ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) is a cognitive condition that is usually diagnosed during childhood. The American Psychiatric Association estimates that 8.4 percent of children and 2.5 percent of adults have ADHD. People with ADHD experience and process information differently than people who are neurotypical. If you have the condition, you may feel that forgetfulness tends to occur […]
Continue Reading... No Comments.I hit midlife feeling totally overwhelmed. I couldn’t concentrate, couldn’t prioritize. I chalked it up to menopause, or maybe just a series of “senior moments.” But then I found a therapist who understood exactly my problem: I had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In fact, I’d been living with it all my life — but the […]
Continue Reading... No Comments.As we get older, occasional forgetfulness may become more worrisome. Is this the start of dementia, or are we just stressed? Has the loss of structure due to retirement led to this change? Or could we be suffering from another illness, maybe the same illness as our son or granddaughter, who also struggle with attention […]
Continue Reading... No Comments.By Nicholas Chan We might see increasing forgetfulness in older age as a red flag of mild cognitive decline or dementia. But it turns out that some of the cognitive symptoms may be manifestations of a lifelong condition: attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). As psychiatrist at McLean Hospital Stephanie Collier writes for Harvard Health, while we often think […]
Continue Reading... No Comments.Gender bias is leaving many women with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder undiagnosed, leading psychologists are warning. The prevailing stereotype ADHD affects only “naughty boys” means at least tens of thousands in the UK, it is estimated, are unaware they have the condition and not receiving the help they need. “I used to tell doctors and […]
Continue Reading... No Comments.By Neil Peterson Today brings us a nice example of that kind of study. Researchers in Sweden interviewed ten people with ADHD over the age of 50, asking them about life with ADHD and looking for patterns in their responses. Specifically, participants were asked: “Could you please share openly what it is like to live with ADHD […]
Continue Reading... No Comments.New findings challenge the belief that half of children with ADHD outgrow the condition by adulthood. Although patients may show intermittent periods of symptom remission, 90% of children with ADHD followed into young adulthood continued to experience residual symptoms, according to the results of a prospective longitudinal study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry Read […]
Continue Reading... No Comments.Why ADHD is often easy to miss in seniors In children, one of the most common symptoms of ADHD is hyperactivity, but other symptoms include disorganization and inattention—two symptoms that in seniors can often present as cognitive decline, Alzheimer’s disease, and other age-related memory conditions. David Goodman, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences […]
Continue Reading... No Comments.Preliminary research suggests that seniors with ADHD experience unique and evolving symptoms that are commonly mistaken for — and overlap with — normal signs of aging. Misdiagnosis and mismanaged treatment after age 60 are serious problems, says Kathleen Nadeau, Ph.D. Here, she outlines her emerging research and explains how clinicians can better serve older patients. […]
Continue Reading... No Comments.When my 15-year-old son was given a diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder at age 7, I was told that it was a lifelong chronic condition. So I felt a little bit hopeful when a study published last winter in the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics said that “an estimated 30 percent to 60 percent of […]
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