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The behavior of an adult suffering from ADHD can irritate observers, sometimes even make them feel threatened. Therefore, it is worth taking a moment to understand what it results from and what this disorder manifests itself with. Impulsivity in adults with ADHD manifests itself as frequent interruptions of other people's statements, difficulty in waiting for your turn, violent, often inappropriate to the situation emotional reactions, expressive facial expressions and gestures.

People with ADHD, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, are often referred to as messy people who cannot keep order and organize their time well. They are distracted or thoughtful. They work without thinking or too slowly. They explode easily. These behaviors and features are visible at first glance.

But you can also come across the opinion that ADHD is an imaginary problem that is supposed to be an excuse for badly mannered and wayward people. In common awareness, ADHD is a condition attributed to children and adolescents. Unfortunately, it is also a problem of adults who are in a much more difficult situation than children or adolescents. This is because this forgives hyperactivity, hoping that they will grow out of it. Adults with this dysfunction are not accepted. They are often referred to as lazy, boorish, quarrelsome, rowdy or simply as stupid or crazy people. The problem of adults is also the fact that their condition is not very often diagnosed, so it is also not treated. In addition, many people are unaware that they are sick and do not seek specialist help.

ADHD causes

ADHD is not the result of bad upbringing or neglect of a child by parents, but a genetically determined disorder that usually manifests itself in the first years of life. The condition is associated with neurobiological changes in brain function. Over the years, the severity of the symptoms of dysfunction decreases, but it is not possible to completely cure them.

The main causes of the disease are factors related to the functioning of the brain. Contemporary knowledge suggests that ADHD is caused by changes in the metabolism of neurotransmitters, which are responsible for the transmission of stimuli from one nerve cell to another. To be precise, it is about the reduced activity of norepinephrine (responsible for concentration) idopamine (controls stimuli and drive) and serotonin (impulsivity, adapting behavior to the situation). The essence of the disease is that the listed hormones break down too quickly and very intensively. The consequence of this are disturbances in the transmission of information. These in turn cause problems with concentration and impulsiveness.

Practically speaking, it can be said that the brain of ADHD sufferers cannot cope with blocking irrelevant stimuli and selecting those that are most important in a specific situation. Therefore, patients forget many things or become distracted easily.

Imaging studies provide knowledge about the functioning of the brain of people with ADHD. By performing functional MRI, you can locate the areas of the brain that are active during a specific task. It is also possible to assess the blood flow through the vessels, more precisely the ratio of oxygenated to non-oxygenated blood. Based on this, it is known which areas of the brain use more or less oxygen when performing a task. If oxygen consumption is lower in some part of the brain than in he althy people, then that part of it probably works less well. In PET examination, the metabolism of labeled glucose can be assessed and on this basis the activity of a given area of ​​the brain can be assessed. In ADHD patients, glucose metabolism in the frontal lobes is lower than in he althy subjects. This in turn is the cause of the attention deficit.

The causes of ADHD also include complications perinatal, smoking and drinking alcohol by expecting women as well as lead poisoning.

ADHD symptoms in adults

To be considered ADHD in an adult, at least 6 out of 10 symptoms characteristic of childhood and adolescence must be present.

These are:

  • problems with concentration,
  • easy distraction,
  • hyperactivity,
  • problems with doing two things at the same time,
  • impatience,
  • mood swings,
  • inability to control emotions,
  • excessive irritability,
  • lack of organization and inability to deal with stress,
  • difficulties in creating partnerships,
  • lowered self-esteem,
  • lack of self-confidence,
  • failure memory.

Problems faced by adults with ADHD

Social and life problems of ADHD patients very often result from the fact that both close and strangers do not understand the mechanisms of particular behaviors. Their manifestations may irritate observers, sometimes even cause fear or even a sense of threat to their own safety.That is why it is worth taking a moment to understand what they result from and how the most important behaviors of ADHD patients manifest themselves. The impulsiveness comes from trouble with postponing. Despite the fact that the patient knows how to behave in a given situation, he cannot inhibit his own reaction.

It is difficult for a patient to interrupt not only thoughts or impulses, but also actions. When someone asks - come to me - hears "immediately" in response, but the sick person continues his activity, instead of fulfilling the request. Impulsiveness also results in the desire to react immediately to the emerging stimulus - I have to do it immediately, I have to have it right away, without thinking about the consequences of doing so. Impulsiveness in adults manifests itself as frequent interruptions of other people's statements, difficulty in waiting for their turn, violent, often inadequate to the situation, emotional reactions, forgetting about the dates of meetings or events, intense but unstable relationships with other people, problems with maintaining order in the apartment or in the workplace.

Disturbance in attention is a poor ability to concentrate on a specific task. This means that the patient has a problem not only with starting an activity, e.g. listening, but also with maintaining it, i.e. continuing. This behavior may be perceived as boring. Patients also have insufficiently developed short-term (working) memory, which often translates into starting a certain job, but abandoning it before finishing it.

This is because another stimulus was clearer, or a new one, and this one caught the attention, interested the patient. A person with ADHD cannot concentrate on one source of stimuli, e.g. listening to a lecture. When this lasts too long, attention shifts to unproductive activities - looking at the window, scratching a piece of paper or playing with a pencil.

The sick person is perceived as a man in the clouds or a dreamer. Attention disorder is also a poorly developed ability to self-observe, set goals and create a life plan, but also the desire to do everything your own way, which makes it difficult to cooperate with other people. A person with attention deficit disorder does not see details, which is why he is considered absent-minded and disrespectful of his duties, but he cannot concentrate on one task for a long time. It can also cause you to forget, lose or leave your belongings in different places. Hyperactivity - that is, excessive, unjustified mobility can be manifested by constant standing up, walking around the room or quickly moving a foot or hand. With time, however, hyperactivity transforms into a lack of physical activity, but it prevails in the patientinner anxiety and nervousness.

How to help adults with ADHD?

ADHD is an insidious ailment, the symptoms of which affect not only the patient's assessment of the environment, but also their self-perception. Low self-esteem, lack of resourcefulness in life, a sense of rejection and isolation are just some of the characteristics of patients. But they translate into difficulties with learning new things, problems at work and difficult relationships with friends. It all leads to mental pain, ineffective attempts to understand yourself and a lack of faith in your own abilities.

Low self-esteem does not allow you to enjoy life and achieved successes. The dark side of the situation is always seen, even if it is a false assessment. Untreated ADHD not only ruins a person's daily life, but can also lead to serious mental disorders such as depression, anxiety disorders, addictions and addictions.

Lack of therapy can manifest itself with imbalance, sleep disturbance, stuttering and even very ugly handwriting. Currently, it is believed that if ADHD symptoms are not burdensome for the patient and his environment, the therapy can be limited to psychological counseling, which will consist in learning to plan the time and activities to be performed each day. However, when the symptoms are severe, pharmacological support is needed. Patients are advised to take psychostimulants or antidepressants to regulate neurological abnormalities.

Organizing the world around them is the basis of functioning for many patients. People suffering from ADHD, if they choose the right path for themselves, find an interesting and full of new challenges job, they will find each other. They are talented, full of ideas and successful people. It is enough to mention a few names of people who had ADHD, and their life achievements are still admired by the whole world - Tomasz Edison (inventor of the phonograph and light bulb), Pablo Picasso (painter), Ernest Hemingway (writer), Albert Eistein (a genius physicist, creator of the theory of relativity) , Winston Churchill (UK Prime Minister), Alexander Graham Bell (inventor of the telephone), John F. Kennedy (US President) and finally Cher (singer), Whoopi Goldberg (actress) and Michael Jordan (NBA basketball player).

Problem

The results of a few studies on adults with ADHD confirm that in the world there are 6% of people with hyperactivity and attention deficit disorder. Doctors, however, believe that this data is very understated because, as already mentioned, many people have undiagnosed the disease. Men are 4 times more likely to struggle with ADHD than women. In as many as 65% of children diagnosed with the condition, symptomsthey also persist into adulthood and often take the form of depression, anxiety, impulsiveness or make it difficult to maintain partnerships. It is also known that if someone in the family has ADHD, the risk of dysfunction in the next generations increases even seven times. If ADHD is to give birth, the offspring have a 50% chance of inheriting the disease.

Difficult ADHD diagnostics

Low awareness of the patients themselves, their relatives and - unfortunately - many doctors cause problems in the correct assessment of the patient. Especially since attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is accompanied by other mental disorders or addictions that blur the true picture of the disorder. The problem is that the criteria for diagnosing adults have not yet been developed. The diagnosis of ADHD in adults is based on the same criteria that are used to assess adolescents. Many doctors question their value because a teenager's psyche is significantly different from that of an adult. Consequently, not only the symptoms may be different, but also their severity. The symptoms of ADHD in adults can be taken into account after the prior exclusion of other diseases and disorders, e.g. personality disorders, brain injuries, disorders of thyroid metabolism, abuse of psychoactive substances, phobias, insomnia, etc. Important information for the doctor is also whether the symptoms occurred in childhood, before the age of 7.

Specialists distinguish three ADHD subtypes:

  • subtype with predominance of impulsivity and hyperactivity,
  • ADD subtype with a predominance of attention deficit disorder. It is more difficult to diagnose because patients are not hyperactive, l
  • mixed subtype.

ADHD manifests itself differently in men than in women

Just as women are different from men, their ADHD is also different. Women are more likely to suffer from a subtype of attention deficit disorder, often without signs of hyperactivity. That is why they are often referred to as dreamers or clouds. They are very sensitive to criticism and quickly withdraw when they feel they are misunderstood. Women with ADHD are more prone to stress and anxiety disorders. They are often judged as lazy because they are unable to mobilize themselves to act. As they are worse in social contacts, they are less likely to receive support from the environment. This, moreover, often wrongly blames them for life failures.

Attention deficit is the most common problem in adults with ADHD. It causes serious problems in everyday life and negatively affects the evaluation of work. Such people are more often than othersdismissed from work because their superiors perceive them as slower and less effective in carrying out orders.

Sick women have lower self-esteem and endure life's difficulties poorly. In their face, they often behave unreasonably, which they demonstrate through sudden changes in mood. They are also more prone to alcohol and drug addiction. It is also believed that women with ADHD are worse drivers than men. It is said that they enforce right-of-way more often, drive at excessive speeds and cause accidents more often. ADHD symptoms worsen under the influence of estrogens, the level of which in the blood rises in the first phase of the cycle. Then, an additional symptom is exhaustion and chronic fatigue, which does not disappear after a long rest or undisturbed sleep. Men are more explosive. They are inferior listeners and often forget about important matters or meetings. At the same time, they are extremely creative and perfect in action. Many patients also do not accept their appearance.

Worth knowing

Diet that facilitates functioning with ADHD

Dutch doctors argue in the medical journal "Lancet" that the symptoms of ADHD that are troublesome for the patient and are incomprehensible to the environment can be alleviated by diet. But it must be a diet devoid of foods that raise the level of IgG antibodies in the blood. This is a type of elimination diet similar to the one used for allergies. You must exclude grains, dairy products, fish and nuts from the daily diet for 5 weeks. If the symptoms of ADHD are milder, the Dutch recommend performing tests that will determine which products "sensitize" a particular patient.

Compiled on the basis of press materials and the book by Sabine Bernau "ADHD in adults. A guide - how to live with it. "

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Category:

Psychiatry