Life can be a balancing act for any adult, but if you find yourself constantly late, disorganized, forgetful, and overwhelmed by your responsibilities, you may have ADHD. Attention deficit disorder affects many adults (roughly 5%), and its wide variety of frustrating symptoms can hinder everything from your relationships to your career. But learning about the signs and symptoms is the first step, and once you understand the challenges, you’re able to learn to compensate for areas of weakness and take steps to advantage your strengths.
Attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD)—previously known as ADD—is not just a problem in children. If you were diagnosed with ADHD in childhood, chances are, you’ve carried at least some of the symptoms into adulthood. Although if you weren’t diagnosed in childhood, that does not mean that you can’t be affected by it as an adult.
In adults, attention deficit disorder often looks quite different than it does in children—and its symptoms are unique for each individual. The following categories highlight common symptoms of adult ADHD:
Trouble Concentrating and Staying Focused
You may experience difficulty staying focused and attending to daily, mundane tasks. Seemingly irrelevant sights and sounds may easily distract you, and you may quickly bounce from one activity to another, or become bored quickly. Adults with ADHD often struggle to complete tasks, even ones that appear simple, and they may display poor listening skills.
Hyperfocus
The flip side of distractibility is hyperfocus. Individuals with adult ADHD have a tendency to become absorbed in tasks that are stimulating and rewarding. Hyperfocus is actually a coping mechanism for distraction—a way of tuning out the barrage of thoughts, noise, and chaos.
Disorganization and Forgetfulness
For individuals with adult ADHD, life often seems chaotic and out of control, and staying organized and on top of things can be extremely challenging. Those with adult ADHD may display poor organizational skills, chronic tardiness, and have a tendency to procrastinate and repeatedly misplace or lose things.
Impulsivity
If you suffer from ADHD, you may have trouble inhibiting your behaviors, comments, and responses. You may act before thinking, or react without considering consequences. Common symptoms of this category include: frequently interrupting others, poor self-control, and trouble behaving in a socially appropriate manner.
Emotional Difficulties
Many adults with ADHD have a hard time managing their feelings, especially when it comes to emotions like anger or frustration. Common emotional symptoms of adult ADHD include: becoming easily flustered and stressed, low self-esteem, trouble staying motivated, and having a short, often explosive, temper.
Hyperactivity/Restlessness
Hyperactivity in adult ADHD can look similar to the way it appears in children. You may feel highly energetic and perpetually “on the go”. Although hyperactivity in adults often manifests subtler and appears in feelings of inner restlessness, trouble sitting still, getting bored easily, and talking excessively.
It is interesting to note that you do not have to be hyperactive to have ADHD. Only a small slice of adults with ADHD, in fact, suffer from prominent symptoms of hyperactivity.
When you have ADHD, there is no reason to think that something is wrong with you. ADHD is not an indicator of intelligence or capability. Certain things may be more difficult for you, but that doesn’t mean that you cannot find your strengths and achieve success. It is helpful to think of ADHD as a collection of traits that are both positive and negative. Along with the impulsivity and disorganization of ADHD, for example, often come incredible creativity, passion, energy, out-of-the-box thinking, and a flow of original and innovative ideas. Its helpful to figure out what your good at and set up your environment to support your strengths.
Armed with an understanding of ADHD’s challenges, you can make changes in your life. Many adults with ADHD have found meaningful ways to manage their symptoms, take advantage of their gifts, and lead productive and satisfying lives. Helpful ideas to manage symptoms include:
- Exercise and eating right (diet rich in Omega-3’s can help ADHD symptoms)
- Get plenty of sleep (7-9hrs)
- Practice better time management
- Work on your relationships (schedule activities and keep your commitments)
- Create a supportive work environment (make use of lists, color-coding, reminders etc.)
If symptoms of ADHD are still getting in the way of your life, despite self-help efforts to manage them, outside help from trained adhd treatment professionals can help you:
- Control impulsive behaviors
- Manage your time and money
- Get and stay organized
- Boost productivity at home and work
- Manage emotional difficulties
- Communicate more effectively