One doctor has shared the 17 questions she asks her patients to determine whether or not they have ADHD.
According to the NHS, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a condition that affects people's behaviour, and people with ADHD can seem restless, may have trouble concentrating and act on impulse.
And psychiatrist and therapist, Dr. Melissa Shepard, has since taken to TikTok to share with her 1.6 million followers the questions she asks her patients when assessing them for ADHD.
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Symptoms of ADHD are commonly first noticed at an early age and may become more apparent when a child's circumstances change, like when they start school for example.
While most cases are diagnosed when children are under the age of 12, ADHD can sometimes be diagnosed later in childhood and as an adult.
The symptoms of ADHD may improve with age for some, but many adults who were diagnosed with the condition at a young age continue to experience problems - which Dr. Shepard outlines in her questions.
"Please keep in mind that you cannot diagnose yourself with ADHD just based on these questions," she explains.
"ADHD symptoms can overlap with a lot of other mental health issues and also with just normal human experience.
"So if this is something that resonates with you, doesn't automatically mean you have ADHD just means maybe it's worth talking with your doctor or therapist."
The questions are as follows:
- Do you have trouble focusing or find yourself daydreaming often?
- Do you often find that you are restless and have trouble sitting still?
- Do you find yourself constantly tapping your foot, bouncing your leg, twirling your hair or picking at your cuticles?
- No matter how hard you try, do you find yourself constantly being late or are you excessively early because you're so afraid of being late?
- Do you have a hard time estimating how long it's going to take you to complete a task even if it's a task that you do fairly often?
- Do you find yourself embarrassed by how disorganised or messy your home or office spaces are?
- Do you have a really hard time organising things at the beginning of a project, for example, outlining a paper before you start writing
- Do you have difficulty completing one task at a time?
- Do you find that it's difficult for you to relax or wind down even if you do have free time?
- Do you find you have trouble sleeping either falling asleep or staying asleep because you can't turn your mind off?
- Do you find yourself struggling with overeating, forgetting to eat regularly, compulsively eating the same foods over and over again or binge eating?
- When you're taking an exam, do you find that you tend to do pretty well on the more complicated questions but then when it comes to the straightforward, easier questions, you end up making careless mistakes?
- Do you have trouble throwing things away so you end up keeping a lot of extra stuff you maybe don't need by default?
- Do you find that you're frequently losing essential everyday items like your wallet, keys, phone, etc?
- Do you feel that you are especially sensitive to criticism or rejection from other people?
- Do you find that you have trouble with things that require moving your body in space. So this may look like being more clumsy than the average person and showing up with bruises that you have no idea how they got there? Or even getting into more frequent car accidents than the average person.
- Do you find that you often feel overwhelmed in loud and busy environments?
Dr. Shepard then finished off the TikTok by telling viewers: "So those are some of the most common questions that I asked.
"There are so many other nuanced questions and topics that come up when we're discussing ADHD during an evaluation so definitely something to talk with your doctor or therapist about if you're worried."
Topics: Health, Mental Health, TikTok
Rhiannon Ingle