The 5 Best Online Resources for ADHD

Treatment Methods for ADHD

There are numerous treatment options when it comes to managing ADHD:

• Talk therapy: People with ADHD can benefit from talk therapy to help manage and improve their symptoms. Cognitive behavioral therapy, in particular, is an effective approach. By identifying negative thought patterns and subsequent reactions to those patterns, people with ADHD can use CBT to change their behaviors when it comes to daily struggles that exacerbate ADHD symptoms. Learning to react differently in the face of challenges, like distractions and overwhelm when trying to complete difficult tasks, can help mitigate common ADHD symptoms.
• Medication: The gold standard when it comes to medication for ADHD is stimulants, such as Adderall and Ritalin. However, stimulants are controlled substances, which are medications regulated by law because of their high likelihood of misuse and addiction. Most online psychiatry services will not prescribe stimulants because of the oversight needed to make sure this type of serious medication is not being abused. (Talkiatry is the exception on this list.) But not everyone responds well to stimulants, so there are four other non-stimulant medications approved by the FDA to treat ADHD: atomoxetine (Strattera), guanfacine (Intuniv), viloxazine (Qelbree), and clonidine.
• Support groups: Many people with ADHD find peer support to be very helpful. Support groups can help you learn about the ways other people living with your same condition approach symptom management and deal with the same day-to-day challenges you face. Hearing about others’ coping mechanisms can help you develop your own, and discussing shared roadblocks can make you feel less alone in your experiences.
• Coaching: ADHD coaching can help you develop actionable tools to employ when dealing with ADHD symptoms. An ADHD coach can teach you things like mindfulness exercises to help you focus, grounding techniques to help you conquer overwhelm, and coping mechanisms that can help with organization and time management, all while emphasizing your strengths and coming up with practical steps to take. It’s important to note, however, that coaching is not therapy, and coaches are not held to the same professional and licensure standards that therapists are. 

Paying for Online ADHD Resources

Talkspace, the online therapy option on this list, is available as a monthly subscription, and can cost upwards of $109 a week. But Talkspace also accepts a wide range of insurance plans, as does Talkiatry, so if your plan is accepted by these companies, you’ll only be responsible for your copay for each session.

Resources such as webinars (like the ADDitude webinars) and ADHD-specific organizations (like CHADD) are free to access, while apps (like Inflow) are available for a monthly or annual subscription.

How I Review Online Therapy Services

I’ve spent years testing and surveying real therapy users and reviewing their experiences to help rate and share the best online therapy services. You can see a full breakdown of our online therapy research and testing process on Verywell Mind. Here is an overview of how I capture and evaluate firsthand experience and survey data.

Evaluating ADHD Resources

In order to properly compile this list, I paid special attention to services that either specialize in ADHD or specifically advertise that they treat ADHD. I then evaluated these services based on price, the type of treatment or support they provide, and where and how they are available.

Firsthand Experience

I had 65 different people sign up for talk therapy with all 55 online therapy companies reviewed. Over the past three years, I’ve published 153 reviews (here are our reviews for BetterHelp and Talkspace, for instance). I had my testers try out each company’s therapy services, and if the company offered other services (like couples therapy and kid or teen therapy) we tested those too. 

I asked each tester to try each service for at least a month, which usually meant between two and six sessions at each company. I also asked testers to switch therapists partway through, if possible, in order to get a holistic idea of the offerings and quality of each company. My testers were located all across the United States and abroad, meaning I gained extensive information about each company’s services in a variety of areas.

User Surveys

I surveyed more than 8,000 therapy clients who are currently using one of the 55 online therapy companies tested or who had used one in the recent past, as well as users of 27 different online therapy directories. I asked users to evaluate each company’s services, from their therapist’s qualifications to whether they found a therapist who met all their needs to how they’d rate the company overall—all told, I gathered 350 different data points. 

Why Trust Verywell Mind

Hannah Owens is Verywell Mind’s Mental Health Editor. Hannah is a licensed social worker with a clinical background in community mental health. She’s worked at programs treating those with serious mental illness, providing both individual and group therapy. In her time at Verywell Mind, Hannah has designed and run years of online therapy testing, overseeing and editing reviews of the top online therapy companies out there and writing and editing roundups of the best online therapy services based on our extensive and thorough testing. Hannah brings her unique combination of both clinical and editorial expertise to her work for Verywell Mind.

• Licensed social worker since 2019
• Clinical background in community mental health
• Specializes in serious mental illness
• Believes in the mission of online therapy to make mental healthcare more accessible