ADHD Burnout: Understanding Symptoms and Recovery Methods

Individuals who have attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may find that daily tasks are challenging and require additional energy and mental load. This is because ADHD’s symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity may make it harder to maintain productivity, stay organized or remember plans. Some people with ADHD excel in work or school but can become exhausted and experience ADHD burnout.¹

Many of those with ADHD experience episodes of prolonged physical or emotional exhaustion due to overstimulation or emotional fatigue, and these episodes often form a cycle where they take on a project, see stress build and then withdraw.¹However, once these individuals can identify that they’re in the ADHD burnout cycle, they can intervene, extract themselves and adopt sustainable habits to avoid a repetitive cycle.

What is ADHD Burnout?

To understand what ADHD burnout is, it is important to grasp that burnout, in general, refers to significant physical and emotional exhaustion and cognitive weariness.¹ You can feel burnt out when your workload is immense or when you’re going through a stressful period in your life, such as losing a loved one or buying a new house. However, for those with ADHD, the process of managing ADHD symptoms – a daily requirement – can be physically, mentally and emotionally draining, leading to ADHD burnout.

Burnout can cause you to lose interest in regular activities and withdraw from projects that feel impossible to complete. Adding ADHD to the mix can make these feelings worse as those with ADHD have to work harder to do what others can accomplish with little effort.² This can leave those with ADHD feeling as though their best is not good enough, contributing to the emotional drain of the ADHD burnout cycle.

There are other causes of burnout in those with ADHD. For instance, those with ADHD may overcommit, taking on numerous tasks and responsibilities, which can lead to feeling overwhelmed.³ Striving for perfectionism – a common coping mechanism for those with ADHD – can lead to increased stress levels and unattainable standards. When those with ADHD constantly strive for these standards but cannot meet them, it can lead to emotional fatigue and an ADHD breakdown.

Time mismanagement is another challenge often experienced by those with ADHD, and it can contribute to physical burnout since it leaves you with an excessively high workload and very little time to complete all tasks.¹

While ADHD can contribute to burnout, it can also make it hard to recover. This is because ADHD can impact your ability to regulate stress, a key component of stopping burnout. Research suggests that those with ADHD often rely on less effective strategies for managing their emotions, which can hinder the ADHD burnout recovery process.⁴

ADHD Burnout Symptoms and Signs

ADHD burnout symptoms can differ from person to person, but the following are some common examples:⁴

ADHD Burnout Physical Symptoms

When burnt out, you may experience heightened physical responses where everything feels more extreme and bothersome.

The ADHD burnout physical symptoms can include:⁴ 

• Fatigue
• Headaches
• Muscle tension
• Sleep issues

Emotional and Mental Symptoms of ADHD Burnout

It isn’t just your physical body that can display symptoms of burnout; your mind and emotional state can also be affected.⁴ Those with ADHD are more susceptible to these signs of burnout than those without ADHD because of the impulsivity and emotional dysregulation that can come from ADHD. Essentially, ADHD already makes these tasks harder, and when burnt out, your grasp of control is even more challenging to maintain.

Emotional and mental ADHD burnout symptoms can include:⁴

• Emotional detachment or sensitivity
• Lack of motivation
• Irritability
• Frustration

Those with ADHD may have to work harder to complete everyday tasks, which maximizes their mental load. When the ADHD burnout cycle sets in, they may feel excessively tired and frustrated because their best seems to fall short of what others can do with ease. This can cause individuals to become irritated when everything seems to go wrong and then withdraw from projects because they lack the motivation to continue.

Behavioral Changes and Cognitive Impact

When burned out, it’s common to experience poor focus, avoidance behaviors, increased procrastination and difficulty completing tasks.⁴ Your mind is overwhelmed, and it’s hard to push past that to complete your work.

This is due, in large part, to the executive dysfunction that those with ADHD experience as a result of the disorder disrupting how they manage their thoughts and actions. Executive dysfunction can include difficulty focusing, planning or carrying out a task and issues with finding the motivation to start a difficult or uninteresting task.¹These challenges are similar to what you experience when burned out, which is why ADHD can make burnout even worse. With ADHD, the lack of motivation and focus builds on the ADHD burnout cycle.

The ADHD Burnout Cycle

Individuals with ADHD can experience a cycle where daily demands pile up, motivation dissipates, stress builds and ADHD burnout becomes worse. The repeated cycle can make it difficult to disrupt the pattern and achieve relief.

What is the ADHD Burnout Cycle?

ADHD burnout typically follows a cyclical pattern of intense productivity and then exhaustion. This exhaustion then prompts procrastination, creating another period where intense productivity is required, leading to more fatigue.

Here is an example of what the ADHD burnout cycle may look like:⁴

1. Responsibility: You need to study for an exam requiring focus, attention and productivity.
2. Symptom Interference: Despite your intentions, ADHD symptoms begin to take hold, leading to a lack of time management, distraction and difficulty focusing on studying.
3. Increased Stress Levels: You start to feel test anxiety and may even question how capable you are of taking or completing the exam.
4. Unhealthy Coping: To alleviate these negative feelings, you may exhibit avoidance and procrastination, but this makes it more challenging to study.
5. Giving Up: As the stress levels build and you feel overwhelmed by studying, you may quit or skip the exam.
6. Overcommitting: After quitting one task, you may feel guilty and cope with these feelings by overcommitting to future responsibilities, leading to more stress and anxiety. As such, the ADHD burnout cycle starts anew.

The Emotional and Physical Toll of ADHD and the Burnout Cycle

When you’re in the cycle, it’s common to experience ADHD burnout. Eventually, every task may feel overwhelming, and you lose belief in your ability to complete simple tasks. When stressed, you may even have a hard time controlling your emotions, leading to irritability, crying, yelling, withdrawal and breakdowns.

It’s possible to break out of the ADHD burnout cycle, but depending on how long you’ve been in it, ADHD burnout recovery may be a long road. It takes time to improve your well-being and change your habits to prevent the cycle from restarting.

How to Recover from ADHD Burnout

ADHD burnout poses a challenge for those with ADHD and can be destructive. However, once you understand why burnout occurs and its cyclical nature, it’s possible to recover and prevent future episodes.

ADHD Burnout Recovery Strategies

If you’re noticing the signs of ADHD burnout, try the following to help recover:⁴

• Prioritize self-care and rest. This can include integrating mindfulness into your day to lower stress levels, taking breaks from your work to avoid becoming overwhelmed and prioritizing sleep. When you have ADHD, your body may have a more difficult time regulating stress, so take these extra steps to give your stress response a boost.⁵
• Try interventions. Learning strategies to manage your ADHD symptoms from a professional, such as a cognitive behavioral therapist or occupational therapist (OT), may also help you recover from ADHD burnout and prevent future episodes. A speech-language pathologist (SLP) may help you plan, organize, and prevent future ADHD burnout symptoms.⁶
• Set realistic expectations. ADHD burnout often stems from unrealistic expectations and overcommitment, so set goals that are attainable to help prevent future burnout.

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Build Sustainable Habits

To prevent future burnout, strengthen your arsenal of productivity tools and habits. For instance, use time management tools and ADHD-friendly productivity hacks to stick to a schedule and prevent a last-minute cramming session. It may be tough to implement this at once, so alter your behaviors gradually. Taking on too much without giving yourself time to learn the best way to implement each ADHD burnout recovery technique increases your odds of giving up on all habits.

FAQs on ADHD Burnout

What does ADHD burnout feel like?

If burned out, you may feel emotional and mental symptoms (e.g., feeling overwhelmed, disconnected, helpless or on edge) and physical symptoms (e.g., headaches, insomnia, stomach issues, neck/shoulder pain and recurrent illness).⁴ADHD burnout can feel different for everyone, and one person’s experience may not match your own.

How long does ADHD burnout last?

How long it takes to recover from ADHD burnout can vary based on how severe burnout is and how long you’ve been in the cycle. Recovery length can also vary based on your coping strategies: if you already have strategies, you may recover faster than if you need to learn them. You may also recover faster from ADHD burnout if you work with a professional, such as an occupational therapist or physical therapist (PT), and participate in therapy.⁴

How to reverse ADHD burnout?

If you feel burned out, take action. Set boundaries, avoid overcommitting, seek professional support (such as through occupational therapy) and pace yourself with tasks to avoid overstimulation.

Understanding ADHD Burnout

Those with ADHD are more susceptible to burnout because the symptoms of ADHD can cause you to put off work until you have a lot of tasks to complete in very little time. As stress mounts, you may begin to feel incapable of achieving your goals, which can ultimately lead to burnout. Thanks to ADHD, you may also experience a more significant emotional toll with burnout, furthering your poor mood.

If you’d like to find ways to support those experiencing ADHD burnout, you may want to consider a career that allows you to work directly with these individuals. USAHS offers specialized graduate health sciences degree programs you canapply to in occupational therapy (OT) and physical therapy (PT), speech-language pathology, as well as graduate nursing programs to better support those with ADHD and burnout.

Sources

1. Turjeman-Levi, Y., Itzchakov, G., and Engel-Yeger, B, “Executive function deficits mediate the relationship between employees’ ADHD and job burnout,” AIMS public health, March 12, 2024: 11(1), 294–314,https://doi.org/10.3934/publichealth.2024015.
2. Álvarez-Godos, M., Ferreira, C. and Vieira, M. J, “A systematic review of actions aimed at university students with ADHD,” Frontiers in Psychology, July 6, 2023: 14, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1216692.
3. Oscarsson M, et al. “Stress and work-related mental illness among working adults with ADHD: a qualitative study,” BMC Psychiatry, November 30, 2022: 22(1), 751, https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-022-04409-w.
4. “ADHD Burnout: Cycle, Symptoms, and Causes,” ADDA-Attention Deficit Disorder Association,” Attention Deficit Disorder Association (ADDA), October 11, 2024, https://add.org/adhd-burnout/.
5. “Navigating Stress and ADHD: Tips to Reduce Triggers and Relieve Stress,” ADDA-Attention Deficit Disorder Association, November 10, 2023, https://add.org/stress-and-adhd/.
6. Alexis Irazoque, “How Speech Therapy Can Help Adults with ADHD,” Expressable, May 20, 2024, https://www.expressable.com/learning-center/adults/how-speech-therapy-can-help-adults-with-adhd.