This week we turn our attention to the role of needs with respect to our own unique lived experience. Needs often are overlooked when it comes to ADHD primarily because of the very nature of needs. They operate often quietly in the background, and when they do make their presence known they show up as stressors. Needs are those things that make functioning sustainable. When needs go unattended they turn into stressors.

Those of us with ADHD use stressors to get things done, and we often walk a fine line between stimulation and stress. Cam brings his Hierarchy of ADHD Needs model to illustrate what they are and how needs depend on one’s own unique lived experience. Based on Maslow’s work, the hosts discuss how the model is more of a prompt than something to be taken literally.

Ash and Cam use multiple examples to discuss how needs intertwine with values and how recognizing and honoring needs is at the root of living authentically. Cam shares a client story of how the client can only generate hope when he addresses three specific needs. And with ADHD, the dilemma is remembering our own recipe of specific needs. 

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Cam Gott’s Hierarchy of ADHD Needs
The model and specific ADHD distinctions:
Physiological ADHD Needs - brain awareness leads to better brain management
Safety ADHD Needs - identifying relief from daily stressors
Belongingness and Love ADHD Needs - positive environments that honor your authentic self
Esteem ADHD Needs - the need for self compassion and creative action and completion
Self-Actualization ADHD Needs - creative expression and connecting to something bigger than yourself.

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