Do you have adult attention deficit disorder?
“Since childhood, Peter has been told again and again that he is impulsive, hyperactive and have difficulty paying attention. His academic performance and behaviour at school was never above average. His parents thought he will overcome this with age, but it seems not!! He is 32-year-old now and finds it difficult to perform in work and at home and in other social relationships with other people. Moreover, lately he has started to feel high anxiety. To help he is engaging in alcohol and weed substance abuse.”
-A client with ADHD
“ She spends money impulsively and crashes her household budget every month. She doesn’t stay away from participating in risky behaviours like gambling, rash driving, and risky sex. Also, there is lack of regard for hurting other feelings and in conversation she interrupts others and blurts out offensive comments without regard for others.”
-A client with ADHD
Few symptoms of ADHD
Adult ADHD is relatively common, and people live with the symptoms and suffer the often-devastating effects of ADHD in their lives without identifying the source of their struggles. The global effect on their daily lives affects social, occupational, and relational functioning.
What is ADHD?
ADHD is a highly genetic, brain-based syndrome that has to do with the regulation of a particular set of brain functions and related behaviours. It is thought to be caused by a complex combination of environmental, genetic, and biological factors. What suffers is the “executive functioning ” which include important functions such as attention, concentration, memory, motivation, and effort, learning from mistakes, impulsivity, hyperactivity, organization, and social skills.
Historically, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) historically was considered to be a disease of childhood, affecting 4 to 12 percent of school age children. However, it is now thought to persist into adult life in 10 to 60 percent of cases and is present in about 5 percent of adults. Also, prevalence is higher for males (5.4%) versus females (3.2%).
Why it should be treated?
The impact of ADHD is generally noticeable in all spheres of life, with prominent complaints in concentration, attention, and short-term memory. Untreated or under-treated adult ADHD may result in impaired occupational functioning and interpersonal and legal difficulties with higher separation and divorce rates and more frequent job changes. Moreover, there are associated psychiatric disorders, such as mood disorders, anxiety disorders, substance use disorders, antisocial personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, developmental disabilities or mental retardation, and certain medical conditions.
Not every case of ADHD is the same
There are different subtypes of ADHD (inattentive, hyperactive, and combined type) and the common signs and symptoms to look out for are:
Difficulty getting started on tasks
Variable attention to details
Difficulties with self-organization and with prioritization
Poor persistence in tasks that require sustained mental effort
Impulsivity and low frustration tolerance (to varying degrees)
Hyperactivity (less salient symptom in adults)
Chaotic lifestyles
Associated psychiatric comorbidities (in some patients)
Disorganization
Substance abuse (in some patients)
Treatment
ADHD can be treated and managed!!
Evidence-based pharmacologic, psychosocial, and psychotherapeutic interventions are available for effective treatment. The various available treatment can be categorized as-
Stimulants with other psychotropic medication
Nonstimulant psychotherapeutic medications alone
Supportive psychotherapy, Mindfulness and occupational therapy
Behavioural interventions/psychotherapy
References:
Adler LA, Cohen J. Diagnosis and evaluation of adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Psychiatr Clin North Am. 2004;27(2):187–201. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
Wilens TE, Spencer TS, Biederman J. A review of the pharmacotherapy of adults with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. J Atten Disord. 2002;5:189–202. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
Comments