Adult ADD
Do you feel life is just a blur of activity and you can never catch up? Do your loved ones complain that you don’t care about them because you always forget important occasions or continually say rude things without thinking? While most people have challenges managing work, family and time for self, if this has been a problem all of your life, it may be something more. Attention deficit disorder (ADD/ADHD) is not only a childhood disorder. Learn about how to manage Adult ADD/ADHD, including signs, symptoms, effects and getting help.
In This Article:
* What is adult ADD / ADHD
* Signs and symptoms
* Effects of adult ADD / ADHD
* Self help
* Treatment options
* Related Links
Adult ADD/ADHD, as in children, is characterized by excessive inattentiveness, impulsiveness and hyperactivity. While in children, hyperactivity is often displayed as constant squirming and moving, in adults it may be more of a constant feeling of restlessness and agitation. Extreme procrastination, disorganization, trouble making deadlines, and impulsive behavior is common. While most of us have challenges in these areas, someone with Adult ADD/ADHD has these problems constantly, in good times and in bad, and often to the despair of loved ones.
Adult ADD/ADHD Myths: Fact or Fiction
MYTH: ADD/ADHD is just a lack of willpower. Persons with ADD/ADHD focus well on things that interest them; they could focus on any other tasks if they really wanted to.
FACT: ADD/ADHD looks very much like a willpower problem, but it isn’t. It’s essentially a chemical problem in the management systems of the brain.
MYTH: Everybody has the symptoms of ADD/ADHD, and anyone with adequate intelligence can overcome these difficulties.
FACT: ADD/ADHD affects persons of all levels of intelligence. And although everyone sometimes has symptoms of ADD/ADHD, only those with chronic impairments from these symptoms warrant an ADD/ADHD diagnosis.
MYTH: Someone can’t have ADD/ADHD and also have depression, anxiety, or other psychiatric problems.
FACT: A person with ADD/ADHD is six times more likely to have another psychiatric or learning disorder than most other people. ADD/ADHD usually overlaps with other disorders.
MYTH: Unless you have been diagnosed with ADD/ADHD as a child, you can’t have it as an adult.
FACT: Many adults struggle all their lives with unrecognized ADD/ADHD impairments. They haven’t received help because they assumed that their chronic difficulties, like depression or anxiety, were caused by other impairments that did not respond to usual treatment.
Source: Dr. Thomas E. Brown, Attention Deficit Disorder: The Unfocused Mind in Children and Adults
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