Adult ADHD: Signs and Symptoms

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a mental illness that affects your ability to focus and often the way you behave.

Contrary to popular belief, not all children with ADHD will outgrow it. Not only is it easier to diagnose in children, adult ADHD can go unnoticed or believed to be a symptom of a different disorder.

If your child has been recently diagnosed and you’ve found yourself wondering if the attention problems, the disorganization, the fidgeting might be describing you instead, you may well have adult ADHD. According to experts, for any child with ADHD, there’s a 50% chance that one of the parents has it.

Symptoms of ADHD in adults look different than those in children. Even if your diagnosis took place during childhood (before the age of 7), your symptoms evolved as you grew older.

According to the director of Adult ADHD program at the New York University School of Medicine; Lenard Adler MD, two out of three children with ADHD will continue to have ADHD as adults.

HelpCentral’s Eileen Bailey does a great job at breaking down the different ways ADHD symptoms may present themselves in children and adults. We’ve put her comments down into the tables below for easier readability:

Hyperactivity

Lack of attention

Impulsivity

Do you think you may have adult ADHD? Terrace Wellness Centre has a team of qualified professionals ready to help. Book a complimentary intake appointment today to gain the clarity you need to improve your mental wellness. Call us at (613) 831.1105 or email admin@terraceyouth.ca.