Like a lot of people who use TikTok, Olivia Howell has noticed that her feed often offers up posts about attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Still, she never paid that much attention to them, until her sister DM’d her a video—which featured a woman’s chaotic inner monologue as she walked through her house—that struck a nerve. “I didn’t know other people lived like that in their head,” Howell tells SELF. After that, more ADHD-related videos that felt a little too familiar popped up on her feed (isn’t TikTok’s personalized algorithm scary-fun like that?), which prompted her to mention it to the psychiatrist treating her for anxiety. Unbeknownst to Howell, the two issues often occur together. She was diagnosed with ADHD shortly after.
Though Howell’s “For You Page” helped clue her in to the potential signs of ADHD in adults, it’s something she (and most others diagnosed with the disorder later in life) have probably had since childhood, Lawrence A. Vitulano, PhD, ABPP, a clinical psychologist and professor of psychology at Yale University, tells SELF. How does that happen? The symptoms may not have been obvious to those around you—say, you got decent grades in school and were more likely to stare out the window than jump around a classroom—or it wasn’t until you had to plan your own schedule as an adult that it was clear how tough it is for you to stay on track.
If you do receive a diagnosis, it’s crucial to remember that ADHD is super treatable, Dr. Vitulano points out, which makes catching its symptoms, even in adulthood, sometimes life-changing. “This disorder, when it’s not managed, can be debilitating,” he says. “If you have diabetes, we treat it. If you have an infection, we treat it—and we want people to feel that way about ADHD.” Here are five (sometimes subtle) signs to be aware of.
1. You find yourself getting distracted by every. little. thing.
Although scientists aren’t entirely sure what causes ADHD, research suggests genetics plays a pretty big role. “It’s highly inheritable,” Dr. Vitulano explains. The disorder can show up in three major ways, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH):
- Inattention (difficulty staying focused)
- Hyperactivity (feeling restless or overly energetic)
- Impulsivity (acting without thinking much first)
To be diagnosed with ADHD as an adult, you need to have at least five symptoms that could fit into one or more of these categories (more deets on those in a bit). If you’ve had certain symptoms for at least six months (and some that started before age 12, even if you were never diagnosed) and you find that they interfere with your life, ADHD might be a potential cause to explore. The signs tend to show a little differently in adults, however, which makes detection later in life a little challenging. “I like to think of ADHD as a disorder of motivation,” Dr. Vitulano explains. “It’s really hard to be focused on what you want to get done.” This might look like swiveling your head each time the door opens at a coffee shop, but Dr. Vitulano says that diversion can be subtle. In adults, hyperactivity can also look like extreme restlessness, or you might wear other people out with a go-go-go mentality.
You could also feel scattered or forgetful. “Someone might send their significant other [with ADHD] to the grocery store and ask them to get five things, and they either come home with completely different things than what was asked for or just two of them,” Sid Khurana, MD, a psychiatrist with Nevada Mental Health, tells SELF.
2. …or you can’t seem to control where you steer your attention.
While people tend to think that ADHD is largely about lack of focus, sometimes your tendency to laser on to something can also be too intense, so much so that you can’t seem to control or direct it to other areas of your life. “Maybe you find yourself searching the internet for something for long periods and can’t get off, or perhaps you play video games until the wee hours of the morning,” Dr. Khurana notes. Alternatively, you might put off large, long-term goals (say, scheduling health appointments or applying for jobs) in favor of smaller, less critical ones (re-organizing your desk or continuously refreshing your inbox). Basically, per Dr. Vitulano, you might have a hard time making and adhering to a schedule.