What does adult ADHD look like?

CrossCurrents

According to Dr. Thomas E. Brown at the Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, ADHD involves a developmental impairment of executive function, which involves skills used in planning, selective attention, motivation and impulse control. Adults with ADHD have problems in six major areas:

Activation – Problems with organization, prioritizing and starting tasks.

Focus – Problems with sustaining focus and resisting distraction, especially with reading.

Effort – Problems with motivation, sustained effort and persistence.

Emotion – Difficulty regulating emotions and managing stress.

Memory – Problems with short-term memory and memory retrieval.

Action – Problems with self-control and self-regulation.

 

There are three subtypes of ADHD: predominantly inattentive, predominantly hyperactive/impulsive and combined. In adults, hyperactivity is characterized by an inability to relax, restlessness and nervous energy and talking excessively. Impulsiveness involves volatile moods, blurting out rude or insulting remarks and interrupting others. Inattentiveness is characterized by “tuning out” unintentionally, inability to focus on mundane tasks and constantly losing and forgetting things.

Source: Centre for ADHD/ADD Advocacy, Canada

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