You Won’t Believe How Much Procrastination You Can Achieve Just by Reading about Adult ADHD

A child and adult psychiatrist--with ADHD-- explains what you need to know.

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is something I see regularly in both children and adults.

The following article is referenced extensively, and should prove a helpful guide. We will learn:

1. What is ADHD?

2. What are the problems with the diagnostic process for ADHD?

3. Do you need fancy testing to tell?

4. Does psychotherapy help for ADHD?

5. What biological treatments exist for ADHD?

6. What’s the deal with stimulants?

7. Do we need to be terrified of dangerous controlled substances?

8. What else works?

I will begin by establishing up my credentials to speak about the topic, because a lot of fakers have opinions, and it's hard to know what to make of them. I am dual board certified in general and child and adolescent psychiatry.¹

My wife and I enjoying a beautiful afternoon, in Brooklyn New York, with a lot to look at for somebody with ADHD.

ADHD is included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders. I’m on a committee for continuing medical education created by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP). We make the “Clinical Essentials” trainings through AACAP, and I have the pleasure of narrating the official training on ADHD through that professional society!

My wife, and sometimes coauthor, Carlene MacMillan, M.D. is the chair of the AACAP consumer issues committee, who created this official ADHD resource center for families.

I also, as a human, have ADHD myself.

If that isn’t “rolling deep” on ADHD and it’s treatment, to you as a reader, I never want to meet you in the back alley of an academic medical conference. I'm pretty sure I'll get my ass kicked by someone with more ADHD credibility. You know, because the multifactorial relationship between impulsivity and violence in people with ADHD.

Originally understood as a disorder of childhood, it persists into adulthood with varying degrees of impact and impairment. ADHD has a long history.

My Opinion:

I don’t necessarily consider it a “disorder” in the most common sense of the word":

Merriam-Webster:

“an abnormal physical or mental condition”

It’s a disorder in the same way being tall is a disorder in a world with only too-short doors. The population prevalence is around 10%. In evolutionary terms, anything that's that common can't be something that bad for your species.

I think it's fair to say that the treatment of ADHD has been in the news…

What is Adult ADHD?

My working definition is that, for Adults, ADHD is a primarily a context-dependent difference in how attention is allocated. It also has other emotional and behavioral consequences, but this gives us a place to start.