Let's Ask Brains What ADHD Looks Like |
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The current diagnostic standards for ADHD symptoms is comprised of a single list of 18 symptoms.
Some studies of adults with ADHD have examined research-based symptoms specific to adults.
An innovative brain mapping study used brain scan analyses of children with ADHD to identify ADHD biotypes.
ADHD is characterized by a list of 18 symptoms equally divided between the Inattentive and Hyperactive/Impulsive groupings. They yield different presentations: Predominantly Inattentive, Predominantly Hyperactive/Impulsive, or Combined. They used to be called subtypes, but there is so much variability in how ADHD presents across individuals that the groupings have been recognized to be extremely heterogeneous.
Exploring Research-Based Symptoms of Adult ADHD
Within adult ADHD, my chief area of interest,1 studies have identified empirically-based symptoms specific to adult ADHD instead of relying on the same 18 symptoms used for children and adolescents. They’ve yielded different presentation groups, though still relying on symptom questionnaires. Some of the emergent groupings are cognitive inflexibility and disinhibition in one study,2 and ADHD Inattentive and ADHD Emotional Dysregulation in another.3 A third effort produced a single list of nine symptoms that included many executive functioning difficulties that are underrepresented in the current criteria.4
Mapping the Brains of Children for Research-Based........