How to Harness The Power of Gratitude to give your ADHD brain a boost [2023 update]

The research is in! Gratitude has been shown to increase happiness and well-being, improve both mental and physical health, increase resilience, and strengthen relationships. Read on and grab some of that goodness for you and your ADHD brain!

What if I told you there is one tiny thing that you can do that research has shown to make a giant impact over and over again? One thing that can take less than one minute but can make you not just happier but healthier. Would you want to do it?!?

Well, guess what? There is! It’s gratitude, and it’s simple, effective, and even more powerful for ADHD brains. So, let’s dive in!

Why is gratitude so powerful?

As humans, our brains evolved with 2 singular purposes:  reproduce and survive.  And they’re really good at that.  They keep us safe; they keep us connected; they alert us very clearly to what’s wrong and what we need to fix.

What they’re not so good at?  Being happy.

To keep us safe, our brains are wired to constantly scan our environment, hyper-aware of anything that could pose a threat. And that includes not only physical harm but also anything that could potentially harm our precious relationships (since those relationships are vital for our survival, too).

Now, here’s where the trouble begins. When we’re thinking about all the things that could hurt us, replaying our failures over and over so they don’t happen again, and trying to fix anything that’s off-kilter in our world… that’s a whole lot of negative stuff swirling in our brains.  And makes us pretty darn miserable.

Enter gratitude, our tiny little tool that packs a mighty kick. Gratitude has this amazing power to shift our brain's focus from dwelling on the negative to honing in on the good stuff in our lives. And when we do that, our brains and our bodies can, quite literally, be transformed.

The Impact of Gratitude

Practicing gratitude has been proven to have a tremendous impact on your outlook, brain, and body.  In fact, research has shown that gratitude can increase happiness, reduce depression, help you relish positive experiences, improve your physical health, reduce depression, anxiety, and stress, make you more resilient against adversity, help you build strong relationships, and improve your sleep.

Does Gratitude really change the brain?

I get it- it seems too good to be true. But the research is crystal clear on this one. When you express gratitude or receive it, your brain releases dopamine and serotonin, which can instantly make you feel (even just a tad bit) better.

But here's the really cool part: with consistent gratitude practice, your brain actually starts to create more pathways for all those positive chemicals to flow through. Studies using fMRI have revealed that regular gratitude practice can actually change the structure of our brains, helping to regulate not only our mood but also our executive functioning and immune system.

Why is gratitude especially powerful for ADHD brains?

Gratitude helps regulate the executive functioning system

At its base, ADHD is about not having enough dopamine in its prefrontal cortex (where your executive functions live).  Well- guess what expressing or receiving gratitude does?  It releases dopamine (and serotonin) into your brain.  And if you do it over and over?  Well, then your brain starts to build more pathways to make use of all that good dopamine- changing your brain and helping to regulate that dopamine-hungry system.

We see the implications of this change in our brains play out study after study- participants in a 2008 study showed improvements in working memory and attention after just 2 weeks of keeping a gratitude journal. (6) Another study found that 4 weeks of a gratitude practice created improvements in planning and decision-making (5).

Gratitude reduces rejection sensitivity

ADHD brains are more sensitive to rejection, and being more sensitive to it, they are often watchful for its possibility in the world.  But that watchfulness, rather than protecting us like we hope it will, actually makes us more likely to feel it and receive it.  Gratitude changes the focus of the mind’s eye- away from the people and things that may reject us and towards all the good in our world, ultimately making us less sensitive to rejection, more likely to recover from rejection (4) and safe-guarding our nervous systems in the process.

Gratitude increases productivity

Focusing on the positive in our world allows us to savor our success, making it easier and more enjoyable to continue to work, stay productive, and have more success down the road. This creates a success spiral- a magical whirlwind that lifts us up and makes productivity easier and more likely (3), and allows us to persevere in the face of setbacks and stress (2).

Gratitude reduces anxiety

When we practice gratitude, we put the energy that can fuel the negative loops that ADHD brains have built up so strongly over the years into positive, dopamine-fueled processes instead.  Research has shown that gratitude reduces cortisol levels (the stress hormone) and turns on our parasympathetic nervous system (our relax and chill mode) (1). Over time, as you spend more time focused on gratitude and less time with the anxious and fearful networks turned on and active, we feel more happy, optimistic, and it’s easier for you to cope with the stress and anxiety that comes your way.

Gratitude increases resilience

Let’s face it- living with an ADHD brain in a neurotypical world leads to many mistakes, blunders, and upheaval.  That’s okay.  It’s the emotional response to these errors that so often throw us completely off-kilter.  A regular gratitude practice helps reduce the emotional turmoil of those failures (and other setbacks) and stay focused on solutions while retaining a balanced sense of ourselves and our lives. (6,4)

Ready to make gratitude a part of your life? Check out part 2 of this series: 7 ADHD-friendly ways to get the Gratitude Brain Boost

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Sources:

1. Fredrickson, B. L., Cohn, M. A., Coffey, K. A., Pek, J., & Larkin, G. W. (2009). Open hearts build lives: Positive emotions, induced through loving-kindness meditation, build cardiovascular resilience. Psychological Science, 20(9), 1080-1086. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02433.x

2. Cameron, K. A., Dutton, J. E., & Spreitzer, G. M. (2004). Positive emotions at work: Impact on employee well-being and productivity. American Psychologist, 59(6), 1051-1061. doi: 10.1037/0003-066X.59.6.1051

3. Ammons, R. B., & Froh, J. J. (2008). Gratitude and subjective well-being: Comparing the diets of supplement users and nonusers. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94(4), 505-518. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.94.4.505

4. Davis, D. E., Matthews, G., & Wood, A. M. (2010). Gratitude and resilience: A process model of how gratitude affects coping with life stressors. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 98(6), 1158-1171. doi: 10.1037/a0020361

5. Froh, J. J., & Emmons, R. A. (2008). Counting blessings versus burdens: An experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94(2), 377-389. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.84.2.377

6. Wood, A. M., Froh, J. J., & Geraghty, A. C. (2010). Gratitude and human development: A review and theoretical integration. Clinical Psychology Review, 30(1), 83-90. doi: 10.1016/j.cpr.2009.07.005

7. Adler, M. G., & Fagley, N. S. (2005). Appreciation: Individual differences in finding value and meaning as a unique predictor of subjective wellbeing. Journal of Personality, 73(1), 79-114.

8. Algoe, S. B. (2012). Find, remind, and bind The functions of gratitude in everyday relationships. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 6(6), 455-469.

9. Burton, L. R. (2020). The Neuroscience and positive impact of gratitude in the workplace. American Association for Physician Leadership. Retrieved from https://www.physicianleaders.org/news/the-neuroscience-and-positive-impact-of-gratitude-in-the-workplace

10. Davidai, S., & Gilovich, T. (2016). The headwinds/tailwinds asymmetry: An availability bias in assessments of barriers and blessings. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 111(6), 835-851.

11. Emmons, R. A., & McCullough, M. E. (2003). Counting blessings versus burdens: An experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(2), 377-389.

12. Emmons, R. A., & McCullough, M. E. (2004). The psychology of gratitude (Series in affective science). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.