Living with ADHD can feel like one big emotional rollercoaster where your mind and body are constantly in some inner conflict. On a given day, you may struggle to stay engaged with important tasks or experience intense emotions that feel difficult to regulate. You might resonate with poor impulse control or forgetfulness that affects your quality of life. While leaning into traditional strategies like to-do lists or breathing exercises absolutely help, they don’t always address the full picture.
Somatic therapy for ADHD offers a unique approach: instead of relying solely on intellectual insight, this work deeply focuses on how attention, regulation, and emotions show up physically. By connecting to what’s happening in your body in real time, you can begin to understand your patterns and even feel more grounded in daily life.
Understanding ADHD Symptoms and Your Nervous System
ADHD symptoms correspond with how your autonomic nervous system reacts to stress and stimulation. For example, some people find that they become easily overwhelmed or dysregulated. Others struggle to stay engaged or alert, even when it’s important. It’s also common to fluctuate between both experiences, depending on the day or your current environment.
Holding this perspective can help explain why you may experience:
- persistent patterns of restlessness or fidgeting
- cycles of hyperfocus followed by burnout or exhaustion
- strong emotional reactions that may feel too intense or disproportionate to the situation
- difficulty sustaining attention
- chronic fatigue due to masking
Somatic mind-body therapy honors the ADHD brain by strengthening nervous system regulation in real time. Instead of defaulting to cultivating insight alone, we practice noticing and enhancing regulation together in the here and now.
How ADHD Impacts Your Emotional Regulation and Mental Health
People often reduce ADHD to struggles with attention or productivity. However, ADHD manifests in ways that extend beyond just focus. Untreated or undiagnosed ADHD, in particular, can wreak havoc on your emotional well-being. You may be trying to “fix” yourself via motivation or willpower, which can lead to disappointment and shame. And even if you want to take good care of yourself, certain symptoms can affect how you regulate emotions or connect to others.
Somatic therapy specifically helps address these challenges by tuning into how they can show up both physically and emotionally. You may benefit from this kind of therapy if you’re struggling with:
Frequent emotional intensity: People with ADHD often experience emotions that shift quickly and feel overwhelming. Seemingly small triggers can trigger intense reactions, making it hard to respond calmly.
Difficulties managing sensory overload: You may be sensitive to external stimuli, such as bright lights or loud noises. Excessive sensory input can and does overwhelm the nervous system, causing you to feel irritable or anxious, even if you can’t articulate why.
Chronic impulsivity: Impulsive actions often coincide with ADHD. Although it’s easy to dismiss impulsivity as a discipline issue, it’s far more helpful to consider that your body may be signaling a need for stimulation, comfort, or safety.
Sleep difficulties: Many adults with ADHD struggle with various sleep issues, including restlessness, insomnia, nightmares, or excessive fatigue. Unfortunately, sleep deprivation tends to aggravate ADHD symptoms, making you more prone to irritability or anxiety.
Appetite and eating concerns: ADHD and ADHD medication can affect hunger cues, leading to cycles of irregular eating, disinterest in food, or bingeing. Emotional triggers and impulsivity can also magnify some of these patterns.
While ADHD can’t be cured, managing symptoms and working with the body (instead of against it) can offer a roadmap for a more fulfilling life.
What Is Somatic Mind-Body Therapy?
Somatic therapy for ADHD focuses on strengthening the mind-body connection. Also known as bottom-up processing, somatic therapists deliberately focus on experiencing what’s happening in the body rather than just talking about it.
For example, during sessions, you (or your therapist) might notice how you speak in a softer voice when feeling sad or a tendency to look away when you experience shame. You may feel physical heat when talking about a particular person in your life. Or, you may recognize patterns of dissociation when discussing something associated with a past trauma.
These sensations offer valuable information about how your nervous system responds to various triggers and daily stressors. Over time, leaning into this greater self-awareness can help you feel more empowered and able to engage in life authentically. Learning to sit with your feelings teaches you that you are capable of managing overwhelm, even when it feels temporarily intolerable.
Unlike top-down approaches- which tend to rely on analysis and reflection- somatic therapy and ADHD together emphasize experiencing real feelings in the real present moment. So, instead of just recapping your week or discussing emotions cognitively, you practice noticing and tolerating physical sensations as they arise. If you tend to intellectualize your emotions (as many people do!), somatic therapy for ADHD bridges the gap between comprehending an emotional reaction and actually being able to tolerate it.
How Does Experiential Somatic Therapy Help Adults With ADHD?
Experiential somatic therapy supports ADHD in ways that transcend insight and validation. We’re working with regulation and emotional resilience within the body. We focus on various sensations directly, allowing you to notice patterns and build the capacity between identifying and reacting.
Some of the core ways somatic therapy and ADHD work together include:
Supporting emotional regulation: People with ADHD often experience intense emotions that move quickly and sharply. Learning to notice and also tend to those bodily sensations widens the space between feeling and reacting. This can reduce impulsivity and offer you greater agency over your behavioral choices.
Empowering you to work with your body instead of against it: People with ADHD often resonate with feeling immense pressure to override their impulses or strengthen their willpower. But somatic therapy helps you build curiosity around your impulses or restlessness. This curiosity opens space for listening to what your body may be telling you it needs in a given moment.
Cultivates more self-compassion: ADHD and shame can go hand-in-hand. Many people judge their behaviors as “bad habits” or feel ashamed when they can’t meet certain expectations. Somatic therapy helps you recognize how your body aims to protect and regulate you. From this framework, it’s often easier to tap into curiosity and compassion.
Helps with burnout and exhaustion: Many adults with ADHD resonate with fatigue from masking or pushing themselves to get things done. You may also struggle with emotional numness and feeling detached as a result of burnout. Somatic therapy for ADHD prioritizes the fundamental need to pace yourself based on your individual needs and energy levels. It also addresses the core need for listening to your body’s innate wisdom and resting appropriately.
Builds sensory awareness and focus: By paying attention to how your body reacts to attention or stimulation, you can start noting how certain triggers help or hinder your focus. This insight may help you identify practical adjustments, such as taking more breaks during the day or using soothing techniques, to support your attention in ways that feel manageable.
Supports executive functioning: ADHD impacts daily functioning, which can impact tasks like organization and time management. Somatic therapy helps by grounding deeper attention within the body. This can strengthen mental clarity, allowing you to pause, regroup, and make deliberate choices about how to act.
ADHD, Trauma, and Nervous System Regulation
It’s estimated that 80% of adults with ADHD also have histories of trauma. Trauma affects you both physically and emotionally- it can amplify dysregulation, making it harder to manage impulses, tolerate strong emotions, or feel confident in your relationships. Somatic therapy for ADHD builds upon internal safety and slowly expands your window of tolerance. As you learn how to strengthen your capacity for self-regulation, you can achieve a deeper sense of peace and security.
While each client has different needs, some common somatic techniques include:
Grounding techniques: Grounding techniques orient you to the present moment. This can provide a sense of stability when certain content or emotions feel overwhelming. For example, you may practice noticing how the floor feels beneath your feet or how the weight of your body feels in the chair. We might focus deeply on the sensory details in your environment. By grounding in therapy, you establish some initial blueprints for grounding in life.
Breath awareness: Breath awareness encourages noticing how you inhale and exhale without any judgment. Simply paying attention to breathing helps you land back into your body, and this can help with both dissociation and hyperarousal. In some cases, we may practice deep breathing, allowing you to activate your parasympathetic nervous system. This teaches you how to notice when you’re overwhelmed and need to slow down.
Micro-movements: Micro-movements refer to deliberate body movements to release tension or excess energy. For example, you may gently stretch your neck or sit up straighter. Noticing how those subtle shifts foster a more embodied presence, particularly as you start learning which movements offer you a sense of safety or calm.
Body scanning: Body scans involve systematically noticing where muscular tension or discomfort exists within your body. You may be surprised to recognize how much stored tension you hold! Recognizing such signals allows you to respond intentionally, strengthening self-regulation over time.
Somatic Therapy for ADHD in Seattle, WA
If you’re living with ADHD and struggle to manage your daily life or talk therapy hasn’t provided the relief you’re seeking, somatic therapy may be worth considering. Experiential work can help you build deeper body awareness and feel more connected to your feelings and needs.
I provide online therapy for adults navigating ADHD, anxiety, emotional overwhelm, grief, trauma, and other complex life circumstances. I also specialize in supporting LGBTQ+ clients. My approach emphasizes self-compassion and attunement, and I strive on offering practical strategies that can help you integrate mind-body awareness with everyday life. By working with your body, you can access more inner peace and balance.
If you’re ready to explore somatic therapy for ADHD, I would be honored to speak to you about your needs. Please get in touch to schedule a complimentary consultation.
