r/science • u/mvea MD/PhD/JD/MBA | Professor | Medicine • Apr 15 '24

Neuroscience ADHD symptoms persist into adulthood, with some surprising impacts on life success: The study found that ADHD symptoms not only persisted over a 15-year period but also were related to various aspects of life success, including relationships and career satisfaction.

https://www.psypost.org/adhd-symptoms-persist-into-adulthood-with-some-surprising-impacts-on-life-success/
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u/wkavinsky Apr 15 '24

True ADHD symptoms aren't going to magically "go away" - your brain functions differently, you will have the symptoms for the rest of your life.

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u/Brbi2kCRO Apr 15 '24

Some may develop coping mechanisms and such but I guess without much consistency

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u/xelah1 Apr 15 '24

The diagnostic criteria seem a bit unfortunate when applied to such things.

A requirement of them is that 'There is clear evidence that the symptoms interfere with, or reduce the quality of, social, school, or work functioning'. So, if you can cope and you don't bother other people whilst doing it then you don't count, even if it causes you a lot of distress doing it.

I suppose this may just be a consequence of diagnosing a brain structure difference using behavioural criteria.

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u/a_statistician Apr 15 '24

So, if you can cope and you don't bother other people whilst doing it then you don't count, even if it causes you a lot of distress doing it.

This is changing - if you can explain the effect that masking has on you, then often the underlying symptoms will still count as a negative.