Most of the times, we adults, never comprehend that the persisting problems at home, office, and with relationships can be due to a medical condition or a disorder. Unfortunately, the same state of disorder is also passed on to the children. It is at this stage that adults, who are parents, are also diagnosed as having ADHD. According to a research, it is predicted that ADHD symptoms exist even in adulthood for approximately 60 percent of the people who had ADHD symptoms in childhood.

If ADHD is left untreated, it affects your life in the following way.

• Job chances are rare.
• Involvement in antisocial activities and substance misuse increases.
• Relationships are unbalanced.
• Existence of co-conditions, additional medical disorders that influence the mood and behavior such as, depression or anxiety is usual.

If you as a parent are diagnosed with ADHD, watch out for the same in your children too. Don’t you feel that ADHD is a silent traitor? So, if you feel that you are suffering from ADHD-like symptoms, wake up and immediately consult your GP for diagnosis.

ADHD Symptoms

The symptoms of ADHD easily stand out in childhood, but hard to notice in adulthood. The reason for this is that the most apparent symptoms are not so minutely observed because of the maturity level and some level of control implemented at some time or the other. Ask yourself the following questions to detect the symptoms of ADHD.

• Do you fidget frequently?
• Do you feel restless usually?
• Are you unable to sit still for a long period as others can?
• Do you find yourself impulsive?
• Have you ever felt that it is difficult for you think before doing or saying something?
• Have you faced difficult situations due to violent reactions/responses?
• Do you have a bad temper?
• Are you a moody person?
• Do you find it difficult to concentrate?
• Do you usually kick off projects and then suddenly discard them?
• Are you known as a disorganized person at home and at workplace?
• Do you find it difficult to achieve the targets?

It is not necessary to have all the symptoms in all the people with ADHD. However, if you find that these symptoms have taken place by recalling your childhood, consult your family doctor and discuss about them.

ADHD Diagnosis

For diagnosing ADHD, there is no one-time test. Instead, first you need to consult your GP who collects a lot of information about your school and family and yours and family’s medical history. Finally, he/she examines you physically and refers you to a specialist for a complete diagnosis. This specialist can be a psychiatrist or an expert in the field of ADHD. Once the diagnosis is done, a treatment plan is developed for your medications, counseling, psychotherapy, and behavior therapies. As there is very little research conducted in the area of adult ADHD, the medical experts themselves might not know much of it.

Sadly, ADHD cannot be totally ADHD, but one can be totally relief of the symptoms that can be helpful up to a great extent. It can change the way you behave at your family, workplace, and social events.

For you to have ADHD, the symptoms of ADHD must exist before you were seven and that it should be tough for you to ensure these signs in adulthood.
ADHD is generally diagnosed using any of the two groups of criteria namely, ICD-10 and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR). ICD-10 is developed by the WHO, whereas DSM-IV-TR is designed by the American Psychiatric Association.

During the diagnosis and treatment, rating scales are used that measure all characteristics of the behavior before and after treatment to check out for the sign of improvement.

Rating Scales

Actually speaking, the DSM-IV-TR criteria were used for diagnosing ADHD in children and not in adults. So, to diagnose ADHD in adults, rating scales are incorporated that rate each aspect of an adult’s behavior through questions and answers. Not only these scales help in diagnosing ADHD, but they also aid in identifying a point of demarcation between ADHD and other medical conditions. The rating scales for diagnosing ADHD in adults are:

• The Wender Utah scale
• Brown Adult ADD/ADHD scale
• Conner’s Adult ADHD Rating Scales (CAARS) that also involves a questionnaire, which is asked by an adult who is close to you and knows you very well

The most common rating scale is the Wender Utah scale, which implements the Utah criteria, and is more preferable than the DSM-IV-TR.

The Utah Criteria

According to the Utah Criteria, the state of hyperactivity and inattention must be there even in the adulthood along with at least two symptoms from the listed below other symptoms.

• Emotional over action
• Mood changes
• Inability to achieve/complete the assigned tasks
• Hot tempered
• Impulsive
• Linked problematic situations such as, family history of ADHD, drug abuse, and marital insecurity

There are 61 questions in this scale that measures your behavior in the childhood. A few examples of these questions are:

• Did you have a low self-esteem?
• Were you obstinate or irritable?
• Were you short-tempered?
• Did you find it difficult to imagine from others point of view?
• Did you mostly have trouble with the authority?

Other Conditions Similar to ADHD

Your doctor might first check for the presence of any of the following disorders, as their symptoms are similar to the symptoms of ADHD.

• Learning disability
• Dyslexia and other such learning disorders
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Mental disorders
• Autism
• Thyroid problems
• Epilepsy of specific types

Popularity: 1% [?]