ADHD, formerly known as "attention-deficit disorder (ADD)", is a long-lasting neurological disorder that first appears during childhood. ADHD is possibly diagnosed equally in both, women and men. ADHD is one of the most common mental disabilities, along with autism and intellectual disability.
Three Main Types of ADHD
1. ADHD-HI (or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder-Hyperactive-Impulsiveness): Hyperactive-impulsiveness is a form of ADHD without the inattentiveness. People with ADHD-HI feel the need to move around at a very fast pace. They often have trouble sitting still. Children often appear to act as if “driven by a motor”, similar to a mouse. People of all ages may talk non-stop, interrupt others, blurt out answers, and struggle with self-control. This type of ADHD is often diagnosed in children and men. Symptoms of ADHD-HI include -
- Inability to sit still or control one's quirky movement
- Constant fidgeting
- Inability to concentrate on tasks at school or work
- Excessive talking
- Difficulty falling asleep at night
- Preventing others from finishing their conversation with each other
- Interruption of others’ activities
- Acting without thinking accidentally
- Showing high empathy
- Unable to handle multi-tasking activity
- Inappropriate behavior (e.g. pulling down one's pants to tease others on rare occasions)
2. ADHD-PI (or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder-Inattentiveness): Inattentiveness is the black sheep of ADHD. People with ADHD-PI make careless mistakes, because they have difficulty sustaining attention, following detailed instructions, and organizing tasks and activities. They have weak working memory, are easily distracted by external stimuli, and often lose things. This type of ADHD is more commonly diagnosed in adults and girls, and was formerly known as "ADD". People with ADHD-PI show almost all of the symptoms of ADHD-HI, except that it has far less hyperactivity, impulsivity, and far more of a nearly immobile movement, making them similar to a turtle and making them really difficult to detect. People with ADHD-PI often get confused as being autistic, due to great emphasis on critical thinking, observing interesting details, or displaying a lack of emotions. Symptoms of ADHD-PI that slightly differentiates from ADHD-HI include -
- Often has trouble staying focused on tasks at work, home, or play
- Frequently does not pay close attention to unnecessary details or makes careless mistakes at work or while doing other tasks
- Having a hyperactive mind (not hyperactive actions)
- Feeling lazy or depressed
- Often has trouble organizing tasks or activities (misses deadlines, disorganized work)
- Frequently does not follow through on instructions or fails to complete work assignments, chores or other activities
- Often forgets doing routine chores (like paying bills, returning phone calls, keeping appointments)
- Avoids tasks that require long periods of mental focus (preparing reports, jogging, etc.)
- Often loses items needed to complete tasks or activities
- Having a calm demeanor (unless spoken back to others who talk to people with ADHD-PI first)
3. ADHD-C (or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder-Combined): Combined is the combination between hyper-impulsiveness and inattentiveness. This is the main representation of ADHD, and the most common type of them all. ADHD-C is the most confusing type, since people with ADHD-C don't realize that they have ADHD until adulthood when they get properly diagnosed. This is due to people with ADHD-C being no where near hyperactive as their ADHD-HI counterparts, and some of them are closer to their ADHD-PI counterparts.
Comorbidity
The following conditions commonly coexist with ADHD:
- Autism
- Down syndrome
- Oppositional defiant disorder
- Conduct disorder
- Dyscalculia
- Dyslexia
- Maladaptive daydreaming
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and other anxiety disorders
- Binge eating disorder
- Sleeping disorders
- Seizure disorder
- Depressive disorder