Therapy

The Dorn Clinic specializes in treating and diagnosing adult Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Anxiety.

While these two disorders present very similarly, they have entirely different origins. Proper diagnosis is critical in receiving the most appropriate and effective treatment. That is our specialty- astutely diagnosing symptoms, exploring root causes, and offering treatment. Working with a clinician who has the right training and expertise is even more important given research revealing that approximately eighty percent of people with adult ADHD also suffer from co-occurring anxiety, depression, or substance abuse. Treatment can become very complicated and complex, very quickly. Discover more about how adult ADHD and anxiety may manifest in your life below.

Additionally, The Dorn Clinic has expertise in and provides individual therapy for:

  • Grief 

  • Trauma

  • Depression

  • Body focused repetitive behaviors (hair pulling, skin picking)

  • A range of other issues and challenges that can lead to distress and disrupt your daily life.

It’s often challenging to articulate the exact source of your difficulties or struggles. The descriptions below may better reflect what you're experiencing and where you might need support. We frequently work with individuals who are facing:

  • Communication difficulties

  • Problems boundary setting

  • lack of meaning in life

  • relationship problems

  • life changes

  • anxiety and stress management

  • Feeling down and not knowing why

If you're uncertain whether you fall into any of these categories, we’d be happy to schedule a brief consultation call to gain a better understanding of your situation, what you may need support with, and whether we’re the right fit for you. Please reach out to us.

Information on adult ADHD

ADHD and anxiety can present identically. Symptoms of both include but are not limited to:

  • Difficulty regulating strong emotions

  • Trouble calming down from excitement or upset

  • Trouble focusing on a task

  • Trouble concentrating

  • Perseverating (getting stuck on an idea) to the exclusion of all things around you

  • People pleasing

  • Difficulty listening to others or interrupting others

  • Perfectionism

  • Forgetfulness

  • Loss of time

  • Sleep procrastination

ADHD is a disorder of impaired self-regulation and deficits in executive functioning.

Executive functions are defined as:

  • Self-regulation in the form of self-directed behaviors used to specify and organize goal-directed plans

  • Ability to implement and sustain actions over time toward these goals to achieve outcomes that will benefit you

  • Focusing on continued action, even when the desired outcomes aren't immediate and for which there may even be short term costs

Some of the skills you will learn in therapy to manage deferred outcomes and tedious tasks are time and task management, breaking tasks down into behavioral components, being aware of procrastination and escape behaviors, catching automatic thoughts and thinking traps related to task interfering behaviors, among others.