Treatment
With the right treatment, many adults with ADHD can be successfully treated and managed.
Medication: Research shows that when it comes to treating adult ADHD successfully, treatment with medication plays a major role, and is often the primary initial intervention after diagnosis and education about ADHD has taken place. The most common medications used to treat ADHD affect the balance of the brain chemicals that have been shown to play a role in the condition. By doing this, they encourage alert, focussed attention while at the same time help to shut out unwanted stimuli or responses.
Therapy: Certain types of therapy can also be helpful, including cognitive–behavioural therapy, couples therapy if people feel that their marriage or relationship has been affected by their ADHD, and even group therapy, which, apart from anything else, is an opportunity for adults diagnosed with ADHD to spend time with people who have had similar life experiences.
Self-help: There are other things that people can do to help manage and understand the effect of their ADHD symptoms, including taking steps to improve organisational and time-management skills. Examples include:
- using reminders to keep important tasks visually in sight,
- trying to plan ahead, by setting aside some time at the end of every evening to think about what needs to be done the following day, and making a realistic ‘to do’ list,
- keeping notepads in strategic locations – such as the car, bedroom and even the bathroom, so it’s easy to jot down important ideas and things that need to be remembered as soon as they occur,
- making multiple sets of keys so that if one set gets misplaced, it doesn’t turn into a disaster,
- making the effort to practice time-management skills – one tip is to purchase a programmable alarm clock to make keeping track of time easier.