Assessment and Treatment Monitoring Tools for Adult ADHD Despite the evidence that ADHD is a distinct condition from other psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders that affect adults, it is a challenging one to assess because of its overlap with other conditions. It is fortunate that there are several evidence-supported pharmacologic and psychosocial treatments available to adult ADHD. However, accurate assessment and measurement strategies during treatment are needed to optimize Read more

I have too often seen on the Internet or media the statement that ADHD is a recent invention of psychiatrists and/or pharmaceutical companies.  Such statements ignore the long history of ADHD that my colleague and I reviewed in our “Primer” about ADHD, http://rdcu.be/gYyV.   As you can see from The Figure, ADHD has a long history.  The first ADHD syndrome was described in a German medical textbook by Weikard in 1775.  That’s not a typo.  The Read more

Eight Pictures Describe Brain Mechanisms in ADHD When my colleagues and I wrote our “Primer” about ADHD, http://rdcu.be/gYyV, the topic of brain mechanisms was a top priority.   Because so much has been written about the ADHD brain, it is difficult to summarize.   Yet we did it with the eight pictures reproduce here in one Figure.   A quick overview of this Figure shows you the complexity of ADHD’s pathophysiology.  There is no single Read more

According to statistics released in 2014 by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center1, nearly 1 in 3 college students will drop out in their first year of college. While there are a variety of possible reasons (e.g., financial, etc.) for this sobering statistic, this finding highlights that transitioning to college can be challenging for a significant proportion of adolescents. For adolescents with ADHD, this transition period can be especially demanding. Adolescents with ADHD Read more

Psycho education is an integral part of the coaching process. It is during this phase of the coaching relationship that the coach educates the client about how and where the challenges of AD/HD are manifested in their life. The knowledgeable, well-trained certified AD/HD coach, from an accredited program, understands the ADHD brain and has the knowledge, language to clearly explain the bio-neurological nature of AD/HD. The coach conveys the invisible executive function challenges of ADHD Read more

Occupational impairments are one of the most common outcomes for adults with ADHD. As a function of ADHD symptoms and associated problems such as psychiatric comorbidities and executive function impairments, adults with ADHD often experience difficulties finding and maintaining jobs and are at increased risk for being unemployed or underemployed. Given the variety of outcomes that are associated with occupational functioning (e.g., quality of life, socioeconomic status and subsequent Read more

Not every child with ADHD will matriculate to a four-year college, although the numbers are increasing. For example, a follow-up survey on post-secondary trajectoires of high school students with ADHD histories (N = 364) showed that 30% of the ADHD sample were currently in pursuit of a four-year degree; this figure was 9% higher than previously reported data from a comparable sample in 20061. Thus, more children with ADHD are becoming college students with ADHD. College students seeking Read more

With the growth of the Internet, we are flooded with information about attention deficit hyperactivity disorder from many sources, most of which aim to provide useful and compelling “facts” about the disorder. But, for the cautious reader, separating fact from opinion can be difficult when writers have not spelled out how they have come to decide that the information they present is factual. My blogs several guidelines to reassure readers that the information they read about ADHD is Read more

Myth: ADHD is an American disorder. Those who claim ADHD is an American disorder believe that ADHD is due to the pressures of living in a fast paced, competitive American society. Some argue that if we lived in a simpler world, ADHD would not exist. Fact: ADHD occurs throughout the world. Wherever scientists have searched for ADHD, they have found it. They have done this by going to different countries, speaking to people in the community to diagnose them with or without ADHD. These Read more

ADHD is a serious disorder that requires treatment to prevent many adverse outcomes. But, because the diagnosis of ADHD is based on how the patient responds to questions, it is possible for people to pretend that they have ADHD, when they do not. In fact, if you Google “fake ADHD” you’ll get many pages of links including a Psychology Today article on the topic and bloggers describing how they were able to fool doctors into giving them ADHD medications. Is fake ADHD a serious problem? Not Read more