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Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a medical condition that is caused by an imbalance of two important “messengers” in the brain that lead to the symptoms of ADHD in children and adults.  About 4% of the entire adult population has ADHD which begins in childhood.  ADHD can lead to difficulties with the following:

• Focusing on tasks or conversations
• Organizing and prioritizing work
• Filtering out distractions
• Thinking before acting
• Completing projects

Symptoms of Adult ADHD are the same core symptoms that occur in childhood such as inattention, hyperactivity and impulsive behavior.  Researchers used to believe that children would outgrow their symptoms of ADHD, but it is now known that 65% of children with the disorder will continue to have it into adulthood.  Sometimes these same symptoms in adulthood can have more severe consequences.  Here are the symptoms:

• Inattention may cause many problems in relationships and at work.  Very often the adult with ADHD will have lapses in their attention during a conversation or business meeting and miss the point of the conversation or meeting.  They also frequently start to talk about an unrelated topic or miss part of the important part of the conversation. This will cause strains in relationships, marriages and work place problems.
• Disorganization may potentially cause serious problems for the adult with ADHD that may start at home with troubles in financial management or paying bills on time.  At work, it may be difficult to prioritize tasks, complete tasks or start projects requiring a lot of planning and thought.
• Distractibility

  is also an issue because small, unrelated things can disrupt their train of thought, their project, etc.  Sometimes making it difficult to focus on things requiring sustained attention.

• Hyperactivity takes a different form in ADHD adults than children.  It usually goes from high motor activity in children to a feeling of restlessness in adults which impacts their ability to do long, quiet activities such as reading a book or watching a movie.
• Impulsive behavior in adults may lead to serious consequences than it does in children.  They may make very impulsive decisions to spend money, travel, change jobs or social plans without really thinking through the outcome.  They often interrupt others in the conversation or blurt things out in conversations.

Although you may have gone through your childhood without being diagnosed with ADHD, to have it as an adult, it was always there as a child.  Sometimes it may not be recognized until later in life when things become more complex, less structured, more demands and there is more complex social interactions.

We will discuss more about treatment of the adult with ADHD in subsequent posts and also begin a discussion on children with ADHD.