Is It Anxiety or Intuition?

(Psst, it might just be ADHD)

Nowadays, ‘listening to your gut’ is easier said than done. Whether a decision is making you sick to your stomach or a strong instinct is giving you butterflies, it can be difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish between your fight/flight/fawn/freeze response protecting you from perceived threat and your inner wisdom guiding you in the most advantageous direction. Both anxiety and intuition encourage you to make decisions independent of evidence. Depending on who you ask, listening to these imperceptibly different cues can be seen as a detriment or an asset. Arguing that anxiety and intuition are two sides of the same coin, it's also worth turning our attention to ADHD how neurodivergence lends itself to more instinctual decision making compared to neurotypical folks.

Anxiety is well understood as the body’s natural response to real or perceived threats. As danger is interpreted by our nervous system, the amygdala sounds the alarm to the hypothalamus which initiates an increase in hormones and neurotransmitters such as adrenaline, cortisol, and dopamine to help us manage, and ultimately survive a threat. Under the influence of panic, your pre-frontal cortex loses its ability to rationalize and use logic when making decisions.

By contrast, intuition is regarded as inner wisdom that does not rely on obvious evidence. Though many people may doubt the true existence of intuition, believing it to be similar to having psychic powers or clairvoyance, there is extensive scientific evidence to support the presence of intuitive judgement. The academic understanding of intuition says that we can make informed decisions without being consciously aware of the logic behind them. This brings us to our key similarity:

Hypervigilance

In many ways, anxiety is intuition’s doppelgänger. Countless mental health resources will outline how someone’s ability to be highly empathic, attuned, and sensitive to their environment is the result of hypervigilance (a common nervous system response) throughout the lifespan. And while this is true, it’s not necessarily a bad thing that needs to be unlearned. In fact, anxiety’s ultimate goal is to keep you safe and hypervigilance is one way of doing that. Does hypervigilance also lend itself to unnecessary and unhealthy worry? Of course. But it is also a muscle that is often working outside of your awareness. Gathering excess information from the environment adds more data to your decision, which brings us to our first distinction between anxiety and intuition:

Intuition is Instantaneous, NOT the Result of Overthinking

The over-gathering of information is meant to help us make faster and more efficient decisions. Intuitive judgement happens quickly, because your brain is subconsciously recognizing patterns and making sense of environmental cues. Anxiety dwells. While fear often lends itself to irrational impulsivity, it can also slow us down and paralyze us with all the worst case scenarios. If you find yourself overthinking, or falling into a stress spiral, it’s safe to say that it's anxiety, not intuition, that's at the wheel.

Neither are 100% Trustworthy

Given that our nervous system often mistakes the threat of a deadline with that of a deadly lion, we can all agree that anxiety is usually an unreliable source of information. However, its purpose is to help us plan for the future, anticipate obstacles, and ensure optimal outcomes. As such, most cognitive approaches for treating anxiety come from an intellectual lens, necessitating the role of logic, evidence, and higher-level reasoning in managing symptoms and determining the validity of anxious thoughts. Conversely, intuitive judgment often lacks logic, evidence, and can be usually be dismissed by higher-level reasoning. If your goal is to follow your gut, CBT interventions may inhibit your ability to do so, by favoring the rational brain over the emotional brain. However, intuition can be impulsive and there can be serious consequences to acting off instinct alone. This is where intuition can easily dissipate into anxiety, when you try to find explanations and make sense of an unconscious impulse.

Trauma Blurs the Boundary

While the DSM-V definition of trauma encompasses any acute event that involves actual, witnessed, or threatened death, sexual trauma, or serious injury. The ICD-11, and most of the mental health community, also recognize complex trauma (chronic/multiple trauma that has influenced a person’s development, particularly throughout childhood) as impacting our body’s ability to utilize both the rational and emotional centers of the brain under stress. Trauma can make you more or less sensitive to certain stimuli in certain contexts. As a result, survivors of trauma struggle with self-doubt and trusting their intuition. If the circumstances of your current situation remind you of something in your past, it's helpful to slow yourself down to honor these wounds. Living with trauma often means that anxiety is at the wheel because it's your designated driver. Intuition is the one that hands over the keys.

What does ADHD have to do with it?

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is estimated to represent anywhere between 5-15% of the human population. When ADHD is seen as a trait, as opposed to a disorder, you can see how the ability to shift attention quickly, maintain high levels of energy, and multitask can be advantageous within a pre-historic society. In the modern world, however, we hold each other to the standards set by the majority of the population and neurodivergence is considered abnormal or deficient by contrast. Navigating the world with ADHD can be highly anxiety inducing, necessitating that the nervous system adapt. As a result, hypervigilance becomes an easily accessible and effective stress response— or simply another ADHD shortcut. It is because of this sensitivity to one’s environment that folks with ADHD are known for their creative, artistic, and intuitive strengths. The other side of that coin includes the anxiety of struggling to fit traditional standards of success, or simply feeling like a square peg in a round hole among peers. These experiences lend themselves to stress-induced discomfort, such as rejection-sensitive dysphoria.

For those living with ADHD, having both a strong intuition as well as heightened anxiety serve as the superpower and kryptonite of neurodiversity. Untangling the two presents the ultimate challenge for folks who already struggle with staying focused, organized, or being proactive. ADHD thrives under pressure, unlocking the blessing and curse of hypervigilance and emotional attunement that make us distinctly anxious and/or intuitive.

If you struggle to differentiate between your gut feelings, you’re not alone. It can feel nearly impossible to listen to your intuition over the anxious noise. Learn how to leverage your natural strengths instead of feeling crushed beneath them— Schedule your FREE 20-minute phone consultation today!

References

Adinolfi, P., & Loia, F. (2022). Intuition as Emergence: Bridging Psychology, Philosophy and Organizational Science. Frontiers in psychology, 12, 787428. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.787428

Amy F.T. Arnsten, Murray A. Raskind, Fletcher B. Taylor, Daniel F. Connor (2015). The effects of stress exposure on prefrontal cortex: Translating basic research into successful treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder. Neurobiology of Stress, Volume 1, 2015, Pages 89-99, ISSN 2352-2895, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ynstr.2014.10.002.

Ginapp, C. M., Greenberg, N. R., MacDonald-Gagnon, G., Angarita, G. A., Bold, K. W., & Potenza, M. N. (2023). "Dysregulated not deficit": A qualitative study on symptomatology of ADHD in young adults. PloS one, 18(10), e0292721. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0292721

LeWine, Howard E. “Understanding the Stress Response.” Harvard Health, 3 Apr. 2024, www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/understanding-the-stress-response.

Ollington, Steve. “The Power of Intuition: A Subconscious Intelligence and Its Link to ADHD.” ADHDworking, 14 Dec. 2024, adhdworking.co.uk/adhd-benefits/the-power-of-intuition-a-subconscious-intelligence-and-its-link-to-adhd/.

Stanton, Sarah Dyanne, "Intuition: A Silver Lining for Clinicians with Complex Trauma" (2016).

Dissertations - ALL . 615. https://surface.syr.edu/etd/615

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