Research – Article – ADD symptoms & characteristics

ADD in adults is common, but it only accounts for 10 – 15 percent of the entire group of people with ADHD. It occurs more in women and to a lesser extent in men. People with ADD appear dreamy, but their heads are full of thoughts. They are hypersensitive to external stimuli and regularly withdraw to process acquired experiences. The above ADD symptoms and ADD characteristics almost always occur in people with ADD. 

ADD symptoms adults

People with ADD symptoms often feel out of place in a group because there are too many stimuli coming in. They are insecure and have often felt different since childhood. Many have been bullied at school in the past.

Other ADD characteristics in adults

• forgetful and chaotic due to poor short-term memory
• have a poor overview of time
• difficulty setting priorities
• more need for sleep
• very precise and thorough in thinking and acting
  • this can lead to verbosity and compulsive behavior
• difficulty expressing feelings
• difficulty responding quickly and adequately to unexpected events due to delayed information processing.

Hyperfocus with ADD

On the one hand, people with ADD need a quiet, low-stress life to be able to keep an overview of everything. However, if it gets too boring, they become unmotivated, sluggish and tired. For this reason they often look for excitement. When inspired or stressed, people with ADD symptoms can become hyperfocused due to an influx of dopamine in the brain. Just like people with ADHD , they can temporarily appear hyper.

ADD women

Knowledge about ADD in women is limited, because women with ADD are a minority compared to women and men with ADHD. Yet ADD is more common in women than in men, but the diagnosis of ADD is not made quickly. However, these ADD women know how to disguise their ADD disorder well by using their high intelligence, creativity and perseverance. However, the result is increasingly physical and emotional exhaustion in adulthood. This mainly occurs in women between the ages of 35 and 55. The ADD diagnosis is therefore often made later. Many women are not diagnosed for the first time until menopause.