Perdue explained in this piece. “In that room are also another dozen people having six different conversations at the same time. There are probably several small children running around in circles laughing and squealing, and on the far side of that room is someone trying to get my attention and tell me something important and probably upset with me because I am many times unable to filter out that person from all of the other noise and commotion in that room called my brain.” You and your spouse “work in different time zones”—ADHD time and non-ADHD time, said Nikki Kinzer, PCC, an ADHD coach, author and co-host of Taking Control: The ADHD Podcast. “Tasks usually take longer than [your spouse] expects, s...
Source: World of Psychology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: ADHD and ADD Disorders General Marriage and Divorce Relationships Self-Help Stress ADHD and marriage ADHD and structure ADHD challenges ADHD support ADHD tips ADHD-friendly systems Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Nikki Source Type: blogs