Is It Bipolar Disorder or ADHD Moodiness? A Guide to Getting the Right Diagnosis and Treatment
ADHD walks hand-in-hand with emotional dysregulation. Many children, teens, and adults experience persistent moodiness, out-sized frustrations with daily life, protracted sadness, and/or irritability over seemingly minor disappointments.
It’s often unclear whether such emotionality is part of a patient’s personality or current developmental stage, an aspect of their ADHD, a reaction to medication, or a sign of a more serious mood problem like bipolar disorder.
Diagnostic criteria for ADHD don’t mention problems with emotions, though low frustration tolerance, irritability, or moodiness is listed in the DSM-5 as possible associated features of an ADHD diagnosis. When excessive moodiness is persistent and problematic in someone with ADHD, it may be best to talk with your clinician to consider possible causes and treatment options.
In this webinar you will learn:
- How to differentiate moodiness associated with ADHD from that of bipolar disorder
- Why so many with ADHD are misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder
- When moodiness may indicate a need to evaluate for bipolar disorder
- How medications for ADHD can sometimes cause “rebound moodiness”
- How family dynamics can increase or reduce excessive moodiness
- How medication for bipolar disorder alone may not help ADHD symptoms
- Which medications may be helpful for excessive moodiness with ADHD
Live Webinar on March 10: Is It Bipolar Disorder or ADHD Moodiness? A Guide to Getting the Right Diagnosis and Treatment
Register below for this free expert webinar to learn the difference between bipolar disorder and ADHD moodiness on Wednesday, March 10 at 1 pm ET.
Sign up and you will receive the free webinar replay link after 3/10 as well!
Meet the Expert Speakers:
Thomas E. Brown, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist who earned his Ph.D.at Yale University and served on the clinical faculty of the Dept. of Psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine for 21 years while operating a clinic in CT for children and adults with ADHD and related problems. In 2017 he relocated to California where he sees patients and directs the Brown Clinic for Attention and Related Disorders in Manhattan Beach, California. Dr. Brown’s most recent books are Smart, but Stuck: Emotions in Teens and Adults with ADHD; and Outside the Box: Rethinking ADD/ADHD in Children and Adults-A Practical Guide.
Ryan J. Kennedy is a Nurse Practitioner who earned his Doctor of Nursing Practice at Quinnipiac University. For nine years he has collaborated with Dr. Brown for research, publications, and in clinical practice. He is Assistant Director of the Brown Clinic for Attention and Related Disorders where he specializes in assessment, behavioral, and psychopharmacological treatments for children and adults. The clinic website is: www.BrownADHDClinic.com.
