It's a condition that parents have begun to watch for in children, often unaware that they may have the same problem. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, or ADHD, is widely known to affect youngsters, but studies now show a lot of people who were not diagnosed as children are finding out as adults that their ADHD is developing when they get into a stressful working environment.
"When there is a pattern of continuous forgetting and failure to meet deadlines, obligations and commitments, then an individual is having serious difficulty," says Rafael Klorman, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology.
Dr. Klorman says it's estimated that more than eight million adults in the U.S. are living with ADHD, making it the second most common psychological problem in adults after depression. He is one of the featured speakers on Adult ADHD at an American Medical Association media briefing in New York.
He says it's always been fairly easy to identify ADHD in kids because you test them to see if they show at least 6 out of 18 symptoms. But researchers believe that in adults, it may take just 3 or 4 signs to get a diagnosis.