Adults, ADHD, and Success in Life   Frank Barnhill M.D.
 

ADHD can occur in adults of all ages.

Most adult ADHDers made it well into adulthood and “discovered” they are ADHD because they know someone else with the same traits or finally heard their mom or dad say they always suspected they were hyperactive when they were five or six years old. It’s just that no one did anything about it!

It’s an unfortunate and common misconception among both patients and a lot of doctors that ADHD does not occur over the age of 18 years. It is very unfortunate because these unrecognized adults are failing to reach their full potential in life. These very same adults may suffer from depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorders because of their difficulty in living and maintaining a happy, rewarding, productive life.

Most adults are diagnosed with ADHD after their child has been diagnosed and treated. One day, they suddenly see a big difference in their child’s learning skills and ability to function in social situations. They may also notice their kid has suddenly lost “that attitude” and become happier with his or her accomplishments as self-esteem grows as small successes turn into larger successes for the first time in their life.

ADHD is a highly genetically inherited disorder with at least a 40% chance one or the other parent of a kid diagnosed with ADHD will also be ADHD. Currently, only about 25% of ADHD adults are receiving treatment. That means a lot are falling through the cracks, as studies have shown that over 70% of all ADHD kids will continue to experience some or all ADHD traits throughout adulthood.

Why do so many ADHD persons make it to age 18 and then not receive treatment? There are several possible reasons:

Some successfully treated ADHD kids think they are “cured” because they have reached 18 years of age and just stop their medications without a thorough evaluation.

Some ADHDers, who were never diagnosed and treated, learned to cope with their “shortcomings” and found ways to adapt and compensate in dealing with their frustrations and problems with short attention spans and poor memory.

Other ADHDers sought treatment for their ADHD associated depression, anxiety and bipolar disorders and once treatment was started, their ADHD symptoms improved just enough to allow them to function in a job or social relationship. These ADHDers do very well in jobs that keep them constantly busy and are repetitive in nature. If this ADHDer is given an unstructured management or supervisory job, then he or she will no longer be able to compensate and will get into trouble rapidly.

Now that you’ve gotten a little insight into the why of Adult ADHD, let’s take a look at the typical adult ADHDer. Most adults ADHDers have a combination of inattention or poor ability to focus and concentrate and hyperactivity.

When properly screened these ADHD adults will be found to:

Have trouble keeping a steady job and may bounce from job to job.

Lose jobs because of excessive risk taking on the job, inability to concentrate on the task given to them and failure to complete assignments on time. 

Do well in jobs that require little thought, but may become bored easily if the task at hand doesn’t move fast enough. They love and literally require speed and have a very poor tolerance for levels of low visual, tactile, and sound level stimulation.

 Get more speeding tickets, have more car wrecks, and end up losing their driver’s license more often, as a result of this love of the fast and exciting.

Show poor judgment in social and work situations and are likely to have poor tolerance for frustration and be openly critical of others.

Let their lack of tolerance lead to much frustration, anger and even hostile outbursts and temper fits.

Not quite be able to organize even simple daily requirements of life such as washing their clothes or keeping doctor appointments. They may even lose their car keys or lock themselves out of the house because of forgetfulness associated with their poor ability to focus.

Be poor listeners, interrupt frequently, raise their voice or talk loudly. It’s like they are afraid they are not going to be heard or get a turn at speaking.

Be prone to drug abuse, excessive smoking and alcohol use in an attempt to compensate for their need for excitement and to cover symptoms of anxiety and depression.

Show almost absolute lack of motivation. This lack of motivation and its associated procrastination seems to be a big reason why ADHDers fail so badly in life. While others will find a way to deal with their shortcomings in life and go on work through their problems, ADHDers just don’t have the focus or the drive, get frustrated easily and give up.

The good news is that 70% of adult ADHDers will respond to the first ADHD medication they are given. The remainder will require switching drugs until the best one is found and possibly adding another medication to deal with the associated depression anxiety and bipolar disorders. In addition, adults tend to respond very well to the same stimulant medications used in children.

Of course, medications aren’t the only treatment avenue available. Adult ADHDers tend to respond very well to coaching by other adult ADHDers and group counseling with peer interaction. A lot of self-help books exist to allow the good at reading ADHDer find ways to cope with his or her traits and achieve their full potential in life.

Dr. Frank

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