Illustration of the ADHD process, attention deficit disorder with or without hyperactivity.of … [+]
According to a new study published in the journal scientific report, Adults experiencing high levels of ADHD symptoms, including hyperactivity, impulsivity, absent-mindedness, emotional dysregulation, executive dysfunction, and difficulty coordinating and distributing attention, were more likely to experience depression and anxiety than adults with autism. You are at a much higher risk of suffering from illness.
Senior author of the study, Punit Shah, associate professor at the University of Bath, says the term ‘executive function’ refers to a person’s ability to plan and respond to the world around us. Over the years, researchers have found that people with autism may be able to plan and perform certain tasks, whereas people with ADHD may be able to suppress reactions or perform certain things. It tends not to work.
“Inhibition difficulties are closely associated with depression and anxiety, which may explain why ADHD is more associated with poor mental health than with autism.” and depression and anxiety may involve more overlap between specific mental processes,” Shah explains.
In addition, comorbid depression and anxiety have been repeatedly associated with greater social difficulties in people with ADHD. This can make it difficult to distinguish between Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and ADHD. Also, ADHD and ASD often coexist. It is estimated that about 28% of individuals with autism have her ADHD, called “emotional and attentional atypicality.”
“Although there are few empirical studies on this topic, and almost none in adults, these clinical populations show a marked increase in the prevalence of anxiety and depression in adulthood,” says UK. lead author Luca Hargitay, a PhD researcher at the University of Bath, said. , and colleagues added to the study.
The team used a website called Prolific to find 504 UK-based adult participants (51% female, 49% male). They were between when he was 18 and when he was 79. All of them completed the gold standard questionnaire used to diagnose and identify features of autism and features of ADHD.
They found ADHD traits to be “highly predictable” for severe anxiety and depression. Also, the higher the level of ADHD traits, the more likely these individuals were to experience severe mental illness. Their analytical technique further emphasized that ADHD personality traits were more strongly associated with depression and anxiety than autistic traits.
“To our knowledge, this is the first evidence that ADHD traits are more predictive of internalization problems than ASD traits. Unfortunately, ASD often takes precedence over ADHD in both research and clinical practice on internalization issues.
“This created a major gap in the literature, which this study helped fill,” they added. management of ADHD traits in ADHD may reduce internalization problems that may complement clinical interventions (such as antidepressants and talking therapy) that directly target anxiety and depression. increase. “
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that about 9.8% of children in the United States were diagnosed with ADHD from 2016 to 2019. Meanwhile, data released by the National Institute of Mental Health put him at 4.4% for the overall prevalence of ADHD in adults worldwide. To date, fewer women (3.2%) have been diagnosed with ADHD than men (5.4%). In the United States, far more adults are diagnosed with ADHD as the estimated lifetime prevalence is currently 8.1%. For an adult with high levels of her ADHD trait, getting a diagnosis remains an uphill battle due to the lack of access to trained psychiatrists and psychologists who specialize in neurodevelopmental conditions.
