Signs and Symptoms of Adult ADHD
|There are 18 official DSM symptoms of ADHD, but the disorder affects people’s lives in so many other ways.
Below is a master list of both clinical symptoms of ADHD as well as more general “signs” of ADHD.
Keep in mind that most people have a few of these traits, and this list can’t act as the basis for a diagnosis. But if you identify with a lot of these symptoms to the point that they cause problems in your life, it’s definitely worth looking into further — it could change your life.
If you think of any signs or symptoms of ADHD that I missed, let me know in the comments below!
1. Having trouble sustaining attention
2. Being able to focus intensively on things that are interesting but having poor concentration on things that are routine
3. Overlooking details
4. Forgetting things
5. Fidgeting
6. Having a hard time sitting still
7. Being impatient
8. Becoming bored easily and having a low tolerance for boredom
9. Interrupting people
10. Procrastinating
11. Lacking self-control
12. Being prone to addictive behavior
13. Not listening to people
14. Getting lots of traffic tickets
15. Being disorganized
16. Making careless mistakes
17. Starting lots of projects but never finishing them
18. Thinking of yourself as lazy
19. Having trouble with mundane tasks
20. Getting distracted easily
21. Lacking motivation
22. Rushing through things
23. Self-medicating with cigarettes, alcohol or coffee
24. Having low frustration tolerance
25. Having problems with sleep
26. Being chronically late
27. Not planning ahead
28. Having time-management problems
29. Underachieving
30. Acting on impulse
31. Taking risks
32. Seeking novelty
33. Doing things to get a high
34. Craving stimulation
35. Being absent-minded
36. Being restless
37. Losing things
38. Opting for short-term rewards rather than delaying gratification
39. Having trouble switching from one task to another
40. Having trouble regulating emotions
41. Having lots of “nervous energy”
42. Having other neuropsychiatric disorders like mood disorders, anxiety disorders, personality disorders and substance abuse
43. Saying things or acting without thinking
44. Having to reread things because you read without having the meaning of the words “sink in”
45. Being unable to accurately estimate how long things will take
46. Chronically underachieving
47. Getting off track and taking much longer than necessary on simple tasks
48. Paying attention to details of your environment that are irrelevant to the task at hand
49. “Hyperfocusing” on rewarding activities
50. Not being able to summon the cognitive resources to actually do things you know how to do
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