Imagine you've had a long day, and your practice is full. You have a day's worth of progress notes to write but do not know where to start. Maybe you're struggling to remember what happened in your first session this morning or have fallen behind and feel overwhelmed. You may do something else entirely because the focus isn't there.
The more you avoid it, the bigger the problem becomes; soon, you may feel like you're drowning in piles of notes and unfinished documentation. If you have ADHD, focusing, sitting, and doing the task may be challenging. Neurodivergent brains may find these tasks boring and therefore put them off, and it can just keep piling up and creating anxiety.
If this sounds like you, there are some tools and tricks for completing progress notes you may not know about. For example, Mentalyc is a HIPAA-compliant AI that records psychotherapy sessions with your client's permission and writes progress notes in less than two minutes.
In our user-reported surveys, many individuals have stated they have ADHD. Using time-saving tools to focus on more critical aspects of your practice can help and has helped many of our users.
✅ SOAP, DAP, EMDR, Intake notes and more
✅ Individual, Couple, Child, Family therapy types
✅ Recording, Dictation, Text & Upload Inputs
Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a mental health disorder that can cause many disruptions and be very distressing and overwhelming to the person dealing with it. Many individuals with ADHD have trouble remaining focused and holding attention to tasks. They may also have difficulty ignoring distractions or become overstimulated by sensory input.
While many people have a picture of what ADHD looks like in children, it may present differently for adults. Often people with ADHD can become overwhelmed quickly, have difficulty with emotional regulation, and tasks that require executive functioning skills can be challenging. The brains of individuals with ADHD are different than those who are neurotypical.
Research from 2021 discusses that 2.5%-5% of adults have ADHD, and many are undiagnosed due to a lack of research and understanding from clinicians. ADHD is also comorbid with many other mental health issues, such as depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, and substance use disorders, among many others.
Adults with ADHD may have difficulty maintaining relationships and have challenges in occupational settings. The same research discusses that people with ADHD often have difficulty obtaining and maintaining employment, procrastinate, become easily distracted, miss work, and have poor time management skills. While many people misunderstand ADHD, there are tools, tricks, and systems clinicians can use to help alleviate some of these challenges.
ADHD can impact mental health clinicians in many ways. As one of our users, Tiffany, has discussed in an interview, having ADHD, Dyslexia, being hard of hearing, a vision impairment, and congenital disabilities have impacted her practice, and she had to find tools to make it easier for her.
She discussed having trouble recalling information and difficulty with her memory as well as processing information. Processing information is challenging for many people with ADHD, making it hard to remember what your clients discussed or prioritize your sessions' content. If you also have difficulty with time management skills, knowing what to focus on can be challenging, or you may have trouble scheduling client sessions.
For various forms of documentation, ADHD can be stressful. Here are some challenges you might face during each step of documentation:
While each part of the documentation can present unique barriers to being proficient at documentation, there are tools and systems you can implement to make it easier on yourself.
