“QuaranTeens with ADHD: Keeping Your Impulsive Teen Safe at Home” [Podcast #296]

In podcast 296, Wes Crenshaw, Ph.D., explains how to keep teens with ADHD safe during a pandemic that requires social distancing from friends, resisting dangerous impulses, and devising a routine that works. Learn how rewards and punishments must change, what family teamwork looks like, and how to counter the dopamine hit of video games.

By Wes Crenshaw, Ph.D. Verified Updated on July 8, 2022

Episode Description

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Whether they have a wide circle or a few close friends, teens are social creatures. Wes Crenshaw, Ph.D., discusses the impacts of social distancing on adolescents with ADHD, particularly when comorbid depression or anxiety are part of the picture.

School and office closures have thrown the nation — and the world — into a tailspin. Families are strained under the pressure of living together 24/7 without their normal, healthy physical, social, and emotional outlets. In many cases, parents are still working and kids are suddenly expected to productively structure their time from a list posted somewhere in Google Classroom.

For teens and young adults with ADHD, this unstructured life isn’t turning out very well. At ADDitude, we recently reached out to our readers for insight into the biggest challenges facing quaran-teens with ADHD today.

In an effort to begin answering those questions and moving toward solutions, we asked Dr. Wes Crenshaw to lend his expertise. He’s the author of I Always Want to Be Where I’m Not: Successful Living with ADD and ADHD (#CommissionsEarned) and a frequent contributor to ADDitude. He’s also got a new book coming out with coauthor Kelsey Daugherty, a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner, titled ADD and Zombies: Fearless Medication Management for ADD and ADHD, (#CommissionsEarned), due out in June and available for pre-order now.

To begin, we’d like to address perhaps the most immediate and serious concern expressed by ADDitude readers — and that is teens with ADHD who are resisting state and national guidelines regarding social distancing. They are sneaking out to see friends. They are disregarding house rules. And they are placing their families at risk. At the same time, their parents are mentally and emotionally exhausted, trying to combat oppositional, defiant behavior with logic and scientific fact that is just not getting through.

Here, Dr. Wes Crenshaw explains why this is happening and how parents can navigate the pandemic with non-compliant teens with ADHD taking into consideration the following:

The heightened emotionality associated with ADHD
The impact of peer pressure
The impact of short-term thinking so common in teens with ADHD
The propensity for children with ADHD to lie as part of a fight, flight, or fib response
The fact that a young adult with ADHD aged 18 has the social and emotional maturity of a 15-year-old yet they are legally an adult, leaving parents with few options

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Meet the Expert Speaker:

Wes Crenshaw, Ph.D., is a licensed psychologist, board certified in Couples and Family Psychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology. Since receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Kansas, Dr. Crenshaw now owns a private practice, Family Psychological Services and sees clients in the greater Kansas City metro area. He is a newspaper columnist and author of the book I Always Want to Be Where I’m Not: Successful Living with ADD and ADHD.| See expert’s full bio »

#CommissionsEarned As an Amazon Associate, ADDitude earns a commission from qualifying purchases made by ADDitude readers on the affiliate links we share. However, all products linked in the ADDitude Store have been independently selected by our editors and/or recommended by our readers. Prices are accurate and items in stock as of time of publication