Top 10 Research Findings Supporting Emotional Regulation as a Treatment for ADHD


Dr. Lara Honos-Webb

Dr. Lara Honos-Webb

Ph.D. and Clinical Psychologist

Jul 17, 2024

Top 10 Research Findings Supporting Emotional Regulation as a Treatment for ADHD
  1. 1. Parental Influence:

    • Positive parenting mitigates stress's negative effects on children with ADHD, promoting robust hippocampal development (Kahhalé et al., 2023).

  2. 2. Mindful Parenting:

    • Mindfulness increased warmth from parents and helped children with ADHD gain self-control (Evans et al., 2020).

  3. 3. Parental Reappraisal:

    • Challenging rigid thinking and emphasizing positives improve emotional regulation in parents of ADHD children (Shenaar-Golan et al., 2017).

  4. 4. Emotion Regulation Training:

    • Teaching parents to manage their emotions enhances relationships with their children (Arabie et al., 2020).

  5. 5. Positive Expectations:

    • Parents' positive expectations decrease negative experiences with their child and improves mood management (Lench et al., 2013).

  6. 6. Emotion Dysregulation in Adults with ADHD:

    • Emotion dysregulation significantly associates with symptom severity, executive functioning, and psychiatric comorbidities in adults with ADHD (Soler-Gutiérrez et al., 2023).

  7. 7. Academic and Relationship Outcomes:

    • Emotional regulation increases relationships and academic outcomes (Ivcevic, Z., & Eggers, C., 2021).

  8. 8. Primary Symptom in Adult ADHD:

    • Emotional dysregulation is a primary symptom in adult ADHD, suggesting future therapeutic interventions should target adaptive emotion regulation skills (Hirsch et al., 2018).

  9. 9. Emotion Dysregulation and Procrastination:

    • Difficulties in emotion regulation and self-esteem partially account for the relation between ADHD symptoms and procrastination in college students (Bodalski et al., 2023).

  10. 10. Efficacy of Psychosocial Interventions:

    • Psychosocial interventions improve severe irritability and aggressive behavior in children with ADHD and emotional dysregulation (Vacher et al., 2020).

By integrating these research-backed practices, Bonding Health supports stronger parent-child bonds, leading to happier, more fulfilling family lives.

Welcome to Bonding Health: Revolutionizing ADHD Parenting

At Bonding Health, we're dedicated to transforming the way parents support their children with ADHD. Our app is designed to deliver effective, user-friendly solutions that make a real difference in your family's life. We offer suggestions for handling ADHD symptom by symptom rather than generic ADHD parenting advice.

Focus on What Matters

Our approach starts with a clear focus on addressing the essential needs of parents with ADHD children. We believe in the power of simplicity and effectiveness, ensuring that our app provides the most impactful tools without overwhelming you with unnecessary features.

Supporting Parents, Helping Children

Our primary goal is to help parents of children with ADHD by improving their confidence and emotional regulation. We offer tools for flexible thinking and positive expectations, tailored to address specific ADHD symptoms. By focusing on the parent's well-being, we indirectly benefit the child, creating a healthier family dynamic.

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Key Features

Bonding Health concentrates on delivering a few key features designed to provide effective results. Our app includes specific questions that help parents reflect on past successes and envision positive futures for their children. 

Join us on this journey to revolutionize ADHD parenting and create happier, more confident families. Experience the Bonding Health difference today!

The Research Behind Bonding Health

The connection between a child's emotional well-being and the bond they share with their parents is profound, especially for children with ADHD. At Bonding Health, we delve into research to support and empower parents, enhancing relationships and fostering a holistic approach to well-being. Parenting interventions significantly reduce ADHD symptoms in the child (SMD = 0.68) and are effective even without medication. These interventions also help manage comorbid conduct problems (SMD = 0.59) and boost parenting self-esteem (SMD = 0.93) (Coates, et al. 2015) . Bonding Health integrates the research backed strategy to support parents and improve family dynamics.

 

Ivcevic, Z., & Eggers, C. (2021). Emotion Regulation Ability: Test Performance and Observer Reports in Predicting Relationship, Achievement and Well-Being Outcomes in Adolescents. International journal of environmental research and public health, 18(6), 3204. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18063204

Arabi, Z., Moghaddam, L. F., & Sahebalzamani, M. (2020). The effect of emotion regulation training on family relationships of hyperactive children. Journal of education and health promotion, 9, 101. https://doi.org/10.4103/jehp.jehp_738_19

Coates, J., Taylor, J. A., & Sayal, K. (2015). Parenting Interventions for ADHD: A Systematic Literature Review and Meta-Analysis. Journal of attention disorders, 19(10), 831–843. https://doi.org/10.1177/1087054714535952

Evans, S., Bhide, S., Quek, J., Nicholson, J. M., Anderson, V., Hazell, P., ... & Sciberras, E. (2020). Mindful parenting behaviors and emotional self-regulation in children with ADHD and controls. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 45(9), 1074-1083.

Kahhalé, I., Barry, K. R., & Hanson, J. L. (2023). Positive parenting moderates associations between childhood stress and corticolimbic structure. PNAS nexus, 2(6), pgad145. https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgad145

Lench, H. C., Levine, L. J., Whalen, C. K. (2013). Exasperating or exceptional? Parents interpretations of their childs ADHD behavior. Journal of attention disorders, 17(2), 141–151. https://doi.org/10.1177/1087054711427401

Soler-Gutiérrez, A. M., Pérez-González, J. C., & Mayas, J. (2023). Evidence of emotion dysregulation as a core symptom of adult ADHD: A systematic review. PloS one, 18(1), e0280131. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0280131

Bodalski, E. A., Flory, K., Canu, W. H., Willcutt, E. G., & Hartung, C. M. (2023). ADHD symptoms and procrastination in college students: The roles of emotion dysregulation and self-esteem. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 45(1), 48–57. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-022-09996-2

Vacher, C., Goujon, A., Romo, L., & Purper-Ouakil, D. (2020). Efficacy of psychosocial interventions for children with ADHD and emotion dysregulation: a systematic review. Psychiatry research, 291, 113151. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113151

Hirsch, O., Chavanon, M., Riechmann, E., & Christiansen, H. (2018). Emotional dysregulation is a primary symptom in adult Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Journal of affective disorders, 232, 41–47. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2018.02.007

Shenaar-Golan, V., Wald, N., & Yatzkar, U. (2017). Patterns of emotion regulation and emotion-related behaviors among parents of children with and without ADHD. Psychiatry research, 258, 494–500. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2017.08.090

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