Adult ADHD Guide to Pre-screening and Access to Work Funding Applications 

If you're constantly late, disorganized, forgetful, and overwhelmed by your responsibilities, you may be suffering from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), formerly known as attention deficit disorder (ADD). Adults who suffer from ADHD can experience a variety of frustrating symptoms that can interfere with everything from their relationships to their careers.  

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• Do you have ADHD symptoms that interfere with your everyday life?

 

How have you managed them so far with self-help? Perhaps it's time to seek outside assistance. Several treatment options are available for adults with ADHD, such as ADHD mentoring, ADHD life coaching, individual therapy, ADHD support groups, and medication.  

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Signs and symptoms of ADHD in adults

 

Restlessness or hyperactivity

Symptoms of hyperactivity may appear the same in adults as they do in kids with ADHD. It is possible that you are highly energetic and ever on the go. With age, the symptoms of hyperactivity can become more subtle and internal for some people with ADHD. Adults with hyperactivity usually experience the following:

• You feel restless and agitated, and your mind races

• easily, craving excitement, and taking risks easily

• talking excessively, and doing many things at once

• Constant fidgeting, trouble sitting still

Adults can grow out of being externally hyperactive, and become more hyperactive internally

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Trouble concentrating, staying focused or hyper-focusing

Adults with ADHD are able to focus on stimulating or engaging tasks but have difficulty paying attention to mundane tasks. There is a tendency to become easily distracted by irrelevant sights and sounds, to bounce from activity to activity, or to become bored easily. ADHD symptoms that do not appear outwardly disruptive, such as impulsivity and hyperactivity, are often overlooked.

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Disorganization and forgetfulness

Here are some symptoms of forgetfulness and disorganization:

• The home, office, desk, or car is extremely messy and cluttered because of poor organization skills.

• A tendency to put things off until the last minute.

• Problems starting and finishing projects (procrastination)

• consistently late

• Forgetting appointments, commitments, and deadlines

• Continuously losing or misplacing things (keys, wallets, phones, documents, bills).

• Failure to estimate how long things will take.

Impulsivity

Your behaviour, comments, and responses may be hard to control. Often, you act before thinking or react without thinking about the consequences. As a result, you may interrupt others, blurt out comments, and hurriedly complete tasks without reading instructions. Being patient is nearly impossible if you have impulse control issues. Trouble maintaining appropriate behaviour during a meeting (such as not moving during the meeting).

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Emotional difficulties

When it comes to emotions such as anger or frustration, adults with ADHD have difficulty managing their feelings. 

Adult ADHD is associated with emotional symptoms such as:

• Stressed and easily flustered, due to irritability and sometimes explosive temper

• Low self-esteem and feelings of underachievement

• Hypersensitive to criticism

• Find it difficult to stay motivated