How ADHD can amplify the triggers and responses of the threat system

ADHD can make an athlete over sensitive to threats. Again, there are lots of potential reasons for this:

• Personality traits (such as perfectionism which is very common in ADHD
• Unfairness (which shows up a lot as justice is a common value of important for those with ADHD)
• High intelligence (it is thought those with ADHD have, on average, higher intelligence than the neurotypical population, but it does mean their brain becomes very good at predicting the worst) 
• External pressures (from having done well in the past or having messed up in the past – remember that a child with ADHD will have received 20,000 pieces of negative feedback by the age of 10))
• Mono-identity (sport being their everything and giving them all of their self-worth, especially is they are regularly told off in school)
• Previous experiences (like having been bullied or publicly criticised) 
• Possible future experiences (knowing that people around them are judgemental). 

In the next module we will look at some tools to help your athlete soothe and stay in control of their threat system so they can perform better in your sessions and competitions.