ADHD is a neurodevelopmental condition that affects how well you function in many facets of life. ADHD can impact your mental health, and your capacity to have healthy relationships, maintain a successful career, and even manage your finances!
Key points
- Adult ADHD makes it more difficult to succeed in relationships .
- ADHD can impede your ability to succeed at work.
- Effective support is available for Adult ADHD.
- Assessment is the first step to living better.
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What is adult ADHD?
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, sometimes known as ADHD, is a neurodevelopmental condition that impairs your ability to focus, regulate your emotions, and control your impulses and actions.
In many cases, adults who have ADHD also struggled in childhood or adolescence, but ADHD may have only been diagnosed when the pressures of adult life make life with ADHD just too difficult to navigate without help. Some particularly hard-working individuals push through their ADHD with sheer grit and determination to succeed, including sometimes impressive academic achievements, but the strain of having to persevere against ADHD usually extracts significant personal cost.
Why adults may not recognize they have ADHD
Many adults don’t realize that they have ADHD until a professional or someone close to them specifically suggests that ADHD might be the cause of their difficulty functioning.
There is a misperception of ADHD as a childhood disorder, which manifests most prominently in hyperactivity. It is true that childhood ADHD often has a strong component of hyperactivity. Adult ADHD tends to manifest in other ways without the marker of hyperactivity but nonetheless interferes significantly with your capacity to function in daily life.
Symptoms of adult ADHD
If you relate to 3 or more of these ADHD symptoms, it might be worthwhile to consider getting an assessment:
- Being disorganized
- Difficulty following a routine
- Forgetting appointments and commitments
- Misplacing everyday items more than every few months
- Being easily distractible
- Difficulty prioritizing and completing tasks in the time available
- Impulse control issues
- Difficulty with planning and seeing through tasks effectively
- Emotional fluctuations and becoming easily angry, frustrated, or discouraged
The 4 areas of life most often affected by adult ADHD
ADHD impacts every one of the most important spheres of your life: your health and wellness, your professional success, your relationships, and even your financial security.
- Health: People with ADHD find it challenging to maintain a regular sleep, dietary, and exercise schedule due to issues with impulse control, time management, and poor executive functioning skills. Long-term physical and mental health issues often result from being unable to sustain a healthy lifestyle. Adults with ADHD have an increased risk of chronic physical health conditions, as well as an increased risk of depression, anxiety, and substance use disorder.
- Professional success: Your career prospects are likely to suffer if you have trouble paying attention during professional training, remaining on task with crucial work responsibilities, or managing your time properly.
- Relationships: ADHD can impair your ability to form emotionally intimate, long-term relationships. If you’re easily distracted and invest a lot of your energy being disorganized or distracted, you’ll be less aware of the needs of others. Adult ADHD can limit your capacity to connect deeply with those around you.
- Finances: ADHD is associated with impulse purchases and difficulty managing money. People with ADHD often pay fines and interest fees for late or missed payments, accumulate debt for purchases that are not must-have items, and have difficulty saving.
Being assessed for adult ADHD is the first step to getting it under control
Adult ADHD must be evaluated and diagnosed by a qualified mental health professional. A skilled practitioner will consider the various factors in your life that might explain your difficulties and can make an expert diagnosis.
Dr. Pasternak can work with you to help you get your life in order.
For many people, combining medication with psychotherapy such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) provides the most effective results for adult ADHD. One area of psychotherapy that is particularly beneficial for adults with ADHD is learning new skills and coping mechanisms that will help you function better, and start feeling calmer and more organized overall.
Treating your ADHD can transform your life
If you’ve been living with ADHD, you have probably already tried a myriad of ways to improve the symptoms of your ADHD, with limited success. But until you address your ADHD head-on, you are likely to continue struggling with many of the same issues that have always bothered you!
Fortunately, there is evidence-based support to help you manage your ADHD. You can improve all the areas of your life that are being impacted by ADHD. Getting an assessment and making a plan are critical steps to creating a calmer and more fulfilling life.
Get help today
Dr. Pasternak is a child, adolescent, and adult psychiatrist specializing in ADHD, anxiety, autism, OCD, and other mental health conditions. If you would like to book an appointment in Manhattan or Englewood, you are welcome to call or fill out the contact form and click Send.
Click here to read more about what to expect from your first appointment with Dr. Pasternak.