Surprising Myths & Misdiagnoses Debunked: The Truth about Adult ADHD

that the core problem is not being addressed and that's a big problem because you could be struggling with some symptoms for 10 to 20 years, getting very angry about it, feeling overwhelmed, feeling ineffective, only to find out a decade later that you've been trying the wrong problem. and I've personally worked with patients like this and once they find out the

truth

they're just, I mean, it's very emotional for them, you know, they're like, I can't believe I wasted 10 years thinking I had this. One more thing and now we can finally address the problem, but how much time have I wasted?

Obviously, there's always room for improvement, but I understand that feeling of overwhelm and what I've been doing these past few years, basically chasing the wrong story. Yes actually. A dear friend of mine watched your Med Circle series on ADHD in

adult

s and she actually said, "When she started watching Med Circle, she's now back in college studying psychology because she was so inspired by watching all the videos on Bed Circle, but anyway." She watched your series on

adult

ADHD, went to her provider, was diagnosed with ADHD, treated, and when she told me how she felt afterwards, with tears in her eyes, she said, "I didn't realize I had been suffering all my life." adult life." unnecessarily so this type of information is absolutely life changing and let's dive into some of the questions we're getting about ADHD in adults and in general um I'm not going to use names here just for privacy reasons but sm says which one .

The techniques are most appropriate for treating people who have ADHD and those techniques are different between children and adults. Big question. In reality, many of the techniques are based on the same principles and these are behavioral or cognitive-behavioral principles, but in children ADHD looks different than in adults. A lot of times, for example, in adults, most of the time adults are not as hyperactive anymore, so even if you have that combined type of ADHD where there is some hyperactivity and impulsivity, that usually calms down a little bit. because the adult can regulate that part a little. better when they get older, but continue to struggle with memory and concentration problems, may have trouble staying organized and meeting commitments at work and at home, sometimes make their family and close friends angry because they think they just don't care and They do not listen, but sometimes with attention deficit in adults they have difficulty attending to a conversation and following the conversation, sometimes they even have difficulty continuing reading a book or watching a television program, so sometimes the problems are a little more subtle, but they still have a big impact on how the individual functions, so a lot of the techniques that we work on are actually how we can find adaptations to make them work better in their daily life and therefore it is about of teaching them systems of organization and teaching them how to prioritize. teaching them how to hold space so they can really be attentive and listen, and in many ways we're teaching them how to function better in adult responsibilities, but still using those behavioral strategies and the science is very, very strong on that. that for both adults and children, when people think about ADHD, I think they immediately think well, I need to be prescribed Adderall or Ritalin, is that really the first line of treatment, I don't think stimulant medications should be the first line of treatment. treatment for Most people I think everyone should try to use behavioral strategies, especially because Ritalin and any type of stimulant or non-stimulant medication in many ways I compare it to Tylenol, you know, it suppresses the symptoms but it doesn't solve the problem .

If you think your head hurts because you haven't stretched and you're stressed, Tylenol only masks the symptoms but doesn't teach you the skills to de-stress and work those muscles, it's exactly the same with ADHD. Therefore, it is necessary to learn the skills necessary to function better in life and also, for some people, stimulant medications are simply not good for them because they have a number of side effects and some people really should not use stimulants carelessly. , especially if you have any kind of history of substance use in your family, that's why I always say that behavioral strategy should be a necessary part of your treatment, whether you're on great medications or not, let's move on to the next question: How do you clearly differentiate between ADHD?

Odd oppositional defiant disorder or obs and dmdd, which is disruptive mood dysregulation disorder, there you have it, I received my education in the medical circle, dr. Judy, okay, so this is talking about diagnoses in children because strange and disruptive disorders are all disorders that you would diagnose earlier. the age of 18 years. and this particular viewer is absolutely right that it can be very difficult and why it is difficult for children to go through so many phases of development and for parents who are out there or maybe just remember their own childhood, they know this. you had that time where you were just an abstinent child and it's a developmental thing, there was nothing wrong with you, it's not a clinical diagnosis, you outgrow it, so I think it can be very, very difficult and that's why you need an experienced doctor to really observe your child know about your child work directly with your child interview people who know the child like teachers and parents and other people who work with the child to be able to come to the correct diagnosis and I would be wary of anyone who thinks That's why they can diagnose your child in one session.

I think I'm a neuropsychologist, so I have this huge comprehensive protocol where I spend basically 30 to 40 hours diagnosing the child properly, but even if they don't have access to a neuropsychologist. and you're only working with a therapist, a therapist should take their time, should see the child several times before saying we're looking at a diagnosis and I think because there's also a lot of comorbidity, meaning ADHD co-occurs with some of the those other conditions like disturbing mood and also strange um sometimes a person can have both diagnoses and that's why it's very important for the doctor to review the diagnostic criteria in the dsm and make sure that the person actually meets that criterion, um specifically, and that that's the best explanation for that particular symptom because sometimes they can seem very irritable and it could actually be depression or anxiety.

It takes time and attention for the doctor and everyone in the child's life to come together and really put their heads together before we can come to those diagnoses, but I definitely don't take it lightly. Thank you to all of our free members who are watching here on Zoom and thank our amazing YouTube community who is. watching this live for the people of youtube if you want to participate in this discussion you will need to register at medcircle.com and if you want access to all of our live events that we host each month, some of these are closed only to all our members with access and all Members with access are also guaranteed spots at all of our events.

You can go to medcircle.com, click register, and make sure to use the code judy25. It will be valid for another 45 minutes, judy25 to get 25 off your first month, that's after you get seven days free, let's move on to our next question, uh, Jay asks: Anxiety is often misdiagnosed as ADHD and that's because anxiety can cause concentration difficulties, it can cause learning and memory difficulties, and it can also cause depression and a lot of times I see people come to me saying I think I have ADHD and then we dig deeper and they actually have chronic anxiety and the Chronic anxiety is driving the process of inattention and that is why it is so important to really go to your doctors and be completely open about your history.

I think sometimes people read things and see webmd and mark the symptoms they see on webmd as if you have all these things. They go to their doctor and they tell them I have all of these. things, please treat me for ADHD, it is much more important that you tell them the whole backstory because there could be many other reasons that could be driving the attention problems, anxiety and depression are at the top of the list, but there are also other problems like if you suffered a traumatic brain injury then maybe you have some attention deficit but it's not ADHD it's actually a mild neurocognitive problem due to the effects of a traumatic brain injury if you drink too much alcohol which It has also been shown to affect your attention and concentration and if you drink more than the recommended amount per day.

In fact, I've seen people say that their attention and their learning have been disrupted and then when they reduce their alcohol consumption and reduce it, their attention improves and therefore there are a lot of reasons why we should think in other explanations for attention problems. I'd like to know how many people watching, if you're so comfortable, are the parent of a child who has been diagnosed with ADHD or believe they may be living with it. ADHD because um uh we'll go we'll get to a question but let me know in the chat how many parents are here because there's one important thing I want you to know and we'll talk about that after the next question uh in the questions could you give an example of a behavioral technique for concentration, for concentration problems, especially how to maintain attention for longer periods of time, like 25 minutes?

Dr. Judy. Oh, I love this, Kyle, and I've talked about this trick several times. I think you can use it as a type of training tool, so I use a combination strategy that combines the effectiveness of pomodoros and also mindfulness, that's how it works, pomodoros are actually 25 minutes, so it's interesting that this viewer asked. you know how we can extend it beyond 25 minutes and I'll explain it to you in a second, but pomodoros are 25 minutes of time where you only focus on one task and nothing else and the reason why the 25 minutes were chosen for this technique.

It's because almost everyone, even when you're procrastinating, hates doing something, you can do something for 25 minutes, so it feels like a finite amount of time, it's like the amount of time in a comedy episode, okay, I can do this, you know, so you make sure you have a pad of paper handy next to you, you decide what tasks you want to do, you set a timer, you start that timer and you do that task, of course, your mind is going to wander, that's it. what happens when you have a lack of attention. and while your mind wanders, jot down very quickly any thoughts you've had, get right back to the task, when the timer goes off you can look at that pad of paper and some of them will be random meanderings that don't need to be followed up. but sometimes there may be an important thought and they say, "oops, I have to go collect eggs or whatever," and that's good because sometimes people say, well, I can't concentrate on a task because what if Do I forget other things?

Well, now you have this paper notebook where you can review everything and prioritize, but the best thing about this system is that as you get more familiar with it you can start to stretch your attention so that the next day maybe you set a timer for 28 minutes. The next day you set your timer for 33 minutes and work your way up. Now for most people, 50 to 70 minutes is the ideal time to focus on something before you need a little break, so don't feel bad if you feel like it. . up to 50 and you say, okay, that's great, even people who don't have attention problems need a break after about 50 minutes, that's the optimal level of attention that most humans can maintain without getting too distracted or tired uh excellent i love that uh bridget could you include a link to the pomodoro series? um that's great if you want to learn more about that it's with doctor judy let's move on to our next question uh kaye question hello I have ADHD and borderline personality disorder is it's common to have both well thank you so much for being honest about what you're coping and I would say yes, ADHD and borderline are quite common, but sometimes people are also misdiagnosed, you know, sometimes they have ADHD and they are misdiagnosed as borderline. and vice versa, I think sometimes people think of the impulsivity that can occur when you have a borderline personality as a component of your ADHD, but it could just be a component of borderline, so yes, we see that there is some overlap, there is not .

It's very common, although it's quite common that people have talked about how to manage both things together and a lot of this really has to do with emotion regulation because both borderline personality disorder and ADHD require more attention from the individual to manage their emotions. better and therefore learning emotion regulation strategies, particularly from the dialectical behavior therapy literature, is amazing. In reality, it is simply about being able to self-assess how you feel and then being able to applystrategies in the moment that can help you have better relationships and get to know yourself. your goals, so I definitely recommend it for anyone listening who may be struggling with both conditions or who knows someone who is struggling with both conditions.

Dr. Judy at the beginning of this event mentioned how many people will actually outgrow their ADHD as they develop it. older and I want parents to really hear this because many parents feel devastated, frustrated and stuck when they find out their child has ADHD, but what do the real numbers tell us? Yes, I think at some point some myth was propagated and spread. about ADHD being a childhood condition and as you become an adult, you will no longer have ADHD and I'm so glad you asked us to revisit this question because actually, research shows that 50 of people who have ADHD as children continue to have ADHD symptoms into adolescence. years as well as your adulthood, the difference is that as adults you may encounter this if you know someone with ADHD or maybe you are that person who when you are older you have a little more control over your environment and what you choose . like your career and, because of that, sometimes people find ways to disguise their ADHD a little.

You know, for example, if you decide to be an entrepreneur, no one else will fire you for not finishing a project, but unfortunately they will. control himself and, therefore, sometimes he falls behind because he does not know how to prioritize tasks. Another interesting myth about adults with ADHD is that people think it will be like childhood ADHD and they can't concentrate on anything. For adults, it's actually interesting because they can focus a lot on a specific topic that they find interesting. We call this hyperfocus and it's actually a form of ADHD symptom in adults because they're basically not prioritizing correctly.

You might be falling into a huh. like training on youtube or google for four hours on a topic instead of doing something else that you were supposed to do, but also that type of hyperfocus is a way for the individual to calm down sometimes and in some ways, it can be seen as procrastination, like there are other things you need to do and instead you're just going on this gravy train about a topic that may not have much relevance and that's why adults can absolutely focus when you have ADHD, but Sometimes it can be for the wrong reasons or in the wrong directions.

Great if you're here to support someone with ADHD, especially if that person is an adult, make sure of that or just to let you know that Med Circle offers you the ability to give away memberships. You can give away one month, six months, 12 months, it's up to you, but when you do, be sure to use the code judy 25 to get 25 percent off your first month. You can go to medcircle.com, click register, and use judy25. That code will be valid for approximately another 43 47 minutes dr. judy we have some questions stop by so enough talking let's start with the questions can hypnotherapy or eft help with

adhd

?

Great question so let's start with hypnotherapy first, there is some evidence on hypnotherapy and ADHD. I think the evidence is still early, so we're not exactly sure if hypnotherapy really helps with ADHD or if maybe it's like a complementary therapy that can help the child who is also being treated with something else or an adult who is being treated. treated with something else, so I think the evidence is kind of open handed at the moment and we'll wait for more evidence, but I would say that for most people hypnotherapy won't cause adverse reactions, so it's always worth it. . a chance because what really matters to everyone here if you have ADHD or if you have someone you love who has ADHD is that the only thing that matters is one's end, so we listen to the research, we talk to our friends and we do our best We can to make evidence-based decisions, but at the end of the day you will have to experiment to find out exactly what will work for you and I have found people saying that hypnotherapy has helped me with anxiety.

Hypnotherapy has helped me with depression. Hypnotherapy has helped me establish a good habit and break a bad one. Still not as effective for ADHD symptoms, but worth a try if you want to try it with Eft, I guess so. When we are talking about eft tapping, the eft emotional freedom technique is an alternative treatment for physical pain and emotional distress and is also sometimes known simply as tapping or psychological acupressure, so people who use this technique They believe that tapping on the body can create balance in your energy. system and treating pain, I would say that this particular technique has very little research behind it, but again, sometimes people say you know I tried it and it worked for me, so whether it's a placebo effect or rather it's something that just we need to find.

Learn more and it really works very well similar to hypnotherapy. We will have to take a little more time before we can recommend it as an evidence-based treatment. We have a few series with a certified hypnotherapist, Grace Smith, in the Med Circle video library, so be sure to keep an eye out for that DJ who asks what if she lives in a small town and can't get the help she needs. Great question, very good and fortunately at this time during the pandemic many people have moved their treatments to online services and some people find that this has been great for them, some people really miss that in-person interaction but one of The good things about online therapy is that you can now access care anywhere, even if you are in a rural area. or even if you don't like the providers in your geographic region, you can access anyone in your state because most licensing is at the state level, so I've been able to, for example, work with some people who live in the north from California even though I live. in Southern California and I think I would be encouraged by the fact that care is now a little more easily accessible because many people have moved their practices online, at least partially.

There are also several different types of Internet-based group therapies. now, again, you know how to connect to a platform like Zoom where you can actually learn from other people who might be suffering from the same condition as you and it's always led by a treating therapist, so I would definitely recommend doing your research. these options if you find it difficult to access care in your specific geographic region, great, as I mentioned at the top of this medical broadcast circle, it is not a treatment platform and we do not refer treatments, so I'm still going to ask this. question, but Dr.

Judy, I'll let you handle the answer, of course. Ask Dr. Judy what the best antidepressant option is for ADHD patients taking Concerta. Okay, that's a great question and I also want to start with that caveat. I'm not a psychiatrist so it would be difficult for me to know exactly what would be a good treatment for you without knowing your history and I also think you definitely need to see a psychiatrist. I think one thing I would say for sure is that if you're getting your medications through your primary care, uh, primary care doctor, you don't know anything about them, but you really need to work with a psychiatrist who specializes in health conditions. mental, especially when we talk about managing depression at the same time as ADHD.

It's actually not that clear, so the number one advice concerta is a stimulant medication and generally most psychiatrists that I work with and from my experiences with patients, they don't want to put them on an anti-stimulant that is also too stimulant. , so an example of this would be Wellbutrin. Well, butane has a very stimulating effect, it has an agitating effect for some people and if you have bipolar conditions in your family, it sometimes causes a mini manic type reaction in some people, so I would definitely consult again, that's why It is important to consult with a psychiatrist because you do not want to be prescribed an antidepressant that has too much of a stimulant property, so wellbutrin would be an example of what some people take concerta.

Well, they actually find that that in itself is already starting to help with some of the depressive symptoms because obviously conservatives are stimulants and so people sometimes already get a little bit of a mood, a mood boost from that, and if you feel like you're still not getting enough and you're not someone who really wants to take a lot of medication, this is where I would say explore cognitive behavioral therapy because it is an evidence-based gold standard treatment, a behavioral treatment that is not medicinal and helps with depression. but when someone adds an antidepressant to concerta again, like I said, be careful that it's not something that's super stimulant on top of concerto, which is already a great stimulant, an anonymous attendee says hello, dr. judy our ADHD and OCD as well as Picking skin I can never pronounce this word uh trichothelia mania somehow also interconnected thank you yeah great question so sometimes obsessive-compulsive symptoms can manifest through ADHD so it's interesting because we see that there is a bit of a relationship and when you ask about skin itching which is considered a compulsive disorder or a compulsive condition as well, so it goes hand in hand with the spectrum of ocd um in adult patients with OCD which is also believed who have comorbid ADHD, symptoms of inattention and forgetfulness and impaired executive function might actually be an OCD-related phenomenon rather than a manifestation of ADHD, so it's interesting that some of the things we think might symptoms of ADHD are actually more like symptoms of OCD and here's why OCD patients tend to have a flooding of their executive function system, so when you look at their executive functions, which are basically in the frontal lobe, they have too much activity, it's like excessive activity in that area that causes flooding of resources in your cognitive functions and that can interfere with attention and memory. and other processes, so think about when you feel really overwhelmed or it's really late at night and you've had a really busy day managing and solving a lot of problems, you feel swamped and exhausted and then you can't focus on anything.

So that's the idea when you have OCD, that you're constantly hitting yourself with too much stimulus in your executive function, you're constantly thinking that there's so much brooding going on that it's hard to focus on anything else, etc. In fact, there is a growing body of evidence that at least in some cases the inattention that we see and think might be part of ADHD is actually more part of compulsivity and therefore whether OCD is treated. or any type of compulsive behavior, the symptoms of ADHD. It will also get better thank you Dr. Judy A.s question Hi Dr.

Judy My grandson was just diagnosed with ADHD when he was eight years old. Can her ADHD change to another mental illness over time or even disappear so that ADHD goes away for good? It can improve by fifty percent. of individuals as they grow, but then for the other fifty percent of individuals, no, ADHD itself does not transform into another disorder unless they have been misdiagnosed in the first place, so he is eight years old, like I mentioned, sometimes it's a matter of development. We'll have to see what else is going on, but I find that people who don't treat their ADHD end up developing comorbid conditions as a result of suffering from ADHD, so, for example, yes, a child has ADHD.

They don't do well in school, they start to not believe in themselves, they start to feel bad about themselves and they start to have depression and anxiety, and that's why it's very important for someone to have an early diagnosis, which is very good because, Hopefully, that means you're ahead of the game in addressing ADHD so that their self-confidence can continue to be great, their relationships can be great, because that's the other thing about people with ADHD is that sometimes they have more difficulty making new friends and having people like because sometimes they butt into conversations or don't listen, so people don't want to be with them, so I think the most important thing to prepare this child correctly is to make sure that he is receiving treatment. his ADHD because that way we can hopefully reduce the risk of other comorbid conditions occurring and also when people are treated with ADHD they sometimes get better, so it's possible that for this child he could be in that population.

Excellent, quick reminder. To everyone watching on YouTube, thank you for being here. If you would like to participate with our Medical Circle doctors and Dr. Judy and future Medical Circle live events, be sure to visit medcircle.com and register for membership. on our free email list at no charge and receive notifications ofour free events like this or if you want guaranteed access to all of our events and entry to our all access events, you can go ahead and click register when you visit medcircle.com and make sure to use Judy 25 for the next 30 minutes to get 25 of discount on your first month. uh, deep question: are there any risks in taking non-tropical vegan supplements to help with brain fog?

Well, you know, I know a lot of people. I really swear by nootropic supplements and sometimes they say that it has worked very well for them. The problem with neurotrophic supplements is that they are not regulated by the FDA, so sometimes it is not known exactly what they contain. and maybe each pill might be a little different, so I'm always hesitant to recommend it to anyone and I think one of the things that people have been using it for, as you mentioned, is kind of a brain-boosting effect, but no I don't have a lot of evidence that that's what it's actually doing because, again, when something is not FDA approved, it doesn't have the kind of rigorous research that we see with other types of things like Ritalin and other types of psychotropic medications. real, etc.

This is something you will have to talk to your doctor about. I think it's very important to always consult your doctor because if you are taking any other type of medication, there could be some interactions and they can tell you better, but I would just say that I am always cautious with any type of supplement just because they are not regulated by the FDA and It is not known exactly what is inside all of these types of pills. An anonymous attendee asks: Hello, Dr. Judy. I think I always have. I had a small degree of ADHD, but was very functional throughout my career after divorcing a malignant narcissist in a very traumatic divorce.

It seems like my ADHD has gone through the roof and I can barely hold on or get through a day. Can you recommend any to me? brain exercises or anything else that might help, thank you absolutely and I'm sorry to hear about the difficulties you've had trying to get through this particular relationship that sounds like you know really really difficult so I think sometimes people find it easier to compartmentalize. and as we've already mentioned, you know that a lot of your cognitive resources are spent organizing your day and making sure you stay on track when you have any level of ADHD once you've been through a major stressor and if you're dealing with the consequences of that, You'll tax your cognitive resources even more, so it makes sense that your ADHD might feel worse right now because you've had to manage things other than your career, especially when it involves someone else's emotional dysregulation, like This person has narcissistic qualities that can be difficult to manage, so I think in terms of brain training programs, what we found is that there are some evidence-based programs that may be helpful for people to work on their attention and Some of them have probably heard of things like lumosity and peak.net, which also have an app and computing platform.

There is also working memory training published by Pearson. It's something you would have to sign up for and then a psychologist will work with you, but you can do the training program from home and it's called cog med cog, so you can look it up, it's a five. week-long training program that you can do from home, but I also think it's very helpful to keep your brain sharp by doing other types of brain training programs that you can pull out of a book that you know when you get them as workbooks on Amazon. about how to improve your attention, it's really about using it the best you can, so make sure you keep practicing things for your attention, and whether it's a book or an app, it doesn't have to be technology, but anything that basically, continue training and honing your attention will be very helpful, as well as making some adaptations in your environment, so right now I would say that if there is a way to delegate certain things, delegate them, if you need to separate yourself more and more. have better boundaries so there is work time versus relaxation time, just make sure you reinforce whatever structure has worked in your life before this sm or cm would rather ask if there is a link between ADHD and PTSD.

There is a link between ADHD and PTSD for many people and in fact I worked with a patient yesterday and talked to them about this, so the sad thing about trauma is that it affects all of your systems, especially if you have been exposed to this trauma at a young age. In fact, I've seen research that actually changes the way your brain works, it changes the way you learn and memory processes develop, so a lot of people will struggle with attention problems because of this unresolved trauma, but I also think that trauma has a lot of serious symptoms that can occur, especially when you're dealing with those symptoms, it can be very difficult to concentrate, so actually one of the symptoms of PTSD could be attention problems, so first of all we have to find out if that attention problem is more related to the trauma or if it is a separate condition that can be labeled as ADHD, but functionally if you have attention problems, then everything we have talked about applies when making learning adaptations in brain training for your environment. learn ways to train your attention a little better practice mindfulness mindfulness is actually one of the best interventions for attention problems most of the time when we discover that we have inattention difficulties, if you just start using the Mindfulness actually helps a lot.

That's a great technique if you have PTSD, ADHD, or both, what are the most common mental health conditions that occur along with ADHD and are learning disorders comorbid? Comorbidity with ADHD, so ADHD and learning disorders have a high level of comorbidity, so there are actually some studies done on this and what we found is that ADHD and learning disorders are comorbid. at a rate of about 45. It makes sense because you know, I think people who have ADHD from a very young age probably missed out on some of the learning processes. They probably didn't catch up in the same way as some of their peers, so I think when you think about the different types of learning disabilities, the most common one that people have is reading disability or sometimes what we call dyslexia.

So ADHD and dyslexia have a high rate of comorbidity, but there is also comorbidity with auditory processing problems, which is not a technical learning disability, but it is obviously a learning condition. There are also math and writing disorders, so ADHD itself is not necessarily considered a learning disability at all, but you can get many of the same accommodations in the school system if you have ADHD, for example, if you are an adult or a child, you can get accommodations for several types of things if you have ADHD, including if you're taking an entrance exam like the stoneware or you know the bar exam.

In fact, you can get accommodations as an adult if you are diagnosed with ADHD just as you would if you have a documented learning disability. If you are enjoying these. types of discussions we have much more for you and Med Circle launched its first app last month. It is simply called Med Circle app. You can go to iTunes or Google Play Store and download it for free when you download it and create an account. I'll have access to some free sessions to check out and of course for all of you who are access members, go ahead and log in with your login credentials to watch on the go.

I've been using the app a lot. In fact, I listened. Dr. Judy to her series about two weeks ago using the app, it was great. So the links are in the chat for this or just search for medical circle in the app store. Anonymous attendee ask Dr. Judy. Hi Dr. Judy, why rarely? I've ever talked about the non-hyperactivity type, so why isn't ADHD talked about in terms of the hyperactivity part or maybe why is it never talked about um add? Oh, ATD is no longer a diagnosis, so I think sometimes people say add because in previous versions of the dsm um add was the diagnosis, but then they realized there was a subset of people, between 30 and 40 percent of people also had a hyperactive or impulsive condition and that's why they now call the whole condition ADHD, but there are two subtypes, so they are still I can't address that, so there are inattention subtypes of ADHD. , so it would be pretty much like what Add was in the past, so you have mostly inattention issues, but you don't have the hyperactivity or impulsivity part, um, ADHD, uh, the hyperactive impulsive type that would be it. you have that, but not so much the lack of attention; it's a very small number of people who have that, maybe like 10 and then there's another group of people who have both, so we call it the combined subtype where you have both inattention and inattention problems. hyperactive and impulsive problems, but you have to meet the criteria separately for each of them, so there are six symptoms on the inattention side and six symptoms on the hyperactive and impulsive side, which is interesting as an adult, even if you were diagnosed with a combined type as a child.

A lot of times they start to look more like the inattentive type and that's because as adults, even if you don't love it, you can stay in your seat and even if it's hard for you, you can stop yourself from blurting something out. You know, you just get better at self-regulation, so I think that's the part that gets better for a lot of people as they get older, if you still have the ADHD condition as an adult. O.l asks, this is my case. I was diagnosed. three months ago today I am 37 years old happy birthday o l with treatment I am learning to live a new life recently divorced and living alone as a struggle any resources that can help me with this specifically I don't know how to live alone after medication Hmm well I probably need a little bit more information on that in terms of living on your own without medications, but I think sometimes medications can give us a lot of relief, when you're going through a more severe time with that symptom, right?

Well, at least this is working right now and requires less of my individual effort when it's hardest for me to do, and that's why sometimes, with the more severe ADHD conditions, it's helpful to have medication and the behavioral strategy. At the same time, because medication helps you calm down enough and focus enough to learn the strategies and use them in the first place, but without medication, I think sometimes people have an adjustment period where it's like he would have put a band-aid on. I was ripped away and now have to rely mostly on my behavioral strategies and that can be difficult if you live alone.

It's also difficult because it can be more difficult to structure your day without the activities of other people around you and without things that you are like preparing for during the day and so it helps that you are still connected to some type of community, so even if You are not living with anyone, being able to have responsible friends, I think this is very important. For people with ADHD, especially adults, you know, having people checking in on you can talk about your structure of the day. I also find that when you live alone it's especially important to have structure every day, even on the weekends.

I know people think weekends are for relaxing, but even relaxing has to have some structure, it may look different from Monday to Friday, but you still want to get up at around the same time every day you don't want to. sleep. for four or five more hours so that really affects your attention on your learning abilities we can fall asleep and then our brain gets more confused and fatigues us so that's one part and then the other part is starting really small little by little with the behavioral strategies if you live alone and are going through this transition period so that you don't have to adopt everything at once, but simply start by structuring your day so that mornings are for a certain thing and afternoons are for a certain thing. a certain thing and nights are for a certain thing, something even that simplistic can be really helpful, and finally, I want to stress the importance of quality sleep, so it's actually less important that you get eight or nine hours of sleep, but it's more important than sleep is quality and less disturbed, so have a nighttime routine, get rid of the blue colors and you know, even change the tone of your devices or use blue blocking glasses, take the last hour before go to sleep to relax instead of reading. things that could cheer you up, so no items to face the hour before going to sleep, that's right, yeah, and you know, making your bedroom aplace of relaxation, your bed should only be for sleeping and having sex, so don't resist the temptation to bring things you like. other things in bed like your computer and other kinds of things that shouldn't be there like a pizza, you know, just make sure it's just for sleeping and having sex, yeah, I'm guilty of all that stuff, okay, uh , jk asks why prescribe. a stimulant for ADHD is not that counterproductive, uh, no, it's actually very interesting, so what we found is that you know that people who have ADHD actually have less activity in certain parts of their brain than we would think and, so basically the stimulating property and The reason it works is it basically focuses that individual to have more brain activity that is actually focused in nature.

It's a little strange because you think through why stimulants would help, but what we found is that individuals did. she actually has less activity in her executive functions so the stimulants actually help increase that temporarily uh great question jk, I always wanted that myself uh sm question if ADHD can be hereditary, yes, ADHD is hereditary and There is a strong family relationship. link and that, um, and that doesn't mean that if you have ADHD, your children will definitely have ADHD, it just means that there could be a relationship, your child could be at a slightly higher risk compared to the average person, um, for having some level.

ADHD, although it might be subclinical, may not actually be diagnosed, so ADHD is hereditary and we think there is probably some genetic component, but obviously we don't know enough at this point to say that there is a specific gene that we have found. that there are a couple of genetic variants that seem to be related in families, so I think research is definitely ongoing, but we certainly found that there is a familial risk factor and more twin studies have been done in this area to look at genetics and whether it can be hereditary or not, but it is not a one to one ratio.

Just because you have it doesn't mean your offspring will have it, it just means the risk will increase. To some extent, I think I know the answer to this question. Can mindfulness help you with concentration problems? Yes, mindfulness is the best. I mean, I think you know that mindfulness is very difficult. Mindfulness is difficult for all of us, especially when we feel like it. There's a lot going on, it's easy for our brain to go to the future or the past, so mindfulness, what's most helpful is to do it in small doses when you notice your mind wandering and you're having difficulty with Attention and I think the People think that mindfulness has to be like you meditating and like a mantra and that's not the case at all.

Mindfulness is so fun. You can do it while making coffee. You can do mindfulness while you shower. You may like to dress consciously. You can take a walk consciously, so I definitely encourage people to think of mindfulness as active things, but it doesn't have to be just one way, but what I like most about mindfulness is when you realize that you're distracted, just remembering yourself. Bringing your attention back to the present moment can help you refocus, and the quickest way to do this is a technique called grounding, which means you're actually making contact with the physical space around you, like now.

I'm putting my hands on my desk and I feel like I feel the wood of my desk and I feel like you know my back against my chair and I'm really connecting back to your physical environment because it's a really good way to start honing in on the present moment and then once you have that grounding, which only takes a couple of minutes, then you can say what do I need to do now and this is where I would connect the pomodoro technique that we talked about before, where you focus on just one. homework for 25 minutes set a timer and everything so it's accurate um and that in itself is a mindfulness activity using a pomodoro is like good 25 minutes yeah exactly distracting great um we're coming into our last 10 minutes here with Dr.

Judy talking about ADHD, of course we're going to try to answer as many questions as possible. If her question was discarded, it is because there was another similar question or it was off topic. It's nothing personal, we just want to concentrate as many questions as possible. as we can and if you would like to find out more, we will be holding this seminar tomorrow, however we will do it for all access members only, it will be a little more intimate, we will have a little more time and therefore you will have a lot more time. better chances of getting your question answered and also getting more information, you can sign up, sign up for that, if you're an all access member using the links in the chat, let's move on to our next question and you ask Dr.

Judy, I could talk? More about the differential diagnosis as it relates to the adult manifestations of ADHD and atypical depression, dysthymia. Definitely, as I mentioned before, a lot of times people will get a diagnosis of ADHD when maybe it's actually depression and I think the most important thing to ask yourself if you think you might have both or maybe you just have one is your mood. It is related to your ability to concentrate. That's a really good question to ask yourself and talk to your provider about because people who have dysthymia or atypical depression have difficulty concentrating. they are always mixed in with their moods, so when they actually feel a little bit more upbeat and are not as depressed that day, they can focus on things much better and therefore if you find that there is a relationship with your mood and your ADHD, then you may actually have depression and not so much ADHD, and what you find is that when you treat the depression, the attention problems start to go away and that's another telltale sign that maybe it's depression versus ADHD.

Now if you always have difficulty concentrating no matter what, even when you feel fine, then maybe you have both, maybe you have the symptoms of dysthymia and depression and you also have ADHD, but many of the same treatments apply some of the same things. . What we've been talking about, like cognitive behavioral therapy and mindfulness practices, actually treats both and as I mentioned earlier, some people take a little trial of a stimulant medication and actually find that it has some as well. beneficial effects for depression. Also, a lot of the treatments go together, so I definitely want to encourage people who may find that they have that comorbidity, and by the way, the comorbidity of ADHD and depression is pretty high depending on which study you're looking at. somewhere between 20 and 40 percent so you're not alone and there are many ways we can solve it and we have many studies that have treated both together great um bg asks how grief and ADHD are similar in adults also like in children, oh definitely, we've been having a lot more research on how one type of grief is a really anxiety-ridden type of grief, so people are grieving and they think maybe grief has to. do with depression. which, of course, sometimes you feel depressed when you're grieving and you feel very sad, but also some people when they're grieving they have a lot of anxiety and that anxiety can also cause what appears to be ADHD, so um and then I.

I think it's really just the fact that our brains, as much as we, would love to talk about how we're all good multitaskers or make that a big goal. Multitasking is actually impossible for our brain. I don't know if people know that. People who call themselves multitaskers, what they are really doing is quickly switching between tasks so that their mind can't focus on more than one thing at a time, but it's more like going between things as quickly as possible, unfortunately when you do That, your brain also depletes faster and when your brain depletes faster and your cognitive resources deplete, then what looks like ADHD will arise because I mean, we've all been there, you know, yesterday I had a very good day at work. , very busy and at the end of the night I thought I can't really concentrate on anything like this, it's diminishing returns and I need to just turn off my computer because it's not working, you know?

So I think all of us have been there where you've had that. A long day and you can test your cognition either by doing a lot of work things or through emotional content, so when you're grieving there's a lot of activity in your brain and that actually leads to attention problems at least temporarily, so I've always told people if you're going to go to therapy that day if you have to process trauma or grief, don't be kind to yourself that day, you know, don't also put in a bunch of work-related activities and responsibilities and big projects on the same day. like giving your brain a little break and rescheduling some of the harder tasks you have to do for a different day because my partner has adult ADHD and is often very focused and it can be very frustrating.

What's a good technique I can use to get you to stop and refocus on the task at hand, thanks in advance oh great, hyperfocusing again, as we talked about, is a common symptom of ADHD and actually , sometimes it can drive people crazy because they're hyper-focused on something else that you know the parent or romantic partner thinks they should be focusing on, so I think the really important thing is to start teaching that person how to self-control. I mean, there's a lot you can do for them even as a parent, so it's important to teach them how to monitor themselves, so set a timer, you know, I know we talk about timers a lot, but it's really effective, like, it's okay, you can get off, you know, this crazy Google train. but only for 45 minutes and then we have to switch tasks and do something else and teach them those skill sets and remind them to use that skill set.

You can also let them do a little more of that hyperfocus once. all the responsibilities are done, so this is like a kind of prioritization, like do these tasks first and then I will give you an hour with hyperfocus and you can do whatever you want, almost like a reward, almost like when people play games. video games later, at the end of a long day, you know it's like giving it to them as something they can do, but only after other priorities have been met and I think that's a really important thing, just trying to teach those skills. and impart those skills and even demonstrate them yourself, so maybe you know to find some bridge between you and your child and say, "I'd love to do this too, but I'm going to wait until after dinner, then I'll have a time where I can just read." the articles I want to read and spend time on this when I have taken care of my other responsibilities first.

Excellent. I love this question An anonymous assistant says: can they also do the ADHD diagnosis process online or do you have to? being in an office, okay, right now I'm a neuropsychologist and right now, because of the coveted pandemic and how bad things are in Los Angeles, I'm doing all my neuropsych evaluations virtually and the test administrators like Pearson and uh. par and like all the different organizations that do these tests for us to diagnose people with ADHD and other types of brain conditions, they have made these tools available for online administration so that you can get a good evaluation online, whether through from a psychiatrist or a psychotherapist or if you choose to work with a neuropsychologist, I think the most important thing is that you really find someone who has experience in this area, what concerns me is that right now, because there is this boom online of therapy services, There are people who are just putting out a 10 question questionnaire and saying if you answered all these questions then you have ADHD and then you should come see me and I will help you work on it.

Don't think there is an easy way to do it. diagnosing ADHD that way, I mean, it might be really cool to be able to take an online quiz and diagnose yourself, but that's not the standard way to diagnose it, and as we just opened up this conversation with Kyle, if you don't have the diagnosis correct. You don't even know what you're working with to begin with, and we want to make sure everyone gets the right treatment so you can feel good. Yes, there you have it parents, we have a series with double board certified psychiatrist, Dr.

Dominic Sportelli, about ADHD. and kids, it's a must-see if you're a parent of a child living with ADHD and it's available on your all-access membership for those of you who are adults living with ADHD. Many of you are not alone and we have a series with Dr. Judy Ho on that very thing about ADHD inAdults. Answers many of your questions and delves into signs, symptoms, treatments, and long-term recovery. It's a phenomenal series for you if you're living with ADHD as an adult, that's of course available to you as well in your all-access membership, uh, Dr. Judy, I'm so excited for us to continue this conversation tomorrow and, as you mentioned in the group chat, go into more detail about the care and management strategies of um, you are the Best thing is I just thank you for your time, your knowledge and advice on behalf of myself and all the members.

I really appreciate it. Dr. Judy, her time is valuable, so I'll let her go, but I'll see you tomorrow. I'm going to sit here and chat with you a little bit more to get your feedback, so if you're interested and leave comments in the medical circle, stick around because I have a couple of questions for you and I would appreciate your answers, Dr. Judy, thanks for to be here. Thank you so much, Kyle, and I hope to see some of you tomorrow. It was great to be able to talk to all of you and answer some of your questions.

See you soon. Great thanks. as members of the medical circle for being here and if you're still watching this on YouTube, thank you for watching, you can go to medcircle.com, register for free and get notified about future live medical circle events that are free, we have access for everyone. members only and also free, we have a survey that would indicate what brought you to this seminar. If you're interested in taking that survey, it just popped up on your screen or, if you're lucky, it popped up there. Are you a patient parent? supporter or an ADHD healthcare provider, you can respond that would be great, it helps us produce future series that are more valuable to our members, we will also do a second survey and the second survey is, what was the second one?

Poll I wanted to see someone mention brain fog before and now there was another question I wanted to ask you guys shoot oh man that was good too that's why you have to write things down man shoot I'm really losing my balance and you guys were laid off uh or on fire today so thank you guys for being here um okay i can't think about that if it's really important i'll ask it next time uh but now i would love to answer some of your questions hi kyle, the medical circle and doctor judy they're doing a webinar on self sabotage i think that's a great idea possibly um candace thanks for the clarification thanks leanne uh thanks brenda im sure you did um you can still use to judy. 25 at checkout to get 25 off your first month as a Medical Circle All Access Member and this is where the real value is in becoming an All Access Member plus getting our extensive video library that covers a multitude of mental issues. health disorders and treatments and patient stories, etc.

We will also give you guaranteed access to all of our free events that have been sold out, that is, sold out, so far, each one has been sold out, the first one was sold out in a few hours, this one was sold out in a couple of days, but all members with access are guaranteed access to these events and then we will do live medical circle events just for all of our members with access, this allows a smaller group to be a more intimate group. having deeper discussions and obviously answering more questions because we're fewer people, if we're planning now, we'll do two of these a week, so with a seven-day, four-week free trial. with a discount of 25, that's five weeks, that's 10 potential live seminars that you have guaranteed access to plus our entire video library, and that's for you, less than 20 dollars, I think with the discount, it's a great way to inform you about what most people miss. in your mental health journey is the educational part.

I was diagnosed with depression when I was nine years old. I didn't realize what my depression was until I started working for Med Circle and I started working for them two or three years ago, so when I'm in my early 30s, okay, then that's not okay because today I'm much better thanks to that education. I choose better mental health providers. I understand my signs and symptoms. I understand the treatments that are available to me. I have been in therapy since I was nine years old. and I had never heard of cognitive behavioral therapy. If we rely on other people to help us, we will not see the same results as when we rely on ourselves and look for the right people to help us.

Do you see the difference when we trust ourselves? by becoming an educated and empowered patient we seek better help because we are an informed person and that is the power of education for parents of children, that is the power of education for you to make your child see better results faster and that comes from being polite, thank you all for being here, if you have any questions, email me Kyle at medcircle.com or you can reach out to uh med Circle on social media. Other than that, I'll be seeing all of our members tomorrow with full access to More ADHD Discussions, and of course, remember that whatever you're going through, you've got this.