How ADHD Affects Memory
Tips For Managing Forgetfulness
Many of us who have ADHD struggle with forgetfulness. We may forget appointments, where we put important items, multiple step directions, forgotten promises, and more. Sometimes this makes our friends and loved ones feel hurt, and then we feel as if we have personally failed or are just lazy.
However, forgetfulness is not laziness nor a personal failure. This is a very common challenge that many people with ADHD face because of the way our brains are wired. It’s not a sign of whether we care or not, it’s because of how ADHD impacts our brains.
How ADHD Impacts Forgetfulness
ADHD most impacts our working memory and our prospective memory. Working memory is what helps you hold onto information long enough to act on it. Prospective Memory is the ability to remember to do something in the future. For example, “I have a meeting on Friday” or “I have to pay this bill next week.”
People with ADHD are typicaly more easily distracted, which makes it harder to complete tasks in a linear fashion. Interruptions are likely to throw an ADHD person off-task (even if the interruption is their own thoughts). In addition ADHD people often struggle with time blindness, having a difficult time understanding or estimating the passage of time.
ADHD can cause people to have a diffult time filtering out unnecessary information, making their brains overloaded with information, leading to increased forgetfulness.
Common Ways ADHD-Related Forgetfulness Shows Up
Some of the ways that ADHD-Related Forgetfulness Show Up Are:
- Forgetting to do daily routine tasks – for example feeding the dog, locking the door, or brushing teeth.
- Inability to remember a phone number long enough to write it down or dial the phone.
- Missed deadlines, appointments, or important dates
- Lost Items like keys, wallets, phones, remote controls, etc.
- Struggle with multi-step directions, like simple recipes.
Tips for Managing Forgetfulness with ADHD
Here are a few tips that might help managing forgetfulness.
- Use External Memory Aids – This could be digital or paper calendars to keep track of appointments and deadlines, it can be alarms and calendar reminders for important tasks and meetings, Digital or paper To Do lists to manage steps in projects, or something else that works for you.
- Establish Routines – This is easier said than done, but one of the things that works best for ADHD folks, despite resistence, is routine. This works because once it is a habit there is less reliance on memory.
- Cue It Up – Use visual cues and sticky notes where you will see them. Set things up to cue yourself for success. For example if brushing your teeth every morning is already a habit, put your morning meds next to your tooth brush as a visual cue.
- Practice the Pause and Check In Method – Try to get in the habit of taking 30 seconds to pause, take a breath, and do a mental check in with yourself. “What is my goal now, what is my next step?”
- Explore Technological Supports – Try out apps like Trello or Notion for organizing thoughts and voice memos or smart speakers like Alexa for quick reminders or additions to lists.
- Divide and Conquer – If you have other people in your support system willing to help, consider dividing the things to remember. For example – one person takes on the shopping lists and another person remembers the family’s important dates and anniversaries.
- Extra Help – Seek out additional help via coaching, skills building, therapy or whatever works for you to help build these strategies.
Reach Out For More Help
If you’d like more support with your ADHD, or helping your child manage their ADHD, book a time to chat with me about how coaching with me can help your family.
Don’t Delay Joy
Kat Sweeney, MCLC