 After reading your comments on our recent video, the difference between ADHD and anxiety signs, we learned that you wanna know if you have anxiety, ADHD, or both. If you've been suspecting that you may have both, or maybe wondered if one could lead to another, you might be right. One example from the Anxiety and Depression Association of America says that there's a 50% chance that if someone has ADHD, they're also more likely to have anxiety. It can be confusing, scary, and lonely to not have a safe person to talk about your symptoms with. Even celebrities like Liza Koshy didn't open up to anyone about her symptoms of anxiety for over a year. But if you're feeling this way, you're not alone. After opening up, Liza learned how to deal with mental health and now talks about having both. So keep watching to learn more about Liza's story and how to identify if you might also have anxiety, ADHD, or both. Number one, focus. You struggle with staying focused. People with ADHD are hyper-aware of their environment. They can pick up on sounds and sights that most others wouldn't. You find that staying focused during a conversation is a monumental task, let alone trying to stay focused during a lecture or class. Do you dread or attempt to avoid tasks that require you to focus for longer periods of time? The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders states that those with ADHD are often distracted by extraneous stimuli, whereas someone with anxiety will often look for ways to distract themselves away from their negative thoughts. Do you notice that you look for ways to distract yourself when you're feeling nervous, like scrolling through social media or endlessly switching channels on the TV to try to silence your thoughts? Only to find it didn't work. The American Psychiatric Association explains that finding ways to distract yourself from your worrisome thoughts can be a common sign of anxiety. Or maybe you're distracted when you're anxious, but also when you're calm, suggesting you might have both anxiety and ADHD. Number two, do you live in the present moment, the future, or the immediate moment? Do you notice that many of your thoughts involve worrying about the future and not about what's happening in the moment? Do you find that when you're at school, your mind drifts from the lecture and starts worrying about what could go wrong next week? Oftentimes, anxiety is a mental state that makes someone want to prepare for possible negative scenarios in their mind. It can feel like your body is in one place, but your mind is always somewhere else. It can be hard to remember that those negative thoughts are often irrational, meaning not reasonable or factual. You may have anxiety if you're always worrying about what could go wrong, whereas someone with ADHD can be hyper-focused on the present moment and short-term rewards. The brain of someone with ADHD predisposes them to prioritize short-term rewards and activities versus spending time thinking or worrying about the future. This doesn't mean that people with ADHD don't have anxious thoughts about the future, though. Both can occur and are not mutually exclusive. Number three, your health is suffering. ADHD can lead you to neglect your health. Do you notice that your impulsivity results in you making more unhealthy choices than you would like? Do you feel like you're always forgetting to take care of your health and body because you suffer with constantly planning ahead and yet are extremely disorganized? ADHD symptoms of impulsivity and disorganization can make it very hard to lead a healthy lifestyle. While anxiety can also make it hard to care for your health, according to the Journal of Depression and Anxiety, anxiety disorders can cause physical symptoms like nausea, sweating, and heart palpitations. Liza Koshy says her anxiety hit her like a brick. People with anxiety may also experience muscle tension or become easily fatigued and tired. Have you ever felt your heart beating so fast that you didn't even realize you were anxious until you noticed your heart pounding or you didn't notice you were nervous until you looked down and saw that your hands were sweating? Anxiety isn't just felt in the mind, but it's in the body too. Number four, do you feel impulsive or hyperactive? Do you ever notice that when you're feeling anxious, you start fidgeting or moving around in your chair, trying to get comfortable? People with anxiety may find it hard to stay still or relax when they're anxious, but someone who has ADHD will have symptoms of hyperactivity and impulsivity most of the time. Even when they aren't anxious. You know, when you're writing an assignment and you feel overwhelmed because your computer has multiple tabs open at once, this is how someone with ADHD can feel most of the time. It can feel like you're always having to fight the distractions around you and in your mind, making everyday interactions a challenge. Liza Koshy even joked on Twitter that she is too ADHD for life when talking about the difficulty of replying to her friends on DM or staying on topic during an Instagram live. Number five, social withdrawal. Has occasionally canceling plans to stay home become more of a daily routine? For someone with anxiety, it can feel suffocating that you can escape the fear living inside your head. All you wanna do is silence your mind and make it stop. You may have anxiety if you cope with this stress by withdrawing. Medical News Today states that while the diagnostic criteria for ADHD do not currently include problems with emotion and mood regulation, such as social withdrawal. People with ADHD may experience these issues. Do you often feel rejected because your symptoms of ADHD make you different from your peers? Medical News Today says ADHD experts suggest that there is a strong connection between rejection-sensitive dysphoria and ADHD, and that new studies show that ADHD may increase the risk of experiencing social rejection. If you feel this way, you aren't alone. Though some have found that ADHD and rejection-sensitive dysphoria are exclusively linked, others would argue that many mental health conditions can include RSD, including anxiety. And number six, no escape. You can't escape your symptoms. Feeling anxious is a normal part of life that everyone experiences every now and then, but if you notice that you're feeling anxious almost all the time, you may have anxiety. According to the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, someone may have an anxiety disorder like generalized anxiety. If they experience excessive anxiety and worry occurring more days than not for at least six months about a number of events or activities. Similarly, if you've been experiencing hyperactivity and impulsivity more days than not for over six months, you may have ADHD. It can be difficult to figure out and confusing to know if you have anxiety, ADHD, or both. That's why it's important to see a trusted mental health professional as inaccurate or misdiagnosis can occur because of their similarities. If you relate to any of these signs, please know that there are many coping strategies and resources that can help. As Liza Koshy says, everybody has mental health to take care of and it's not something that can't be dealt with. You don't have to do it alone. If you or your loved one exhibits any of these signs, please consult a mental health professional for help. Do you relate to any of these signs? I know I did. Let us know in the comments below and don't forget to like and share this video if it helped you and you think it could help someone else too. The studies and references used are listed in the description below. Don't forget to hit the subscribe button and notification bell icon for more videos like this. Thanks so much for watching and we'll see you next time.