ADHD Overwhelm: Causes, Consequences, and Science-Backed Solutions

Written By Micah Saviet

Feeling Overwhelmed? You are not alone!

If you have ADHD you may feel overwhelmed at times, perhaps more often than your neurotypical friends or family members. This feeling of overwhelm can show up as emotional reactivity, difficulty managing tasks and keeping track of time, and even a feeling of shutdown or mental paralysis. Sound familiar?

Why does this occur?

Difficulties with executive functions (planning, prioritizing, organizing, etc.), emotional regulation, and sensory processing are all part of ADHD. Each of these can contribute to feeling overwhelmed. 

What does the research say?

It is well documented that ADHD is associated with executive functioning difficulties in areas such as (see Brown, 2025):

  • Activation

  • Focus

  • Effort

  • Emotion

  • Memory

  • Action

A 2023 systematic review (a thorough review of existing literature) also found that adults with ADHD are less effective in regulating emotions, and the more severe the ADHD symptoms, the more challenging the individual’s emotional regulation. The study also found that patterns of brain activity among adults with and without ADHD may contribute to these differences in emotional regulation. 

Difficulties in both executive functioning and emotional regulation contribute to overwhelm. It’s not your fault - but there is help!

(Read on to learn more.)

What do we know about causes of overwhelm?

  • Executive Function Deficits: Individuals with ADHD often struggle with planning, organizing, prioritizing, and shifting attention, commonly leading to feelings of being overwhelmed and behind. 

  • Emotional “Dysregulation” or Reactivity: ADHD is associated with heightened emotional responses and difficulties managing emotions, which can contribute to feeling overwhelmed. 

  • Sensory Sensitivities: Some individuals with ADHD have heightened sensory sensitivities and can experience sensory overload, where sensory input, such as noise or light, can lead to feelings of overwhelm. 

What are the consequences?

ADHD overwhelm can contribute to high levels of stress, reduced productivity, and even “ADHD shutdown” or mental paralysis when a feeling of being frozen in place makes it hard to take any action.

  • Stress and Burnout: Stress is a common experience for individuals with ADHD, and stress can exacerbate ADHD symptoms and negatively impact mental health and work performance, potentially leading to burnout. 

  • Impact on Work and Academics: ADHD symptoms can significantly affect work productivity, leading to missed deadlines, careless mistakes, and difficulty managing work-related stress. 

  • ADHD Shutdown: Overwhelm can trigger a "shutdown" in individuals with ADHD, a feeling of being mentally frozen, making it difficult to start tasks or interact with others. 

Research-based strategies to manage overwhelm:

A good – and ADHD-specialized - therapist can help you understand what contributes to overwhelm in your life. They can help you develop individualized strategies to reduce and manage ADHD-related overwhelm. Even more importantly, a therapist with expertise in somatic (body-based) approaches, can help you address emotional regulation at the level of the nervous system itself, reducing your overall reactivity. 

Research-based strategies to help with overwhelm can include:

  • Mindfulness and Relaxation: Cultivating practices like mindfulness meditation, yoga, and deep breathing can help reduce stress and improve focus. 

  • Self-Compassion: Learning ways to practice self-compassion and recognizing that ADHD is a neurodevelopmental condition can help reduce feelings of shame and inadequacy. 

  • Prioritization and Task Management: Learning to break down tasks into smaller, manageable steps, prioritizing one task at a time, and avoiding multitasking can help reduce overwhelm. 

  • Time Management Techniques: Using timers, scheduling, and breaking down tasks into smaller steps can help with time management and organization. 

  • Somatic (body-based) Therapy:  Approaches such as EFT “tapping”, brainspotting, and energy psychology, among others, done when working with an experienced therapist, can help you get to the root of emotional regulation issues and find greater ease. 

Free video resource: 

I (Micah Saviet) am a therapist specializing in ADHD and somatic regulation. I work with clients directly to help get their nervous systems more regulated. Contact me for more information!

Here is a video in which I lead you through a 6 minute EFT tapping exercise to address overwhelm.

Conclusion

If you live with ADHD and often feel overwhelmed, know this: you're not alone—and you're not broken. The overwhelm you experience is not a personal weakness, but a natural response to challenges with executive functioning, emotional regulation, and sensory processing.

The good news? There are tools and therapies that can help. From mindfulness and time management to somatic practices like EFT tapping, effective strategies do exist—and they can make a real difference. Working with an ADHD-informed therapist who understands both the brain and the nervous system can empower you to move from shutdown and stress toward greater calm, clarity, and control.

Curious to learn more? Schedule a free consultation today.

References

Micah Saviet