Signs and symptoms of ADHD in adults are often overlooked by professionals and are only recognized after many years of confusion and incorrect diagnoses.
In recent years, there has been increasing discussion about ADHD, a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity.
60% of individuals diagnosed with ADHD in childhood continue to experience symptoms into adulthood.
Adults with ADHD are most commonly recognized due to challenges in coping with the responsibilities and demands of daily life, which require planning, time management, goal setting, organization, and problem-solving. This is a result of impaired executive functions, which you can read more about here.
The three main challenges faced by adults with untreated ADHD are: impaired emotional self-regulation, issues with personal boundaries and boundaries in relationships, and taking personal responsibility.
As a result, these are the most common symptoms:
Lack of personal boundaries (people pleasing), inability to recognize and process one’s own emotions, adopting others’ beliefs, constant feeling of being overwhelmed, a loud inner negative critic, distorted body image, fear of abandonment, excessive overthinking, weaker assertiveness and social skills, sensory hypersensitivity, and excessive and premature sharing of personal intimacy.
Masking and comorbidities
As a consequence of unrecognized and untreated ADHD throughout childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, comorbidities may arise that mask the recognition of ADHD.
Masking is especially common in the female population and in individuals with predominantly inattentive ADHD.
Also, there are sometimes overlaps between ADHD and trauma symptoms, which you can read more about here.
Due to all of this, symptoms are often masked by other mental health issues through: perfectionism, workaholism, unexplained outbursts of anger, challenges in romantic relationships, anxiety, depression, burnout, addiction, …
The most common statements made by adults with ADHD that can help recognize them:
“I’ve felt different my whole life.”
“I don’t understand my emotions.”
“I feel overwhelmed.”
“I find it difficult to build relationships with others.”
“I just can’t seem to keep a job.”
„I can’t control myself.”
“I can’t maintain focus at work.”
“I endure for too long.”
Ovo su neki od znakova ADHD-a u odrasloj dobi koji ljudima često promaknu:
1. Procrastination
It is often overlooked because task procrastination is attributed to laziness and a lack of motivation or interest.
Adults with ADHD struggle to maintain adequate levels of dopamine during routine tasks that are not as engaging, and they tend to avoid them because they are not rewarding enough in terms of dopamine.
2. Hyperfocus
Hyperfocus is a state of deep immersion in a task where a person becomes unaware of time, space, other people, and tasks. A common misconception is that hyperfocus can be deliberately triggered, which confuses people because individuals with ADHD can be more focused on things that interest them than neurotypical individuals and even achieve above-average success, while being completely uninterested and unfocused on other tasks.
Why does one get stuck in hyperfocus? The more immersed you are in a task, the greater the increase in dopamine.
In its worst form, it looks like an inability to transition to a new task or missing tasks because the activity cannot be interrupted until it is completed.
3. Impulsivity
Impulsivity in adults with ADHD refers to hasty actions and decision-making.
Disruption in the basal ganglia, a group of structures in the brain that process how we assess emotions, motivations, goals, and risks, and help with learning, habit formation, planning, and task execution, is the root of impulsivity.
Some examples include interrupting others during conversations, making socially inappropriate comments, hasty financial decisions (impulsive buying, postponing bill payments or losing track of their due dates, planning savings).
4. Impaired time management
Due to impaired executive functions, people with ADHD have difficulty tracking time or knowing how much time a task will take to complete.
For this reason, they procrastinate on tasks, arrive late, ignore duties they find boring, and easily lose focus.
5. Hypersensitivity and poor emotional self-regulation.
From anxiety and irritability to happy and approachable, and even angry and aggressive emotions, people with ADHD often experience emotional dysregulation and overwhelm.
They easily become bored and tend to seek excitement through passing whims.
How this affects romantic relationships, find out here.
They struggle with frustration, frequent mood swings, and untreated emotional blockages complicate their personal and professional relationships.
6. Eating disorders
Frequent challenges include emotional overeating, completely forgetting about food, and snacking out of boredom.
The lack of dopamine and increased activity in the limbic system raises the likelihood of reaching for fast food in order to satisfy brain reward centers and provide the stimulation needed for focus.
About emotional overeating and tricks for overcoming it, read here.
7. Sleeping problems
Sleep disorders are a result of weakened activity in the reticular activating system (RAS), which is a network of neural pathways in the brainstem crucial for regulating arousal and the transition between sleep and wakefulness.
Dysregulation of the RAS makes it difficult to distinguish between important sensory information and what is just background noise or distraction.
Frequent biological disruptions in their circadian rhythm occur.
Delayed sleep phase disorder refers to a phenomenon where sleep consistently begins two or more hours later than what is considered standard bedtime.
The delayed onset of melatonin production (the sleep hormone), which is activated at night, also contributes to sleep disturbances.
More about tips on how to support yourself if you recognize this symptom can be found here.
8. Slow decision-making
Slowness in decision-making is not necessarily a sign of indecisiveness, but rather slower sensory processing of information.
We focus too much on the big picture, making it difficult to break tasks down into smaller steps.
It often gets stuck in excessive analysis, on one idea, and/or weighs all options before making a decision.
9. Psychomotor agitation
Restless hands, feet, and toes, fidgeting, doodling, playing with hair and objects, biting nails, and picking at skin are just some of the subtle signs of agitation that are often attributed to other factors, such as stress or impatience.
A frequent need for frequent changes in activities, changing seating positions, or moving around during a conversation is common.
The need to keep moving and doing things leads to frustration if it can’t be fulfilled immediately, resulting in restlessness, frustration, and anxiety.
10. Dominating a conversation
Adults with ADHD struggle with following conversations due to poor attention control and the inability to retain information because of a limited working memory capacity.
This is noticeable through frequent interruptions, sudden topic changes, forgetting what the conversation partner just said, and often asking for repetition of what was said.
They often forget whether they’ve already told a story, and are prone to repeating the same stories multiple times.
11. Forgetfulness
Everyone forgets sometimes, but for adults with ADHD, this is often a daily occurrence.
From not knowing where they left their keys or wallet to not being able to remember birthdays or phone numbers.
When forgetfulness affects their ability to function and impacts relationships or work, treatment is necessary.
ADHD je neurorazličitost koja se teško prepoznaje u odrasloj dobi i stručnjaci su ju manje skloni pretpostaviti kao dijagnozu iz više razloga.
Prvo, postoji fenomen „filtar razmišljanja“. Primjerice, psiholog koji se bavi anksioznošću bit će sklon sve simptome opisati kroz anksioznost. Psihijatar koji se bavi poremećajima ličnosti bit će skloniji pomisliti da je riječ o simptomima nekih od njih.
Drugo, svijest o ADHD-u toliko je naglo „eksplodirala“ da su stručnjaci manje skloni postaviti dijagnozu jer misle da je to neki trend ili nešto „popularno“, kao i sumnja u „preuveličavanje“ i „google/ Tik Tok samodijagnoze“.
Treće, veliki dio psihologa i psihijatara je nije u dovoljnoj mjeri upućen u teškoće mentalnog zdravlja neurorazličitih osoba kao što su to edukacijski rehabilitatori i logopedi (fun fact: jesi li znao/la da sam bazično mag.logopedije?).
Četvrto, postoje mnogi komorbiditeti tj.preklapanja ostalih teškoća mentalnog zdravlja koje prikrivaju ADHD (cPTSD, anksioznost, depresija, i dr.).
The steps to an ADHD diagnosis are:
1. Test samoprocjene ADHD-a
Klikom ovdje preuzmi besplatni test za samoprocjenu. U opisu testa piše kako tumačiti rezultate te postoji li opravdana sumnja na ADHD. (klik na test za samoprocjenu)
2. Psihološko testiranje
T.O.V.A test jedan je od testova kojim se procjenjuje prisutnost ADHD-a. Test najčešće provodi psiholog. Preporučam ti raspitati se za procjenu kod stručnjaka koji ima iskustva u radu s odraslim neurorazličitim osobama, posebice u radu s ADHD-om. Osobno NE provodim dijagnostiku.
3. Potvrda dijagnoze procjenom psihijatra
Sa procjenom psihologa sljedeći korak je potvrda dijagnoze kod psihijatra koji po potrebi pripisuje lijekove. Također preporučam da to bude psihijatar koji je upoznat s ADHD-om kod odraslih.
What comes after the diagnosis?
Često samo saznanje da sve što proživljavaš ima ime i upoznavanje s obilježjima ADHD-a donosi ogroman osjećaj olakšanja. Međutim, nije dovoljno da samo znaš da imaš ADHD, čeka te ostatak života s njim. Ne može se izliječiti, to je neurorazličitost.
Tretman uključuje lijekove, psihoterapiju i coaching.
The approach is multidisciplinary and includes a general practitioner, psychiatrist, psychologist, and, if necessary, an educational rehabilitation specialist and speech therapist.
There are 5 types of medications licensed for ADHD: methylphenidate, dexamfetamine, lisdexamfetamine, atomoxetine, and guanfacine.
Medications do NOT cure ADHD because it is not a disease, but rather a different way the brain functions.
The purpose of medications is to alleviate symptoms and support psychotherapy by improving concentration, reducing impulsivity, creating a sense of calm, and facilitating learning and the acquisition of new skills.
Psihoterapija
Psihoterapija ti pomaže u ovladavanju svojom impulzivnošću, emocijama, pretjeranim analiziranjem. Također, podrška je u izgradnji samopoštovanja, samopouzdanja i zdravih životnih navika te odnosa sa sobom i drugima. Bavimo se traumama iz djetinjstva, ograničavajućim obrascima mišljenja i ponašanja.
Nudim uslugu online psihoterapijskog rada s ADHD-om kod odraslih.
Zakaži svoj termin ovdje.
Coaching
Coaching ti pomaže u razvijanju strategija za upravljanje dnevnim zadacima, formiranjem zdravih navika i stvaranjem osjećaja strukture i rutine, poboljšanje radnog učinka, izgradnju uspješnih radnih odnosa i napredovanje u karijeri.
Trenutno ti nudim usluge psihoterapijskog rada te je plan mog daljnjeg profesionalnog rasta i razvoja upis coaching edukacije (2024.).
Ako si stručnjak i želiš naučiti više o (psiho)terapijskom radu s odraslim osobama s ADHD-om, u prodaji je snimka webinara „Terapijske tehnike u radu s ADHD-om“ po cijeni od 30 eura.
Kontaktiraj me ovdje.
Utisci sudionika webinara:
„Istinski kvalitetna predavačica, vrlo jasno i razumljivo iznesen sadržaj. Predavanjem sam dobila puno informacija. Definitivno sam stekla bolji uvid u funkcioniranje osoba s ADHD-om što mi je i bilo bitno.“
„U suštini, sve super. Lijepo je bilo čuti neke informacije koje su mi već potvrdile neke misli i saznanja, ali i dali uvid u to koliko su neka životna iskustva tj način na koji cijeli život doživljavam svijet oko sebe i kako mi misli vrte, kako se ponašam…da sve to ima smisla tako reć. Ima poveznicu i objašnjenje. Lea je to super i prezentirala, s obzirom da sam osoba koja sumnja na adhd teško mi je inače držati fokus na bilo kakvim predavanjima na duže vrijeme, ali super je to odradila i prezentacija je bila taman dovoljno vizualno stimulirajuća da me drži prisutnom(od boja, kompozicije itd),tako da sam jako zadovoljna.“