ADHD, Anxiety, and Depression: Understanding the Links

Read Time: 8 minutes

Sometimes, challenges with mental health are hard to navigate. Even more so when the things that you’re feeling seem like they could be easily caused by a few different conditions. 

One of the most common examples I see on the daily: Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Anxiety, and Depression. Is it one? Two? All three? Without knowing some of the differences, it can cause one or all to be missed. 

The truth is that all three can co-exist within one person, yet when they do, a lot of providers miss part of the diagnosis. It’s important to know the difference between the three, how they are similar, and which might need to be treated and how. The difference between ADHD, anxiety, and depression is that ADHD is a chronic condition or disability that impacts one’s neurodevelopment, depression is a mood disorder that affects one’s mental state of being, and anxiety is an intense feeling of persistent worry and fear. And like I said above, a person can have all three at once, or both, or just one at a time.  

ADHD is a hot topic these days. Whether it is a diagram on Instagram, a self-assessment on TikTok or a list of ADHD symptoms on Facebook, some of us see these and self-proclaim that we have ADHD. ADHD is a disability that means a person’s brain works differently than many people’s brains. Instead of being able to sit at a desk and concentrate, for example, someone with ADHD might need to fidget or move around. Instead of being able to focus on one piece of media at once, like a movie, someone with ADHD might be watching said movie, scrolling through TikTok, and tapping a tune all at the same time. There are many ways that ADHD manifests (Attention Regulation, Distractibility, Impulsivity, Hyperactivity, Time Management, Organization, Forgetfulness, Procrastination, Dysregulation, etc.) Whatever the way, having ADHD means trying to manage a neurodiverse way of thinking in a neurotypical system of operating.

On the other hand, anxiety can sometimes feel like your best friend who likes to come over without texting, without even knocking. How rude! For real, though, if you are just worried about something, and you see evidence in front of you that your worry is something you don’t need to bother yourself about, you might just move on. With anxiety, sometimes even evidence that your anxiety is not rational doesn’t help. Having the evidence means you might start hyperfocusing on it and start thinking of every possible outcome…good, bad, or neutral. And even if for some reason the evidence does soothe you, having anxiety means you might move onto something else to be unsettled about anyway - maybe you rush into the bathroom to make sure you didn’t leave the hair straightener plugged in, and you didn’t. YAY! But you did have an awkward interaction with a stranger a month ago in a gas station that you haven’t been able to stop thinking about...

Moving right along, depression is a state of being, more than anything. You exist with what can seem like a permanent lack of energy and dread. Depression is more than just being sad, it is like feeling hopeless. And not just for a little bit… but consistently. It also means that in this state, things that once brought you joy no longer do - instead you might be left with a hollow feeling from things that might have otherwise made you excited. It can feel like you’ve stopped at a stop sign even though you have been stopped there at the same place for what feels like a millenia.

All three of these conditions have overlapping symptoms - that is, they all have symptoms that could be caused by one or all three of them. They also have symptoms that are distinct to each one. It’s not as clear cut as we’d sometimes like it to be. Working through that can be difficult, especially because usually a “normal” amount of depression, anxiety, and maybe an inability to concentrate, is to be expected for everyone. 

After all, we all have moments of anxiety. We all have moments in which we are sad, and we all definitely have moments when we can’t concentrate. 

Inside Out really did a lot to put the spotlight on the feeling of sadness: preteen Riley is dealing with a move, but inside her head is where it gets interesting, as we meet the emotions Anger, Sadness, Joy, Fear, and Disgust. One of the main takeaways of the movie is that not only did the emotion Sadness not realize her own worth, but Joy thought that, well, everything had to always be joyful. 

One of the biggest takeaways from this movie is the idea that all our emotions are important - like I always say, our brain does not create anything it doesn't need. This means that even negative feelings, like sadness, fear, or anger, are important to us and we each need to take the time to develop a healthy relationship with those emotions, even when it doesn’t necessarily feel good. Because here’s the thing, we need sadness to also know when we are joyful, just like we need anger in order to know respect and justice. 

This ties into the topic at hand because anxiety and depression work in a very similar way. You can’t have depression without anxiety, but you can have anxiety without depression. The reason why this is, is because depression is informed by anxiety. Anxiety basically acts as an alert system for your brain, anxiety is one of our security systems. Of course sometimes it can be on the fritz a bit, but it’s there to tell you if something is off - including if you are feeling depressed, which is why sometimes depression and anxiety work as a team. That is also why you can have anxiety without depression, as it can be alerting you of something else (like maybe if you forgot to do something really important, but you have ADHD and you often experience forgetfulness).

All of that being said, let’s go over some common symptoms of ADHD, depression, and anxiety.

ADHD can sometimes be the one with the most varied symptoms:

• Difficulty starting tasks (specifically because you become overwhelmed with the thought of starting)

• Time blindness (easily losing track of time to an extreme degree)

• Hyper-fixating on something you enjoy (concentrating on it while ignoring other things needing to be taken care of)

• Poor planning skills

• A poor working memory

Symptoms of anxiety, on the other hand, can include:

• Fear of situations

• A sense of impending danger or panicking

• Trembling

• Hyperventilating

• Sweating

• Increased heart rate

• Catastrophizing

Finally, signs of depression can include:

• Easily falling asleep but waking up throughout the night 

• Finding it harder to complete tasks because of a lack of energy

• Finding it harder to just “move on” from emotions no matter what they are

• Feeling numb or a consistent lack of feelings

• Changes in your regular weight

This is where things can get a bit nerve-racking if you’re like me and display symptoms of two or all three. Both anxiety and ADHD share symptoms of stimming, which usually - but not always - looks like rapid movements with one’s eyes, mouth, hands, or legs so as to remain stimulated. Other traits that someone who is depressed as well as someone with ADHD might share is the tendency to be easily distracted and restless, difficulty controlling emotions, and the tendency to be impulsive. 

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Someone with depression and someone with ADHD might also share symptoms: executive dysfunction (when you really know you need to do something, like write a blog, for example, but you have other things to do, can’t decide on one thing to do, and therefore, you basically do nothing), a lack of motivation, difficulty concentrating, a loss of interest in things they used to enjoy, and putting off contacting their friends. 

And someone with anxiety and depression might share these symptoms: low self- esteem, a lack of energy, and in someone with a uterus, changes to a menstrual cycle. 

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At the end of the day, none of these have a cure - they have accommodations.vAnd on top of that, there are reasons why we need all three if we are diagnosed with them. The point is not to be able to cure them or even always to lessen them, but to be able to befriend them and understand them, to get to know ourselves better. Depression can provide an opportunity to stop and try to listen to the reasons behind your depression. It acts like a speed bump, forcing us to slow down and take stock of our values and what is causing us to feel hopeless. Anxiety can easily function as a tool to remind you of something you really needed to do for your safety. Plus, an extreme amount of anxiety can signal an imbalance in your physical and emotional needs being met. And ADHD? Well, it can provide a huge increase in your productivity and creativity when it's being met with proper care and understanding.

ADHD, Anxiety, Depression...all three can be diagnosed, better understood, and more easily managed if you are given the tools to do so. If you think any of these symptoms in this blog sound familiar to you, or you think have one or any of these diagnoses, you can reach out both to a primary care physician or a therapist for diagnosis.

Until next time.

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About Our Author | Lena McCain MA, LPC. 0017723

Lena McCain is our Founder here at Interfaith Bridge Counseling, where she continues her support as our Clinical Director. She also holds a Master of Arts degree in Clinical Mental Health: Mindfulness-Based Transpersonal Counseling Psychology from Naropa University.

Lena’s drive and passions lie in the realm of community building and youth collaboration, which she has spent the last 12 years studying with an emphasis on one’s exploration of personal growth, community healing, and multicultural values. Lena’s expertise in these areas and the therapeutic field acts as a reminder to our community, teens, and young adults that they are not alone in their experience of life.