How to evaluate ADHD symptoms in young adults
Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a mental disorder that can be hard to detect without taking an ADHD test. Luckily, there are some symptoms that may be indicative of ADHD in young adults. These signs include:
- Being (unnecessarily) talkative and hyperactive
- Short concentration spans
- Being disorganized and reduced productivity
- Forgetfulness
- Loss of emotional control
To ensure that the symptoms are indeed associated with ADHD, you should take an ADHD test for young adults. An ADHD test is essential because some symptoms could be brought by other conditions like depression, PTSD, and substance abuse. Therefore, an ADHD test ensures that the diagnosis is accurate.
After an ADHD test, you will know your ADHD condition. ADHD has three major variations:
- Predominant hyperactivity
- Predominant inattentiveness
- A hybrid of both
Predominant inattentiveness
In the predominantly inattentive subtype, your doctor will look for the following symptoms before conducting an ADHD test.
- Carelessness when working or undertaking activities
- Absentmindedness or zoning out of conversations
- Difficulty in sustaining attention when undertaking tasks
- Failure to follow through with instructions
- Avoidance or reluctance to engage in mentally intensive efforts
- Forgetfulness and persistent loss of items
- Being easily distracted by external stimuli
The above inattentiveness symptoms should have consistently and persistently existed for at least six months.
Predominant hyperactivity
The threshold of symptoms existing consistently for six months also applies to hyperactivity. Before conducting an ADHD test to determine predominantly hyperactivity, your doctor will look at the existence of the following symptoms:
- Fidgeting, restlessness, and squeamishness
- Hot temper
- Stress intolerance
- Inability to complete tasks
- Being disorganised
- Sitting when otherwise expected to stand and vice versa
- Difficulty in quietly enjoying leisure activities
- Excessive and unnecessary talkativeness
- Difficulty in turn-taking
- Impulsive tendencies like blurting answers out before questions are finished and interrupting others rudely.
The hybrid
As mentioned earlier, the third ADHD subtype is a mixed bag. Therefore, one suffering from it has symptoms of the above classes.
The process of evaluating ADHD symptoms in young adults
Evaluating ADHD symptoms involves the assessment of patient history, patient’s self-assessment, mental health test, and additional information from family and friends as below:
- Tracing patient (medical) history, where your doctor examines the consistency of the symptoms from information given by family and friends. There should be consistency in the symptoms for at least six months before the test
- Evaluating the impacts of the symptoms on the individual’s social, family, work, or financial life
- Evaluating the existence of other underlying mental disorders and substance abuse.
Author: Sara Anderson
Sara Anderson
A medical content writer at Ezcare Clinic
https://ezcareclinic.com/adhd-test/
