ADHD Resource Page

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Traits:

Disregulation of focus

Poor time management skills

Find it hard to organize

Impulsivity

Forgetfulness

Lack of motivation to start tasks

Restlessness and anxiety

Fatigue

Poor self-image

Relationship issues

Lesser known symptoms:

Substance abuse 

Higher sensitivity to justice and rejection

Experience “time blindness,” which causes a focus on the now and issues with directing behavior toward the future

Extensive sleep disturbances, from childhood

More difficulty in making and maintaining friendships 

Binge eating / cycles of weight gain and loss

Lower reaction time

Messier handwriting

Excessive gaming and addictive online tendencies

Social and communication impairment

Earlier sexual activity, more sexual partners, higher chances of STDs/STIs

People referred for neurodevelopmental disorders tend to have stronger gender variance ratings.

Atypical Presentation Symptoms (those assigned female at birth, women, transgender individuals, non-binary, etc):

Less impulsive, but as inattentive as boys with ADHD on average

Teen pregnancy (6x more likely)

Increased rates of bulimic behaviors, binge eating, anorexia

Addictive social media use

Transgender boys and girls were most frequently diagnosed with attention deficit disorders, more frequently than cisgender children.

Chart of recommendations for more careful female evaluation: https://bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12888-020-02707-9/tables/3

Things to note: 

Many people with undiagnosed ADHD are initially referred for depression and anxiety. Treatment resistant depression may be ADHD. 

Overrepresented in prison population (estimated at 25% of prisoners have ADHD)

Helpful Online Test: https://psychcentral.com/quizzes/adhd-quiz

Citations:

Ottosen C, Petersen L, Larsen JT, Dalsgaard S. Gender Differences in Associations between Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Substance Use Disorder. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2016;55:227–34.e4 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2015.12.010.

Bondü, R., & Esser, G. (2015). Justice and rejection sensitivity in children and adolescents with ADHD symptoms. European child & adolescent psychiatry, 24(2), 185-198.

Barkley, R. A. (1997). Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, self-regulation, and time: toward a more comprehensive theory. Journal of developmental and behavioral pediatrics

Barkley, R. A. (1997). Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, self-regulation, and time: Toward a more comprehensive theory. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, 18(4), 271–279. https://doi.org/10.1097/00004703-199708000-00009

Normand, S., Schneider, B.H., Lee, M.D. et al. Continuities and Changes in the Friendships of Children with and Without ADHD: A Longitudinal, Observational Study. J Abnorm Child Psychol 41, 1161–1175 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-013-9753-9

Nijmeijer JS, Minderaa RB, Buitelaar JK, Mulligan A, Hartman CA, Hoekstra PJ. Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and social dysfunctioning. Clin Psychol Rev. 2008;28:692–708.

Andreassen CS, Billieux J, Griffiths MD, Kuss DJ, Demetrovics Z, Mazzoni E, et al. The relationship between addictive use of social media and video games and symptoms of psychiatric disorders: A large-scale cross-sectional study. Psychol Addict Behav. 2016;30:252–62.

Young S, Fridman A, Mandy W. Autistic spectrum disorder symptoms in children and adolescents with attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder: ameta-analytical review. Psychological Medicine. 2019:1–14 https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291719002368.

Barkley RA, Fischer M, Smallish L, Fletcher K. Young adult outcome of hyperactive children: Adaptive functioning in major life activities. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2006;45:192–202 https://doi.org/10.1097/01.chi.0000189134.97436.e2.

Hasson, R., & Fine, J. G. (2012). Gender differences among children with ADHD on continuous performance tests: a meta-analytic review. Journal of attention disorders, 16(3), 190–198. https://doi.org/10.1177/1087054711427398

Skoglund, C., Kallner, H. K., Skalkidou, A., Wikström, A. K., Lundin, C., Hesselman, S., ... & Poromaa, I. S. (2019). Association of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder with teenage birth among women and girls in Sweden. JAMA network open, 2(10), e1912463-e1912463.

Nazar, B. P., de Sousa Pinna, C. M., Suwwan, R., Duchesne, M., Freitas, S. R., Sergeant, J., & Mattos, P. (2016). ADHD rate in obese women with binge eating and bulimic behaviors from a weight-loss clinic. Journal of attention disorders, 20(7), 610-616.

Nazar BP, Bernardes C, Peachey G, Sergeant J, Mattos P, Treasure J. The risk of eating disorders comorbid with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Int J Eat Disord. 2016;49:1045–57.

Mowlem FD, Rosenqvist MA, Martin J, Lichtenstein P, Asherson P, Larsson H. Sex differences in predicting ADHD clinical diagnosis and pharmacological treatment. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2019;28:481–9 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-018-1211-3.

Andreassen CS, Billieux J, Griffiths MD, Kuss DJ, Demetrovics Z, Mazzoni E, et al. The relationship between addictive use of social media and video games and symptoms of psychiatric disorders: A large-scale cross-sectional study. Psychol Addict Behav. 2016;30:252–62. 

Strang, J. F., Kenworthy, L., Dominska, A., Sokoloff, J., Kenealy, L. E., Berl, M., ... & Wallace, G. L. (2014). Increased gender variance in autism spectrum disorders and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 43(8), 1525-1533

Becerra-Culqui, T. A., Liu, Y., Nash, R., Cromwell, L., Flanders, W. D., Getahun, D., ... & Goodman, M. (2018). Mental health of transgender and gender nonconforming youth compared with their peers. Pediatrics, 141(5).

Sciutto MJ, Nolfi CJ, Bluhm C. Effects of child gender and symptom type on referrals for ADHD by elementary school teachers. J Emot Behav Disord. 2004;12:247–53.

Young S, Moss D, Sedgwick O, Fridman M, Hodgkins P. A meta-Analysis of the prevalence of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in incarcerated populations. Psychol Med. 2015;45:247–58.