Body-focused repetitive behaviors (BFRBs), a common ADHD comorbidity, are chronic, functional behaviors that often result in physical damage. A wide range of emotional states can precede and follow a BFRB episode; individuals may feel pleasure, relief, shame, or pain, which may drive another episode.

Certain thought processes or beliefs, boredom, anxiety, or the need to relieve an uncomfortable bodily sensation can trigger the behavior. Some people mindlessly partake in the behavior, or it is a compulsion they can’t stop. Many people enjoy engaging in BFRBs, though they hate the outcome of their pulling or picking.

In this download, you will learn…

• Traits of trichotillomania (hair-pulling disorder)
• Signs of excoriation or dermatillomania (skin-picking disorder)
• The difference between nail biting and onychophagia (nail-biting disorder)
• Descriptions of BFRB treatments and interventions, such as habit reversal training (HRT), Comprehensive Behavioral Treatment (ComB), and others.
• And much more!

This Women’s Health Month, ADDitude’s Women Demand Attention initiative seeks to change this by drawing attention to the research that doesn’t exist or doesn’t fully reflect the lived experiences of ADHD in women. From puberty to menopause and PMDD to age-related cognitive decline, the research need is vast and spans the lifespan.

A better understanding of sex differences in ADHD — a condition linked to devastating health outcomes when untreated — will improve diagnostic and treatment outcomes for women.

Download this free calendar and join the chorus of medical experts, health advocates, and government agencies calling for gender equality in health research. The calendar contains actionable steps to address inequities in health research and insights — one for each day in May 2024 — to enhance your knowledge of ADHD in women.

“Research specifically devoted to girls and women with ADHD is not only an issue of equity but a life-or-death issue for some girls and women.” — Julia Schechter, Ph.D., of the Duke Center for Girls and Women with ADHD

• arts & crafts
• digital prizes
• events and experiences
• friend and family time
• “free passes”
• screen-free games and toys
• and more!

A behavior chart and/or points system may help encourage consistency and gamify the process. Remember: Rewards should come after your child demonstrates desired behaviors.

Even after an ADHD diagnosis, many clinicians are reluctant or refuse to prescribe stimulant medications due to conflicting or outdated information, leaving many older adults with ADHD without proper treatment.

It’s never too late to seek a diagnosis and symptom relief. Use this Patient Resource to begin conversations about and pursue an evaluation for ADHD as an older adult.

In this download, you will learn

• Why it’s never too late for an ADHD diagnosis
• Why older adults with ADHD symptoms go undiagnosed or misdiagnosed
• Why stimulants do not increase cardiovascular risk
• Why ADHD treatment gets tougher with age
• And much more

The menstrual cycle typically lasts 28 days, but it can be 21 to 40 days long. Regardless of duration, it comprises four phases:

• The menstruation phase begins on the first day of your period and typically lasts three to seven days.
• The follicular phase overlaps with the menstruation phase. It begins on the first day of your period, ends at ovulation, and lasts about two weeks.
• The ovulatory phase lasts 12-24 hours and occurs in the middle of the menstrual cycle.
• The luteal phase begins the day after ovulation and lasts roughly two weeks until the start of your next period.

The Menstrual Cycle Workbook for Women with ADHD is based on a 28-day menstrual cycle. (If your cycle is longer than 28 days, we’ve built in floating days to accommodate this.)

If you’re interested in contributing to ADDitude’s research on how ADHD impacts women, please fill out this short survey after charting your symptoms for two months: additu.de/period (URL opens May 10)

How to Use the Menstrual Cycle Workbook

1. Begin tracking symptoms on the first day of your period. Rate the severity of each ADHD symptom below on a scale of 1 (mild) to 5 (life-altering).
2. Continue adding days for the duration of your period. Use as many days as needed and repeat the process for each menstrual phase.
3. Calculate each day’s total symptom severity as you go.
4. After each phase, calculate each phase’s symptom severity by totaling all rows in each column. Divide each total by the number of days you filled in to get the average severity for each symptom and for the whole phase.

After tracking two menstrual cycles, compare the averages in each menstrual phase and see what patterns emerge. Share the results with your healthcare provider. Together, you can use the data to make more informed decisions about your treatment and activities during menstruation.

But with time and patience, individuals with ADHD can curb their habit of oversharing and build high-quality friendships. This download shows you how.

In this download you will learn:

• Why individuals with ADHD are prone to overshare.
• How to recognize circumstances and situations that lead to oversharing.
• How to edit and restrain yourself during a conversation.
• And more tips to keep you from oversharing!

NOTE: This resource is for personal use only.

Being a “highly sensitive person” (HSP) is not a disorder but an attribute common in people with ADHD. An HSP is more sensitive to environmental and social stimuli. They feel emotions deeply. Unkind words that bounce off others can leave them in tears. Stimulating environments and conversations may lead to angry outbursts, headaches, or rashes.

Though they share several similarities, hypersensitivity is not synonymous with sensory processing disorder (SPD), a neurological condition where the brain has difficulty organizing and processing sensory stimuli.

In this download, you will learn:

• Differences between HSP and SPD
• Featured characteristics of hypersensitivity
• How to treat hypersensitivity
• And more!

NOTE: This resource is for personal use only.

WEBINAR WITH JESSICA MCCABE
Register for ADDitude’s free webinar on February 13 with Jessica McCabe titled, “How to ADHD: An Insider’s Guide to Working with Your ADHD Brain (Not Against It!)”

ADHD brains have lower-than-average levels of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that regulates the body’s pleasure and reward systems. As a result, dopamine-increasing behaviors are even more gratifying to ADHD brains. However, many of our go-to behaviors (e.g., grabbing our phones for a ‘quick’ doom scroll, eating a cookie, playing a video game, etc.) aren’t always helpful.

“Unfortunately, the quick and easy sources of dopamine we tend to turn to often aren’t enough to satisfy that need. Or we hit the pleasure button on the same activity so many times, it stops being as fun,” says Jessica McCabe, the creator and host of How to ADHD, a popular YouTube series, and author of How to ADHD.

When dopamine is dipping, how can you resist the impulse to scroll it back up?  The solution is to separate the planning from the choosing with a dopamine menu or ‘dopamenu’ — a curated list of options that lightens the mental load of finding pleasurable, healthy activities to stimulate us when we need it most.

To design your own dopamine menu, brainstorm a list of activities that typically boost your mood without inducing a hangover of regret or RSD. Then, slot the items into the appropriate menu categories in using the dopamine menu template.

This downloadable template includes:

• Dopamine menu categories
• Category examples to get you started
• Tips for building a customizable dopamine menu
• And more!

ADDitude Reader Survey Reveals ADHD Treatment Trends & Barriers to Care

In mid-2023, the ADDitude editorial team designed an 85-question ADHD treatment survey and invited responses from 978,871 opt-in newsletter subscribers, 11,013 of whom answered the survey. Data were collected between July 30 and December 4, 2023, and analyzed by ADDitude editors.

Top 10 Research Insights

1. The greatest impediment to effective ADHD healthcare is access to treatment professionals with training and experience in ADHD.

2. At least 80% of children and 70% of adults taking stimulant medication experience persistent side effects, which are partly to blame for medication cessation.

3. Only 42% of parents opt to medicate their children within 6 months of diagnosis; however, waiting too long to medicate was the Number One regret expressed by caregivers.

4. 85% of people with ADHD end up taking medication and they rate its efficacy higher than any other treatment included in the survey.

5. Medication trial and error is seen as necessary but frustrating. On average, children try 2.75 different medications and adults try 2.56 prescriptions.

6. The first-line ADHD treatment recommended by the APA, parent training, is only reaching 57% of children. It is recommended by 93% of those who use it.

7. Complex ADHD is the norm, with 92% of adults and 82% of children reporting at least one additional diagnosis.

8. The top concern when choosing a medication is side effects for caregivers and symptom control for adults. On these measures, the differences between methylphenidate and amphetamine are miniscule.

9. Women diagnosed later in life cite years of misdiagnosis, frustrating medical interactions, and ineffective treatment.

10. Patients are not learning of the executive dysfunctions inherent in ADHD or the risks associated with NOT taking ADHD medication.

Writing the Story of You

Sometimes, New Year’s Resolutions feel a lot like masking. Like shearing off our roundness to fit a square box. Like trying to live up to others’ expectations of us — again.

What if we approached 2024 differently? What if we saw this New Year as an opportunity to try new things in a risk-free environment of experimentation and self-exploration? What if we allowed ourselves the freedom of a growth mindset and suspended our self-doubt long enough to assume success? Doesn’t that sound much better than counting calories and steps?

If you think so, download this free calendar to find 31 neurodivergent-friendly ideas — one for each day on January 2024 — for re-establishing joy in your work, home, and relationships, plus your mental and physical health.

Remember: “Most systems for planning and organization are built for neurotypical brains. You must create your own ‘owners manual’ for your ADHD brain.” — William Dodson, M.D.

Untreated depression in teens could have serious consequences. Suicide was the second leading cause of death in 2020 among youth ages 10 to 14 and the third leading cause of death among adolescents ages 15 to 24, according to the CDC.¹

Highly effective interventions for depression exist, yet only 41% of teens with depression receive treatment. This may be because parents can’t differentiate typical teen moodiness from depression or that teens resist treatment.

In this download, you will learn:

• Common symptoms of major depressive disorder in teens
• How depression in adolescents manifests differently than in adults
• Why teenagers resist treatment
• How to help adolescents get the interventions they need
• And more!

The Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is free, confidential, and available 24/7. Call or Text 988, 988lifeline.org

Source

¹“Adolescent Health.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Center for Health Statistics. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/adolescent-health.htm

New research confirms that healthy lifestyle habits can reduce the risk and impact of depression by up to 57%. But depression sometimes traps us in self-destructive behaviors that feel impossible to escape. Some people skip activities they normally enjoy. Others turn to alcohol or junk food. Depression traps vary by person, but they all perpetuate a vicious cycle.

In this five-part series from WebMD and ADDitude, begin to break that cycle with small, smart changes proven to disable depression traps.

PART ONE: Overhaul Your Nutrition
PART TWO: Develop Healthy Routines
PART THREE: Exercise When & How It Matters
PART FOUR: Sleep More & Stress Less
PART FIVE: Build Sustaining Connections

NOTE: This resource is for personal use only.

MDD impacts millions of Americans annually. The World Health Organization ranks depression as the single largest contributor to global disability.¹ More than half of people with ADHD will experience a depressive episode, yet many signs of depression go unnoticed, leading to missed diagnoses and a lack of treatment.

Major Depressive Disorder affects every aspect of a person’s life, making it seem like life is not worth living. It’s a serious problem that requires treatment.

In this download, you will learn:

• Why it’s critical to understand how depression manifests
• How MDD looks different in teenagers
  How depression differ from “reactive” or “situational” depression
• Why sadness is not the most common symptom of depression
• Unexpected signs of MDD
• And more!

The Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is free, confidential, and available 24/7. Call or Text 988, 988lifeline.org.

Sources

¹Depression and Other Common Mental Disorders: Global Health Estimates. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2017, https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/254610/WHO-MSD-MER-2017.2-eng.pdf

Experts call this significant and persistent disparity the “depression gap.” Why does it exist?

Experts believe the explanation is likely a combination of biological and sociological factors that uniquely impact women. What are they? And why are women with ADHD more likely to have hormone-related mood disorders and more severe symptoms than their neurotypical peers? ². Find the answers to these questions and more in this download.

You will also learn the following:

• How hormonal fluctuations increase the risk of developing mood disorders
• Signs of premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD)
• Postpartum depression (PPD) symptoms
• The life events and circumstances that impact women more often than men
• Effective treatment options for major depressive disorder

The Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is free, confidential, and available 24/7. Call or Text 988, 988lifeline.org

Sources

¹“Prevalence of Depression Among Adults Aged 20 and Over: United States, 2013–2016.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Center for Health Statistics. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db303.htm
²Dorani, F., Bijlenga, D., Beekman, A.T.F., van Someren, E.J.W., Kooij, J.J.S. (2020). Prevalence of Hormone-Related Mood Disorder Symptoms in Women with ADHD. J Psychiatr Res. doi:10.1016/j.jpsychires.2020.12.005

IEPs and 504 Plans essentially “expire” when students graduate from high school, but that doesn’t mean they can’t receive accommodations in college. According to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), they can.

However, the responsibility for setting up and maintaining ADHD accommodations falls on the college student, not the school. Colleges are not required to provide any accommodation or modification that would result in a fundamental alteration of their programs. This applies to specific course requirements, graduation requirements, and admissions.

Don’t get discouraged. Plenty of accommodations don’t alter course or degree requirements for students with ADHD or learning differences. To begin the process, students should register with the Disability Services (DS) office when they submit their enrollment deposit.

If accommodations are granted, they will become available, but the student is not obligated to use them. If they don’t register and later decide that they need accommodations, they risk not getting accommodations in time for exams. Registering doesn’t cost anything, and it may save your child undue headaches in the long run.

This download explains how to get undergrad services for neurodivergent students. In this download you will learn the following:

• The best time to apply for college accommodations
• Where to register for college accommodations
• What documents are needed to apply for college accommodations
• What questions to ask after submitting a request for accommodations
• What to do if accommodations need to change
• And more!