Can We Trust the Research About ADHD?

Written By Cynthia Hammer, MSW

Written by Cynthia Hammer, MSW

 

It seems that the more I learn about ADHD the less confident I am about what I know!  I tell people (because this is what Dr. Dodson wrote in an ADDitude article) that people with Inattentive ADHD often need less than the recommended dose of medicine while others with ADHD might need much more than the recommended dose.   But how does Dr. Dodson know this?   His clinical experience? A general agreement with his prescribing colleagues?  Research?   I don’t know his source, but because he is a doctor who wrote it in ADDitude magazine, I accept it as true.

Dr. Barkley reports that people with ADHD live, on average 12 years less than those without ADHD.  How did he come to this conclusion?   Did it include only those who had been diagnosed and treated with ADHD or did it include the 90% of adults who are believed to have ADHD but haven’t been diagnosed?

 If you are diagnosed and treated early in life, can you expect a normal life span?  If you are diagnosed much later in life,  then is it, “Sorry, you’re too late to qualify for a normal life span” ?

Cynthia Hammer, MSW

Cynthia Hammer, MSW, was diagnosed with inattentive ADHD in 1992 when she was 49 years old. The following year she created the non-profit organization, ADD Resources, with a mission to educate adults and helping professionals about ADHD in adults. She ran the organization for 15 years before retiring.

During the Covid isolation she wrote a book about her life with inattentive ADHD which should be published by the end of this year. In writing the book, she was dismayed to learn that children with inattentive ADHD continue to be under-diagnosed and adults with inattentive ADHD often are incorrectly diagnosed with depression or anxiety.

She created a new non-profit in 2021, the Inattentive ADHD Coalition (www.iadhd.org), to create more awareness about inattentive ADHD and the need for early diagnosis and treatment.

https://www.iadhd.org
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