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Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in Adults
For decades, continuing into the early 1970s, there was general agreement that attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) was outgrown during puberty (in this entry, ADHD encompasses both the traditional attention deficit disorder and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder). The major diagnostic focus during this period was the elevated activity level. The assumption that with maturation came ADHD cure was in part due to the observation that most children with ADHD experience a significant reduction in their hyperactivity and the associated symptoms in their teenage years. It was not until 1976 that research clearly demonstrated that while symptom presentation may have been altered by maturation and by improved cognitive ability and coping that accompanies maturation, most children with ADHD do not outgrow their symptoms. This entry describes current diagnostic and treatment strategies for adults with ADHD.
Diagnosis
By the 1990s, there was general agreement and consensus that approximately one third to two thirds of children with ADHD continue to have symptoms of the disorder into adulthood, which, in turn, often significantly impairs interpersonal, academic/occupational/vocational, social, and even leisure time functioning. While most adults experience occasional problems with inattention, impulsivity, distractibility, and restlessness, ADHD adults differ in the frequency, intensity, and duration of these symptoms. ADHD in adults is often “hidden,” as the problems are overshadowed by moderate to profound difficulties maintaining their lives in the areas mentioned above. The ADHD adult is also at risk of being misdiagnosed, because presenting symptoms mimic other disorders, such as depression and other mood disorders, substance abuse, anxiety, sleep problems, marital problems, feeling overwhelmed, being stressed out, low motivation, and poor employment history. In addition, ADHD may have comorbid diagnoses, most often depression. Academic underachievement (frequently diagnosed as a learning disability) is also a common cofinding among ADHD adults. Indeed, learning disabilities may be confused with ADHD symptoms and misdiagnosed, with the former being the diagnosis while the latter is the root cause.
There is no adult onset ADHD, but adult diagnosis of ADHD is common. That is, ADHD is a disorder whose origins are in childhood, and one cannot become an ADHD adult without having developmental symptoms (though not always identified as ADHD). Schools, parents, culture, socioeconomic class, and ethnicity contribute to the variability in the tolerance level, and thus intervention, of ADHD symptoms (Resnick, 2000).
Symptomatology
Wender (1995, 2000), in his rigorous reviews of prevalence data, concluded that the incidence of ADHD in adulthood is 2% to 7%. The ratio of men to women has been reported between 2 to 1 and 1 to 1 (Resnick, 2000). The diagnosis of ADHD in adults, as in children, can be one of three: (1) attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder: primarily hyperactive-impulsive type; (2) attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder: primarily inattentive type; and (3) attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder: combined type (hyperactiveimpulsive and inattentive). While the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition–Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR) (American Psychiatric Association, 2000) provides diagnostic criteria (many have to be modified to be applicable to adults), the most common complaints of ADHD adults usually center on procrastination, disorganization, and forgetfulness—even for those things they are motivated to do or complete. Hyperactivity, the most common symptom affected by maturation, is more likely to be experienced as a feeling of tension or restlessness in ADHD adults.
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- Adolescent Development
- Abstinence in Adolescence
- Adolescence and Thriving
- Adolescence, Current Trends and Research About
- Adolescent Females, Physical Activity
- Adolescent Parents, Programs and Policies for
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- Adolescent Sexuality
- Adolescents, at Risk
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- Alcohol Use and Disorders Among Youth
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- Asthma in Adolescence
- Athletic Participation and Girls' Development
- Cancer Patients, Adolescent Consent to Research
- Cigarette Smoking in Adolescents
- Dating in Adolescence
- Decision Making Among Adolescents
- Delinquency
- Depression in Adolescence
- Ethnic Identity Development in Minority Adolescents
- Gender Intensification
- HIV Prevention in Young Adults
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- Depression in Later Life
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- Sensory Impairment, Aging
- Social Support in Old Age
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- Vision Impairment, Late Life Adjustment and Rehabilitation
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- Bornstein, Marc H.
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- Cauce, Ana Mari
- Ceci, Stephen J.
- Chase-Lansdale, P. Lindsay
- Damon, William
- Eccles, Jacquelynne, and the Expectancy-Value Model of Achievement Choice
- Eisenberg, Nancy
- Elkind, David
- Farrington, David P.
- Fisher, Celia B.
- Flanagan, Constance A.
- Floyd, Donald T., Jr.
- Freud, Anna
- Freud, Sigmund
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- Gesell, Arnold Lucius
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- Hall, G. Stanley
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- Lamb, Michael
- Lerner, Jacqueline V.
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- Meisels, Samuel J.
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- Phinney, Jean S.
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- Rhodes, Jean
- Savin-Williams, Ritch C.
- Seligman, Martin E. P.
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- Foundations
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- Asthma in Adolescence
- Cancer Patients, Adolescent Consent to Research
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- Culture and Health
- Diabetes
- Frontal Cortex
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- Obesity, Pediatric
- Obesity, Prevention in Childhood
- Psychotropic Medications
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- Sensory Impairment, Aging
- Vision Impairment, Late Life Adjustment and Rehabilitation
- Visual Impairment Across the Life Span
- Youth Development as a Public Idea
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- Historical Influences
- Infant Development
- Organizations
- American Psychological Association, Division 7 (Developmental Psychology)
- Boys & Girls Clubs of America
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- Overton, Willis F., Philosophical Foundations of Developmental Science
- Pediatric Psychology
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- Philosophy of Science and Applied Developmental Science
- Positive Psychology
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- Positive Youth Development, a Developmental Systems View
- Problem Behavior Theory
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- Recapitulation
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- Stage Theories of Human Development
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- Television, Children's Processing of
- Universities
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- Yale University, Bush Center in Child Development and Social Policy
- Youth Programs
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