Doctors see ADHD symptoms as part of the comorbid disorder. Most people who abuse drugs or alcohol are depressed or anxious, yet the addiction is a separate entity that must be dealt with, in addition to its underlying causes.Ģ. The depression or anxiety has been identified and diagnosed, but the ADHD has not been. He met the criteria for having an anxiety disorder and needed treatment, even though it was secondary to his ADHD.Ī secondary diagnosis does not make anxiety less challenging to live with. His sleeplessness caused him to feel “on edge” all the time. He had severe anxiety about taking tests and writing papers, which led to poor sleep. His ADHD and executive functioning deficits stymied him. But, without the structure of high school and his parents’ support, he felt lost. The comorbid disorder can be independent of the ADHD (primary) or a direct result of ADHD symptoms (secondary).Ĭorey was never an anxious person before he went to college. Doctors sometimes mistakenly chalk up depressive and anxiety symptoms to the ADHD diagnosis, as in Antonio’s case. When ADHD and another disorder co-occur, there will likely be one of the following scenarios:ġ. The ADHD has been diagnosed, but the comorbid disorder has not been. Years of his life were spent suffering from paralyzing anxiety that resulted in his missing classes, being housebound for days, and not being able to work. “Everyone assumed that my anxiety behaviors were just the hyperactivity part of my ADHD,” he says. Although his ADHD was diagnosed when he was in fifth grade, his anxiety disorder was not caught until his last year of college. A patient of mine, Antonio, knows this well. Having ADHD is challenging enough, but the other disorders that accompany ADHD profoundly affect a person’s daily life. ![]() The two most common are depression and an anxiety disorder, like obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) or generalized anxiety disorder (GAD).ĪDHD without a comorbid disorder is the exception rather than the rule. Studies find that 80 percent of people with attention deficit disorder (ADHD or ADD) will have at least one other psychiatric disorder in their lifetime.
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