How prevalent is Adult ADHD ?
Sunday, January 7, 2024. A lovely day of ceaseless snow…
It’s now believed that as much as 8.2% of humanity is diagnosable with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Sh*t fire and save the matches!… This is twice the level previously believed!
A common human complaint of our digital era is that there has been a palpable erosion in the quality and duration of focused human attention.
In other words, we tend to complain about our attention span degrading, living in a digital age.
But, is Adult ADHD just a regular inability to focus, or is it a true ‘disorder’?
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, also known as ADHD or ADD, can interfere with humans completing the most mundane of daily routines, like charging their cell phones or paying bills.
It may even cause some humans to rack up a piss-poor resume, as persistent lateness, inattention to vital deadlines, or failure to perform ordinary tasks, result in enthusiastic terminations.
The World Health Organisation has released the latest version of an adult test for ADHD
The answers to these questions have been found to reliably identify the humans who are suffering from ADHD who are otherwise going undetected.
How often do you have difficulty concentrating on what people say to you, even when they are speaking to you directly?
How often do you leave your seat in meetings and other situations in which you are expected to remain seated?
How often do you have difficulty unwinding and relaxing when you have time to yourself?
When you’re in a conversation, how often do you find yourself finishing the sentences of the people you are talking to before they can finish them themselves?
How often do you put things off until the last minute?
How often do you depend on others to keep your life in order and attend to details?
To each of these questions, the options are “never,” “rarely,” “sometimes,” “often” or “very often.”
Answering “sometimes,” “often” or “very often” to 4 of the 6 questions indicates the test-taker may have adult ADHD.
However, this is a direct scale. It’s designed as a simple and elegant way to screen humans efficiently.
In other words, they can give you a probability, but not a firm diagnosis.
This is important. I’ve been told that adult ADD goes about 90% undetected. Many humans are enduring ADHD without ever having been formally diagnosed with it. This has terrible implications for marriage and families.
As I mentioned earlier, a recent study suggests that as many as 8.2% of humans have adult ADHD, which is double the previously reported rate.
People with ADHD are often prescribed drugs like Ritalin or Adderall.
However, additional psychotherapy, and even foods, can be useful for some and have fewer side effects.
Be well, stay kind and Godspeed.
REFERENCES:
Ustun B, Adler LA, Rudin C, Faraone SV, Spencer TJ, Berglund P, Gruber MJ, Kessler RC. The World Health Organization Adult Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Self-Report Screening Scale for DSM-5. JAMA Psychiatry. 2017 May 1;74(5):520-527. doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2017.0298. Erratum in: JAMA Psychiatry. 2017 Dec 1;74(12):1279. Erratum in: JAMA Psychiatry. 2019 Nov 1;76(11):1213. PMID: 28384801; PMCID: PMC5470397.
