Myths and Facts about Adult ADD/ADHD

This is a special edition of the ADHD in Action blog in recognition of ADHD Awareness Month.  There are many myths and facts surrounding Adult ADD/ADHD.  In Dr. Thomas E. Brown’s book, Attention Deficit Disorder: The Unfocused Mind in Children and Adults, he dispels all the myths associated with ADHD.   Below are Dr. Brown’s Myth and Facts about Adult ADD/ADHD
Myths and Facts about Adult ADD/ADHD

MYTH: ADD/ADHD is a life sentence—I’ll always suffer from its symptoms.

FACT: While it is true that there is no cure for ADD/ADHD, there is a lot you can do to reduce the problems it causes. Once you become accustomed to using strategies to help yourself, you may find that managing your symptoms becomes second nature.

MYTH: Someone can’t have ADD/ADHD and also have depression, anxiety, or other psychiatric problems.

FACT: A person with ADD/ADHD is six times more likely to have another psychiatric or learning disorder than most other people. ADD/ADHD usually overlaps with other disorders.

Myth – Everybody has the symptoms of ADD/ADHD, and anyone with adequate intelligence can overcome these difficulties

Fact: ADD/ADHD affects persons of all levels of intelligence. And although everyone sometimes has symptoms of ADD/ADHD, only those with chronic impairments from these symptoms warrant an ADD/ADHD diagnoses.

MYTH: ADD/ADHD is just a lack of willpower. Persons with ADD/ADHD focus well on things that interest them; they could focus on any other tasks if they really wanted to.

FACT: ADD/ADHD looks very much like a willpower problem, but it isn’t. It’s essentially a chemical problem in the management systems of the brain.

 
 
 
Source: Dr. Thomas E. Brown, Attention Deficit Disorder: The Unfocused Mind in Children and Adults

Leave a Reply