'Managing my finances with ADHD felt overwhelming'

'Managing my finances with ADHD felt overwhelming' 5 hours ago Yolanda ShirinNorfolk A woman has said that managing her finances with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) felt like "holding on to 10 helium balloons in a strong wind".

Laura Bush, 31, from Norwich, said her problems with money began when she took out a credit card before she was diagnosed with the condition in 2023.

Soon she found herself struggling to juggle repayments of thousands of pounds to various lenders, which she said left her feeling overwhelmed.

"The anxiety and the shame of it [the debt], there was one point where it consumed me - it was all I could think about and it's such a hard thing to pull yourself out of," she said.

Adults with ADHD can struggle with organisation, time management, following through on tasks and misplacing items, according to the NHS.

These instances can often come at a financial cost, sometimes referred to as the "ADHD tax", such as paying late fees and penalties for administrative delays, replacing frequently lost items, missing appointments or pre-booked travel, impulsive purchases and budgeting issues. Barbara Sahakian, a neuropsychologist at the University of Cambridge who specialises in ADHD, said the condition affects the brain's frontal lobe, which play a key role in organisation and focus. "It's not laziness, it's the executive dysfunction that makes it difficult. People have trouble focusing their attention and keeping it sustained long enough to complete these tasks," she said. Juggling subscriptions Bush took out a credit card in her late teens to pay for a trip to Rome in instalments.

After later realising she was unable to pay for the trip using the credit card, she began using it for other "impulsive" spending that felt manageable to pay off at the time, which she linked to the dopamine-seeking nature associated with ADHD.

She felt juggling online subscriptions and keeping track of repayments to lenders was "a lot of mental clutter" and typical budgeting methods did not work for her.

"It's not for lack of trying. I've budgeted all my life and it just doesn't click," she said. Bush accrued thousands of pounds of debt across numerous lenders and eventually sought help from the debt advice charity StepChange. "With StepChange, it's just keeping track of one balloon," she said. With the charity's help, Bush has paid off more than half of her debts. I can do it better this time. I've got more knowledge, I've got my diagnosis," she said.

Research by StepChange found 97% of neurodivergent respondents said their condition made managing money harder and 85% of those identified with ADHD.

'My partner doesn't deserve that' Nevaeh Denby, 24, a hospital administrator from Gorleston, Norfolk, who has ADHD said at university she felt she was not able to manage her finances in the same way as her peers and did not notice when debt had "snuck up" on her.

"You don't actually realise you're in trouble until you are in far too deep," she said.

The irregularity of student finance payments made it difficult to budget, which Denby said often caused her to rely on an overdraft alongside income from a part-time job.

While financial pressure is common for many students, Denby said her ADHD made it harder to manage.

She said rejection sensitivity, which is associated with the condition, made feelings of embarrassment or exclusion more intense, sometimes leading her to spend more as the pressure to keep up socially impacted her emotionally.

Denby said she felt "terrified" that her struggles with ADHD might make it difficult for her to build a stable life.

"Having been in debt and having seen myself at my poorest and lowest, you always have that lingering fear you will be like that again," she said. "My partner doesn't deserve that, my family don't deserve to see me like that.

"How am I going to start a family and be financially stable enough to start it?"

Denby said financial services should have stronger safeguards in place for those who have ADHD.

Feelings of shame Angela, 34, the BBC has agreed not to include her surname, said she found her ADHD made navigating the legal system more difficult.

"It's embarrassing, it's debilitating, it's humiliating," she said.

Tasks that might normally only take minutes required lengthy meetings with legal representation.

An email exchange with a solicitor would typically cost her about £35, but because processing complex written communication could be difficult, Angela said she had to arrange face-to-face meetings instead, which were closer to about £250. She said the cost of reasonable adjustments for her neurodivergence amounted to thousands of pounds. Some symptoms of ADHD relate to executive dysfunction, which can cause difficulties with planning, organising and acting on tasks and make it hard to complete tasks even when someone knows what needs to be done.

"We don't need to be made to feel any worse about ourselves than we already do.

"If I could turn [ADHD] off, I would," she said.

Angela, who found out she had ADHD aged 29, said an earlier diagnosis might have helped her navigate her symptoms and feelings of shame.

"A lot of people experience grief after diagnosis because you're able to look back on your life and think, 'Oh, it wasn't because I was lazy, it wasn't because I was a failure'," she said.

Accessible systems In a survey, StepChange found more than 60% neurodivergent respondents had not reached out to lenders or debt advice specialists for help and among those who did, only one in three disclosed their condition when speaking to them.

Simon Trevethick, from StepChange, said: "We know neurodivergence is an extra barrier to people reaching out for help, whether that's because they don't feel neurodivergence will be given extra allowances or whether they feel it will hold them back. "

The charity said it hoped to see financial systems become more accessible for people with ADHD through clearer communication and better training to provide specialist support. The Department of Health and Social Care said: "We understand the challenges facing those with neurodevelopmental conditions such as ADHD.

"An independent review launched in December will help inform our future approach to care, including support at an earlier stage. "

The Law Society of England and Wales said, in line with the Equality Act 2010, solicitors were legally required to make reasonable adjustments such as communicating in person or by phone rather than in writing to ensure "all clients can access justice".

If this was not possible, it said professionals should find an alternative at no extra cost.

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