Mindfulness training can help people with ADHD

What positive effects have you observed in young people when they use mindfulness compared to other forms of relaxation?

The aim of mindfulness is to teach young people to be present in the moment and to accept their own thoughts, feelings, and experiences without judgment or self-criticism. This can help them with attention, emotion, and stress regulation.

Our research project Healthy Learning Mind has, for many years, investigated the impacts of mindfulness training among Finnish schoolchildren and adolescents. The studies have shown many positive effects on students’ well-being. Compared to other forms of relaxation, such as training in bodily relaxation, mindfulness can especially strengthen resilience, life satisfaction, and health-related quality of life, while also reducing stress. In addition, the training particularly benefits girls by reducing depressive symptoms.

However, the differences compared to other methods are not always clear. It seems that the effects vary somewhat between individuals. It is especially important that young people are motivated to practice, and that the skills are taught by sufficiently trained instructors and teachers – then the benefits are greatest.

How does mindfulness work for people with ADHD?

The core of ADHD-like symptoms lies in difficulties regulating attention, activity level, and emotions – and according to many studies, mindfulness training can at best help to alleviate these challenges. However, its effectiveness seems to depend on how the practices are implemented and on the individual characteristics of the participants.

On the other hand, it appears that not all individuals with ADHD symptoms find mindfulness training natural. In school settings, universal programs designed for the whole class but not tailored to the special support needs of these young people have proven to be too difficult, burdensome, or demotivating.

In my view, the practices should be kept short, concrete, and varied, so that they do not exhaust or frustrate students who already have ADHD symptoms. In addition, the school staff should provide sufficient support and enable practice, for example, in small groups where it is calmer and with fewer external distractions. Some individuals may also find more active, functional methods more natural, in which case learning mindfulness can take place better through mindful movement or yoga-type exercises.

Who benefits most from mindfulness training, when comparing different personality traits?

Among young people, research in this area is still in its early stages. When we compared five different personality traits (extraversion, neuroticism, openness to experiences, agreeableness, and conscientiousness), it seemed that some differences could be observed.

In particular, introverted adolescents may benefit the most from mindfulness training. Such individuals naturally turn inward to observe their own experiences. Mindfulness practice can therefore be seen as “matching” this natural tendency, and thus these adolescents may be more ready to adopt the exercises as well as be more motivated to practice at home.

According to our preliminary research, individuals with low agreeableness – that is, those who tend to be critical and straightforward – could also benefit from the practice. Learning the new skill of acceptance and compassion could have a corrective, “antidote”-like effect on the tendency to be critical, thereby promoting well-being.

In adults, research has strongly shown that neurotic individuals – those who are emotionally unstable – achieve the greatest benefits. These individuals typically have poor emotion regulation skills, so mindfulness offers them new tools for dealing with difficult emotions. Among young people, we did not find similar results. Adolescents’ emotion regulation skills are in a state of rapid change, which may lead to different responses to mindfulness training from those of adults’ effects.

In general, it is important to note that mindfulness training is suitable for different kinds of individuals. One approach does not always fit everyone – one person may benefit most from a calm breathing awareness exercise at home, while another benefits from a movement-based practice. For a third person, the group’s support and a sense of community may be most important. Overall, the decisive factor seems to be that the practices are done regularly.