The Link Between ADHD and Depression
Anyone who has experienced depression understands how debilitating it can feel. The lack of energy and motivation to go about your daily activities and work. Walking around feels like you’re walking under a constant dark cloud or are constantly on edge. The lack of appetite is accompanied by chronic feelings of unrest and insomnia. The constant feelings of fatigue and exhaustion are ever present. A total loss of interest in activities that you used to enjoy. They now don’t mean anything at all. Feeling empty, like life has no meaning. Depression, in its most severe form, can lead to suicidal ideation. Coping with this is difficult enough without adding to its overall malaise. Depression is also linked to ADHD. When these two diagnoses occur at the same time, they are said to coexist or to be comorbid. The signs and symptoms of those with coexisting diagnoses are much more severe. This coexistence or comorbidity of signs can also extend beyond anxiety and depression into substance abuse, bipolar disorder, and personality disorders. Anxiety and depression coexistence is higher in women and substance abuse coexistence is higher in men. Individuals who suffer from ADHD also suffer from signs of depression and anxiety which can add to their inability to focus and cope.
Individuals who suffer from ADHD often have had to live with this throughout their lives. Signs include an inability to focus, often becoming disorganized, misplacing things such as keys and spending hours looking for them, or even forgetting or missing appointments. They are inattentive and lose interest in what they consider to be mundane tasks or suffer from outright boredom. They become distracted quite easily and have a hard time following conversations and organizing their own thoughts. Their memory and decision-making skills are impaired. Women also internalize symptoms and develop coping skills that camouflage the symptoms more effectively.
Those who are hyperactive and have impulsive types of ADHD suffer from a constant feeling of restlessness; they can’t sit still for long periods of time and become fidgety and lose focus, such as in a university lecture hall. They may also blurt things out without giving it a second thought. The areas affected include work, school, social skills, and day-to-day skills. Friends, family members, and respective different communities are also overwhelmed by the signs and outward manifestations of these diagnoses. Some individuals suffer from both of these diagnoses, adding to their debilitating effects. According to some experts, more than half of individuals who suffer from ADHD will undergo some form of treatment for depression at a later time in life.
There is a correlation between ADHD and Depression, that is if you suffer from one it is more than likely that you can and will suffer from the other one as well. The chances become greater. What happens when someone is afflicted by both debilitating diagnoses? Depression is highly likely to occur in adults who are afflicted by ADHD. The chances of being diagnosed with depression increase significantly following the year you are diagnosed with ADHD. Working memory that affects reasoning, problem-solving, and comprehension is more greatly affected in those with coexisting diagnoses. The inverse is also true. Those who had a diagnosis of severe depression, according to a Netherlands study, were more than likely to also have ADHD. This also applies to those who suffered from chronic depression or those who developed depression in their earlier years. Those who also showed signs of anxiety also showed a higher incidence of ADHD. This underscores the strong link between ADHD and Depression as well as anxiety.
There is also evidence of a link between ADHD and suicidal ideation. A study of university students showed this link. The coping skills that serve as a protective barrier such as managing difficult and sometimes negative emotions, having and sticking to goals and objectives, and having the introspection necessary to be aware of one’s emotions. The risks are even higher in those who have multiple diagnoses. They also show signs of higher aggression because they are chronically stressed and consequently have a lower threshold for frustration. The chronic stress affects sleep patterns and compromises coping abilities. All of these problems greatly affect many areas of the sufferer's life.
In ADHD there are fluctuations in mood that are very noticeable and have taken place in the long term over the course of one’s life. ADHD signs often start to show before the age of 12. Depression, au contraire often occurs in adolescence or later in adulthood.
Those who have ADHD feel a sense of motivation when something piques their curiosity. When depressed, they lose interest in all things and aren’t inspired by anything at all. Family members or friends and partners may point out to them, for example, that they haven’t touched their guitar in months when in the past, they would play daily. They also feel that their brains and minds are never at rest, making it difficult to find sleep or rest and wind down. Those with depression also have a hard time getting a good night’s rest, but that’s more likely due to negative thinking patterns and insomnia. ADHD is often present over the course of one’s life. Depression can more likely end and can be short in duration or chronic, and individuals sometimes come in and out of states of depression and can heal or resume their day-to-day activities as before.
Women are more likely than men to have both ADHD and Depression. Individuals who have an inattentive type of ADHD are also at higher risk of having or developing depression. There also appears to be a link in maternal pregnancy, whereby if the pregnant mother was depressed while pregnant, children are more likely to have ADHD or develop both ADHD and Depression. Those who have had ADHD in the long term since childhood are also more likely to suffer from suicidal ideation and are more than likely to develop depression. Those individuals who have never had any therapeutic interventions for their ADHD are also more likely to develop depression with influencing factors such as feelings of low self-worth and poor self-image.
Different medications are also prescribed, such as stimulants, non-stimulants, and anti-depressants. ADHD medications work by improving ability to focus, reducing hyperactivity, managing impulsive behavior, and balancing executive function. Signs of executive dysfunction are the inability to control thoughts, emotions, and behavior. Anti-depressant medications can also work to alleviate the signs of depression. Incidentally, ADHD medication prescriptions have increased significantly in the past 20 years with children from higher socioeconomic households more likely to be medicated as compared to those from lower socioeconomic households.
Individuals who experience both ADHD and depression often have the illness in the long-term. In fact, as high as 50% if not more childhood cases last into adulthood. Interventions are often less effective, but there is hope. A combination of therapy such as cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) combined with medications is the most effective strategy to manage the complexity of having two diagnoses. A multi-faceted approach has a higher possibility of enhancing the sufferer’s overall quality of life. Given the high incidence of coexisting diagnoses such as anxiety, depression, and ADHD, more studies are needed to get to the root cause.
Having multiple diagnoses can hinder your ability to enjoy and participate in life more fully. You are not alone. If you are having trouble managing the signs of several diagnoses simultaneously, reach out for support with a qualified therapist. Taking care of several areas will greatly improve your well-being, alleviate your symptoms, and increase your overall quality of life.
