Adult ADHD

ADHD in adults is a serious condition. Many people do not realize that adults can suffer from this disorder because they think people with ADHD have to be loud, hyperactive, tons of energy, impulsive people. However, the fact is that this is not just something kids suffer from, in fact, it is not like kids that have ADHD just grow out of it. This is not just a phase, and often times the symptoms of ADHD get worse in adults than it was for kids. Life gets more demanding and more stressful, and this can mean symptoms get much worse.

The difference between kids with ADHD and adults with ADHD, is that many adults have learned to recognize their impulses and behavior as a symptom of ADHD, and thus are in a struggle daily with self-regulation, whereas most kids either don't regulate, or rely on medication and adult supervision to regulate. Adults end up regulating their attention, regulating their impulses in talking and action, and regulating their emotions.

If you, as an adult have trouble staying focused, getting organized, starting and completing your work, managing your time and money, and remembering all the little things in your daily life, you probably have ADHD, and should be doing something to get it under control. If untreated or inadequately treated ADHD often severely impairs learning, family life, education, work life, social interactions, and driving safely.

If you do not do something about it you may find life to be more difficult than it has to be. For many adults that do not recognize they have ADHD, life is somewhat unbearable because they can't seem to get it all together, friends and family are often frustrated with their lack of accomplishment, forgetting appointments, etc. This can lead to self esteem issues, not believing in your abilities, and having regular, unneeded, frustrations.

Life doesn't have to be this way, if you recognize the symptoms of ADHD and talk to a health professional, they can help you come up with a treatment plan. This can involve behavioral therapy, medication, or both. Treatment can go a long way toward getting ADHD in check, and help you function like a typical adult, both at home, work, school, etc. But before you can manage the problem, you have to be able to identify it.

In order to identify ADHD it is a good idea to have an understanding of what it looks like in adults. It is also a good idea to take an ADHD checklist designed specifically for adults, and if it indicated a potential problem, seek the guidance of a medical professional.

Signs of adult ADHD:
ADHD in adults is especially prevalent in impairment of executive functions, that is functions that are the skills involved in planning, selective attention, motivation, and impulse control.

In general, adults with ADHD have problems in six major areas of executive functioning:

1. Activation - Problems with organization, prioritizing, and starting tasks, even simple tasks.
2. Focus - Problems with sustaining focus and resisting distraction, especially when the person is reading.
3. Effort - Problems with motivation, sustained effort, and persistence.
4. Emotion - Difficulty regulating emotions and managing stress.
5. Memory - Problems with short-term memory and memory retrieval.
6. Action - Problems with self-control and self-regulation.

Many people think that ADHD in adults is simply a lack of willpower. This is an understandable assumption because persons with ADHD have the ability to focus well on things that interest them. So, this leads to the frustration of others when they do not focus on other tasks. The truth is that while ADHD looks very much like a willpower problem, it isn't. It's essentially a chemical problem in the management systems of the brain. It is not something that can just be overcome by wanting to. It is something that causes chronic impairments and should be treated like the disease that it is.

Another thing that is important to understand as an adult is that if you have ADHD it is also possible, and often times more probable, that you also suffer from depression, anxiety, or other psychiatric problems. ADHD usually overlaps with other disorders, and this should be remembered and discussed with physicians if you feel it is a problem for you.

Symptoms of ADHD in Adults:

It is important to note that if you had ADHD as a child, you likely still have it, but that you symptoms may start to manifest themselves differently. Adult ADHD and childhood ADHD are very different because your body has developed. While the core problems of hyperactivity, impulsiveness, and inattentiveness remain the same, the specific symptoms manifest differently.

For most adults with ADHD, the symptoms of hyperactivity decrease and become more subtle, while problems related to concentration and organization become more dominant, significantly affecting their careers and family life.

Hyperactivity in adults usually manifests itself in one or more of the following ways:
The inability to relax, frequent restlessness, nervous energy, and the need to talk excessively. Of course there are other manifestations of hyperactivity, however, these are the most common.

Impulsiveness in adults generally manifests itself in one or more of the following ways: A condition of volatile moods, blurting out rude or insulting remarks even if you do not want to, interrupting others while they are speaking, working, reading, etc. Once again there are many other ways impulsiveness may manifest itself, but these are the most common symptoms.

Inattentiveness in adults manifests itself in one or more of the following ways:
A condition where you find yourself "tuning out" unintentionally, especially if the subject does not interest you, the inability to focus on mundane tasks, constantly losing and forgetting things that should be easy to remember. There are other manifestations of inattentiveness, however, these are the most common.

Effects of adult ADHD:

While we have already discussed many of the effects of ADHD, it is important to recognize how severe they can be in disrupting your life, everything from relationships to careers, and even financial stability is difficult if you suffer from ADHD. So, let's take a look at some specifics:

Your Career:

ADHD can often really limit you at work, and make it hard to get promotions, and find success. This is often because of the typical symptoms that cause you to be disorganized, unfocused, etc. None of these things are especially conducive to a happy work environment. More specifically you may find yourself chronically late to work,
missing or forgetting deadlines and meetings, having a hard time organizing projects and delegating work, having difficulty completing projects on time, getting little done, getting distracted, and having a hard time during meetings.

It is important to recognize you have ADHD so that you can speak with your employer about specific difficulties you may have, and help them to help you.

Relationships:

Having a disorder like ADHD can put a bug strain on your relationships, especially if those you have relationships with do not understand your limitations and symptoms. The manifestations of ADHD is usually the hardest on romantic relationships. The spouse or partner without ADHD may feel resentful about the fact that they have to do so much, like all the planning and organizing of everyday life, all the cleaning, bill paying, and other household responsibilities. It can be extremely frustrating to constantly have to remind you of things that need to be done. On the other hand, you may resent your partner's constant nagging about things, like tiding up, organization, and taking care of things like bills, car problems, etc.

It is important to help your partner or spouse understand your condition, and the two of you divide responsibilities in a way that is both fair and amicable to both parties.

Romantic relationships are not the only ones that can be damaged by ADHD in adults, often, friends and family members may take it too personally when you tune them out, forget conversations or commitments, interrupt them, speak a little too bluntly, or keep them waiting. The advice is the same, educate them, and work to find a middle ground.

Finances:

If you suffer from ADHD, the symptoms can lead to problems with money. Let's get more specific. For example, symptoms of procrastination, disorganization, and impulsivity can interfere with good money management. You may have trouble saving money, or make impulsive purchases that leave you with high balances on credit cards. You may even forget to send in payments.

So, what can you do? Come up with a system, and ask for help. Usually having a calendar with bill amounts and due dates will help you remember to pay bills, if that does not work, try to set everything up on automatic bill pay so that you do not ever forget. Also, set up an automatic savings plan.

Eating behaviors:

The impulsive side of ADHD often leads to eating behaviors that are unhealthy. For example, you may over eat and become obese, or under eat and end up suffering from an eating disorder. You might find that you eat snacks throughout the day, rather than eating at planned meals, have intense cravings for carbohydrates and caffeine (in coffee and chocolate), love junk food, eat irregularly, etc.

So, what can you do? Well, plan meals and have someone help you. Do not buy junk food or have it on hand, otherwise you will eat it first.

The good:

While having ADHD as an adult can be very difficult, and often leads to serious complications in many areas of your life, it also can have some positive traits or characteristics, and it is important to recognize these along with the bad.

For one, people with ADHD are often extremely creative. They do not put limitations on their thinking, and thus excel at thinking outside of the box, brainstorming, and finding creative solutions to problems, and are typically more open minded then others.

Many times those with ADHD are great improvisers, and are independent because of the flexibility in their thinking.

Often times people with ADHD are more fun to be around because they are enthusiastic and spontaneous. These are qualities that make for good company and engrossing conversation.
A huge advantage of ADHD in adults is that often you will have a quick mind, you absorb information quickly as long as it is interesting to you, and this allows you to think fast on your feet, and multi-task well as long as each task grabs your attention.

High energy is another positive trait, usually people with ADD have loads of energy. When their attention is captured by something that interests them, they can have virtually unlimited stamina and drive for doing that thing.

So, if you are interested in something you will be better at it than someone without ADHD. It is simply a matter of capturing your attention.