At Onward Growth Psychiatry, we understand that mental health rarely fits neatly into a single diagnosis. Our approach is individualized, neuroaffirming, and focused on understanding the whole person—not simply treating a list of symptoms.
ADHD and autism can influence many areas of life, including emotional regulation, relationships, sensory experiences, sleep, work, school, and mental health. At the same time, anxiety, depression, trauma, OCD, and other conditions can occur alongside ADHD or autism and may sometimes mask or complicate their presentation.
Our goal is to understand the bigger picture so that you receive care that addresses what you’re experiencing—not just the label attached to it.
Explore Our Areas of Care
ADHD & Neurodivergence
ADHD can affect much more than attention. Executive functioning, motivation, time management, working memory, emotional regulation, and sensory processing can all influence how someone functions at home, work, school, and in relationships. For some people, years of compensating for these differences can contribute to anxiety, perfectionism, low self-esteem, or burnout.
We provide individualized support for adults navigating ADHD and other forms of neurodivergence, including those who may have spent years wondering why seemingly simple tasks require so much effort.
Autism
Autism can influence social communication, sensory processing, routines, emotional regulation, relationships, and the way an individual experiences and responds to the world. Many autistic adults—particularly those who have learned to mask—may not recognize their own autistic traits until adulthood.
Anxiety, depression, burnout, and chronic exhaustion can sometimes develop as a result of continually adapting to environments that don’t accommodate an individual’s neurotype. We take these experiences into consideration when evaluating and supporting autistic individuals.
OCD
OCD and Autism can sometimes overlap in ways that make symptoms difficult to distinguish. Intrusive thoughts, repetitive behaviors, difficulty shifting attention, hyperfocus, and a need for certainty can have different underlying causes, and accurate assessment matters.
OCD can also occur alongside ADHD. Understanding the difference between compulsions, autistic routines or repetitive behaviors, and ADHD-related perseveration can help guide more appropriate treatment.
Anxiety
Anxiety frequently occurs alongside ADHD and autism. For someone with ADHD, chronic difficulty with organization, time management, missed deadlines, or forgetting responsibilities can create a cycle of worry and self-criticism. For autistic individuals, sensory overload, social uncertainty, masking, and navigating environments that feel unpredictable can contribute to significant anxiety.
We look beyond the anxiety itself to understand what may be contributing to it and whether ADHD, autism, trauma, environmental stressors, or other factors may be part of the picture.
Depression & Mood Disorders
Depression can occur independently or alongside ADHD and autism. For some neurodivergent individuals, years of feeling different, struggling to meet expectations, masking, or repeatedly experiencing failure despite significant effort can contribute to hopelessness, exhaustion, and low self-worth.
ADHD can also be associated with difficulty initiating activities, loss of motivation, and emotional dysregulation that may sometimes resemble depression. Autism-related burnout can similarly involve profound exhaustion and withdrawal. Understanding these distinctions can help ensure that treatment addresses the underlying factors rather than simply treating the surface symptoms.
Trauma & PTSD
Neurodivergent individuals may experience unique vulnerabilities to traumatic or overwhelming experiences. Social difficulties, bullying, rejection, chronic masking, sensory overwhelm, discrimination, and repeated experiences of feeling misunderstood can all have lasting effects.
Trauma can also affect attention, emotional regulation, sensory responses, sleep, and executive functioning—symptoms that can overlap with ADHD and autism. Careful consideration of developmental history and current functioning can help distinguish these overlapping experiences.
Women’s Mental Health
Women and people socialized as girls are frequently underrecognized when it comes to ADHD and autism, particularly when they have developed strong coping strategies or learned to mask their difficulties. Many individuals are first diagnosed with anxiety, depression, or another condition before recognizing an underlying neurodivergent profile.
Hormonal changes can also influence ADHD symptoms, mood, attention, sleep, and emotional regulation. We consider the interaction between neurodivergence, mental health, reproductive transitions, and life circumstances when developing an individualized treatment approach.
College & Graduate Student Mental Health
The transition to college or graduate school can expose executive functioning difficulties that were previously managed through structure, parental support, or high levels of external accountability. Students with ADHD may struggle with time management, organization, procrastination, task initiation, and maintaining routines once those supports are removed.
Autistic students may also experience challenges related to social expectations, sensory environments, transitions, and navigating unfamiliar routines. Anxiety, depression, and burnout can emerge when academic and social demands exceed available supports.
Healthcare Professionals
Healthcare professionals are often highly capable, conscientious, and accustomed to functioning under significant pressure. For individuals with ADHD or autism, professional success may depend on extensive compensatory strategies that become increasingly difficult to sustain over time.
Perfectionism, masking, executive functioning challenges, sensory demands, emotional exhaustion, and chronic overextension can contribute to burnout. We provide care that considers both the demands of the profession and the individual’s underlying neurotype.
Military & Veterans
Military environments can provide structure and clear expectations that may be helpful for some individuals with ADHD or autism, while transitions, unpredictable environments, sensory demands, and changes in routine may create significant challenges for others.
For veterans and service members, ADHD or autism may also coexist with trauma, anxiety, depression, sleep difficulties, or other mental health concerns. Understanding the individual’s neurodevelopmental history can help distinguish longstanding traits from symptoms that developed following trauma or other experiences.
Eating Disorders & Disordered Eating
ADHD and autism can intersect with eating and body-related concerns in a variety of ways. Executive functioning difficulties may affect meal planning, grocery shopping, and consistent eating, while sensory sensitivities can influence food preferences and tolerance.
Some autistic individuals may also develop highly restrictive or rigid eating patterns related to sensory experiences or predictability. ADHD-related impulsivity, emotional regulation difficulties, and reward-seeking can influence eating behaviors as well. These concerns require individualized assessment rather than assuming a single explanation.
Burnout
Burnout is particularly important to consider in neurodivergent individuals. People with ADHD or autism may spend years compensating for executive functioning, sensory, or social differences through intense effort, perfectionism, masking, and over-preparation.
Eventually, those strategies can become unsustainable. What looks like depression, anxiety, loss of motivation, or “laziness” may sometimes be a sign of profound exhaustion or autistic burnout. Understanding the difference can change how recovery and treatment are approached.
Men’s Mental Health
ADHD and autism can go unrecognized in men as well, particularly when symptoms are expressed through overwork, avoidance, irritability, emotional dysregulation, substance use, or other coping strategies rather than the stereotypical presentation of hyperactivity or social difficulty.
Men may also reach adulthood without having language for their experiences, particularly when they have learned to compensate or were never evaluated during childhood. We consider neurodivergence alongside mood, anxiety, relationships, work, and life transitions.
Children & Adolescents
ADHD and autism often become apparent during childhood or adolescence, although presentations can vary significantly. School difficulties, emotional regulation challenges, sensory differences, social struggles, or changes in functioning may provide important clues.
Early understanding can help families recognize a child’s strengths and support needs rather than interpreting neurodevelopmental differences as intentional behavior or lack of effort. We consider the child’s developmental history, environment, family system, and individual presentation when providing care.
Care That Looks Beyond a Diagnosis
You don’t have to fit perfectly into one category to deserve thoughtful care.
Symptoms can overlap. Diagnoses can change over time. And sometimes what looks like anxiety or depression on the surface may have a deeper connection to ADHD, autism, trauma, burnout, hormonal changes, or other factors.
Our goal is to understand the bigger picture and work collaboratively with you to determine what support makes sense.
Not Sure Where to Start?
You don’t need to know exactly what you need before reaching out.
A free 15-minute consultation gives us an opportunity to answer questions about our services and determine whether Onward Growth may be a good fit for you.
Learn more about our providers here.
Onward Growth Psychiatry is a private-pay practice. We do not bill insurance directly. Please visit our Fees & Payment page for current pricing and information about superbills and out-of-network reimbursement.