Several years ago, one of my former psychiatrists diagnosed me with adult ADHD in addition to OCD. She started me on Ritalin, but I hated the way it made me feel. I was also told it is difficult to treat both ADHD and OCD with medication, so I ultimately decided to continue with OCD meds only.
When I attended the OCD and Anxiety Treatment Center this summer, however, I learned that people with OCD are often misdiagnosed with ADHD. Everything started to make sense. When one ruminates continuously on the past or future, as someone with OCD does, it makes it difficult to focus on the present.
Last year, I had a particularly difficult time focusing for several months and I spent a lot of time beating myself up about it. I found that coloring gave my mind a place to focus; yet, I was miraculously attentive to what was going on around me. I’m not sure how it worked; I just know that it did. Over time, I found I didn’t need to color as much, especially as I learned to be gentler with myself. I still carry my coloring book with me and pull it out from time to time, but with less frequency. This pic is my most recently completed page.
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