The latest research on how the ADHD brain changes over time. Plus the differences among normal aging, mild cognitive impairment, early dementia, and some classic attention deficit symptoms, and why it is never too late to be diagnosed and treated for ADHD.
Like Zophia and John, most older ADHD adults have spent years trying to answer a question: “What’s wrong with me?” Most have been previously diagnosed with other psychological disorders, most frequently mood disorders and learning difficulties. ADHD coexists with several other conditions, so the original diagnoses were probably accurate but were incomplete.
Identifying ADHD can be tricky at any age. There is no blood test or brain scan that reveals latent ADHD. Instead, behavioral markers gathered through in-depth intake interviews are the gold standard for clinicians evaluating ADHD (as well as other psychological disorders). For a clinical diagnosis of ADHD, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V) requires six impairing symptoms in children and adolescents age 17 and younger. For adults over the age of 17, only five symptoms are required. ADHD may present differently in older adults, leading some researchers to suggest that even fewer symptoms might be appropriate for diagnoses of the 40-plus crowd.
It’s not surprising, then, that older adults, with normal cognitive aging challenges, jump to the seemingly logical conclusion that they have “developed” ADHD. The truth is there is no “adult onset” ADHD. It doesn’t “develop.” ADHD starts at birth and continues, largely unchanged, through a person’s life.
Finding out about ADHD at midlife or older can be devastating, or it can open doors to long-discarded dreams. “To have ADHD as long as I have had it, to carry that with your aspirations and dreams is very painful,” said Zophia, now 72 years old. “But that strong desire to make a difference in the world has been reawakened. I’m not going to give up. To my last breath, I will move toward my goals!”
