“When an adult with ADHD is diagnosed, they realize that nothing that happened was their fault.”
Pablo Gomez, 31, from Zaragoza, a videographer by profession, recalls confusion and forgetfulness, inability to concentrate or a tendency to procrastinate, that is, to put off doing things over and over again as something normal in their daily lives. What I didn’t realize was that in other ways it wasn’t. “When I was little, my parents were told that I was a very active child. I was even a little surprised that I had difficulty doing some things that were otherwise a priori simple,” he recalls. That was three years ago, after many comings and goings – and thanks to a meme – as He began to wonder if he had ADHD. (Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder).
“I received an image on my phone that explained the condition really well, and I started wondering if maybe it was just me,” he says. Before this, he had never been able to maintain a stable job. something that left him very frustrated, especially when he thought about the future. That was until I was diagnosed. “I went to therapy, I had a healthier relationship with work and my limitations, I started medication, which helped me a lot, and I realize that everything has improved. Today, I work independently, working with prognoses and the future. Not that I felt everything was okay, but now I know that it’s not as necessary as I thought, and that’s okay,” he admits.
Moreover, he admits that the most important thing in this whole process was come to integrate ADHD into your life. “It’s part of who I am. Without it, I would be someone else, and I wouldn’t change myself because I like who I am, even though at one point it led me down a path of bitterness. I’m still forgetful and I save things for last… but over time, I’ve realized that I’m so much more than my ADHD,” he says.
Pablo: “I went to therapy, established a healthier relationship with work and my limitations, started a pharmacological treatment that helped me a lot, and I admit that everything has improved.”
This Saturday, July 13th, International Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Day. A chronic condition that follows those who suffer from it throughout their lives. It affects millions of children and often continues into adulthood, although many, like Pablo, are not really aware of it. ADHD involves a combination of persistent problems such as difficulty maintaining attention, hyperactivity, and impulsive behavior.
And what does this mean? As the man from Zaragoza said, in such simple things as failure to arrive to a meeting or submit work on time; difficulties in maintaining order or problems in managing certain emotions. In figures, this is a disease whose prevalence in Spain is close to 5%, while in the world it exceeds 7%, but its underdiagnosis is one of the biggest problems. As a curiosity, hyperactivity is more common in menwhereas attention deficit disorder mainly affects women.
In Aragon, the disease is increasingly being discussed, but it is difficult to find specialists in this field, specifically among the adult population. Zaragoza psychologist Alex Melik from the Lumos psychotherapeutic center is one of them. “It’s a neurodevelopmental disorder that usually appears in childhood. and this causes serious psychosocial impairment in various areas of individual functioning,” he says.
This concerns difficulties, for example, in performing tasks requiring sustained attention – both educational and work-related – being late or entering into a conversation that cuts off other interlocutors. “This causes human suffering,” he admits.
Although these tests are now widely used in children and young adults, the reality is that There are a large number of adults who are unaware of this reality. and who are forced to live with these difficulties without knowing the cause. “This often leads to psychological problems such as low self-esteem, anxiety or depression,” says the expert.
Zaragoza psychologist Alex Melik: “It is very important that everyone has an adequate and comprehensive diagnosis to understand what they have and find an explanation for the symptoms”
There are three presentations about this disorder. The one who only shows attention deficit -in which any distracting stimulus will be sufficient to stop performing a task that the individual finds boring-; one that involves only hyperactivity and impulsivity – these are people who cannot sit still because they experience a subjective feeling of restlessness and are prone to impatience; or who represents bothwhat is known as combined type ADHD: “In this case, a person has both, but not 50%, there will always be one that stands out more than the other.”
The fact that the prevalence in Spain is close to 5% is a fact that Melik believes reflects the problem it represents. It is also believed that He claims that more than 75% of cases are genetic.“although environmental factors also play a role.”
Currently, about 70% of his patients are adults with undiagnosed ADHD who have learned of this reality and decided to clear their doubts by taking the test. In many cases, knowing what they have becomes one of the best medicines“It is very important that everyone has an adequate and complete diagnosis to understand what they have and to find an explanation for the symptoms,” he says.
“From the moment an adult with ADHD is diagnosed, he understands that nothing that has happened in his life is his fault.”
“From the moment an adult with ADHD receives a diagnosis, they understand that everything that has happened in their life is not their fault, that it was the disorder that told their brain how to act. And this change is real, because it allows them to accept themselves, their self-esteem increases, and they can act,” says the psychologist, remembering that this happens not only with this but with other diagnoses as well.
Live with him without making your life difficult.
As for treatment, it can be of two types: “either pharmacological, through the use of methylphenidate – the most popular is Concerta – or cognitive-behavioral, which offers a wide range of strategies for thinking and acting that allow a person to better adapt to the environment.” their symptoms,” he adds. In short, yes, “it is possible to live with it without making things more difficult for yourself.”
But the most important thing for this is to get a good assessment and an adequate diagnosis. “We do two types of assessment: first a clinical interview, during which we analyze the symptoms, and then we use a series of tests supported by empirical science,” he estimates. In between, Conners scales -the most widely used screening test for ADHD today, both in childhood and adulthood- and the Wender-Utah test“Finally, we do a DSM5-approved test to analyze whether it meets the criteria and assess the severity,” he concludes.