Online tests are unreliable Do I have this too? ADHD in adults
Celebrities like Jan Seven Dettwyler come out of the closet, the search for self-tests on the internet is on the rise: More and more adults suspect they suffer from ADHD. What is behind this? And do you also have ADHD?
25.01.2025, 23:47
dpa
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- While ADHD is not becoming more common in adults - around 2 to
3% of the population are affected - public attention is increasing. The reason? More and more celebrities are talking openly about their ADHD and their everyday lives with it. - Online self-tests are also booming.
- Many sufferers do not receive a professional diagnosis, and scientifically unreliable self-tests on the internet are more confusing than helpful.
- ADHD can lead to impulsive behavior, concentration problems and a great deal of suffering, but it also enables creativity and empathy.
Missed the team call at work again, missed the deadline for a project and then bitched at your girlfriend? If you believe some posts on social media, the reason for this can only be ADHD: attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in adults.
For a long time, it was more of an issue for children. Now the search for self-tests for adults on the internet is increasing rapidly. In a US survey, a quarter of participants thought they suffered from ADHD. Could that be true?
ADHD has recently even become an excuse for being late. "It's almost considered fancy," says Andreas Reif, Head of the Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy at Frankfurt University Hospital. However, casually mentioning mental illness is otherwise a taboo. "Nobody normally runs around saying I have schizophrenia," adds the specialist.
ADHD is linked to a disturbed metabolism of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the brain - usually from childhood onwards. Except after accidents with brain damage, adults cannot suddenly develop the mental illness. According to current research, heredity plays the biggest role.
However, no single gene is responsible, it is a changing interplay of hereditary factors. "The point at which it tips over is not clearly defined," says Reif. Intellectual abilities play an important role in balancing this out. This is why not everyone with this dopamine disorder automatically has problems in life.
Medicine assumes that 2 to 3 percent of the population suffer from it
Could it be that celebrity confessions of ADHD, for example by Jan Seven Dettwyler, Jennifer Lopez or Justin Bieber, have triggered a trend along the lines of: Do I have it too? Doctor and TV presenter Eckart von Hirschhausen investigated his personal suspicions in a TV documentary and found them confirmed after a diagnostic procedure at Bonn University Hospital. The situation is tricky.
According to data from the German health insurance provider AOK, there was an increase in diagnoses of hyperkinetic disorders, which include ADHD, from 0.1 to 0.5 percent of adult members between 2006 and 2023. Medicine assumes that a constant 2 to 3 percent of the population suffers from ADHD. This figure is therefore not increasing, but the perception of the disorder apparently is.
Self-tests on the internet are often "outrageous"
Expert Reif sees a considerable diagnosis gap in Germany. According to him, four out of five sufferers have no medical confirmation of their ADHD. "However, not every case requires treatment," the medical professor qualifies. On the other hand, there is often much ado about nothing when it comes to self-diagnosis. "Everyone has been inattentive, impatient or interrupted others at some point," says Reif. Listing symptoms alone is useless. ADHD self-tests on the internet, which are not scientifically based, seem "totally banal or outrageous" to Reif.
In turn, the pejorative label "fashionable diagnosis" hardly does justice to those genuinely affected. Their level of suffering can be high. Some are unable to concentrate on the important things in their lives, often feel inner turmoil, repeatedly offend in their professional and private lives and overreact. Some call this a "funfair in the head", or in Swiss terms "Chilbi in the head". It's like constantly driving at turbo speed and not being able to slow down the engine.
Not a disease of the modern age
ADHD has nothing to do with a lot of gaming on cell phones or with the growing multitasking demands of today's working world. For Reif, board member of the German Society for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Psychosomatics and Neurology (DGPPN), it is not a disease of the modern age. "It was already described 300 years ago." The difference is that ADHD is more noticeable in desk jobs than it used to be in the past, when people were doing heavy physical work in agriculture, trade or industry.
For a long time, doctors thought that the dopamine disorder developed after childhood. But what was missing were long-term studies. Today, the DGPPN assumes that ADHD persists in adulthood in at least 60 percent of those affected.
Willingness to take risks until loss of control
"Some adults with ADHD do things that they wouldn't have done if they had thought about it for longer," describes doctor Reif.
He is thinking, for example, of accidents due to inattention and a general willingness to take risks. "It can be about alcohol, drugs, sex."
Addictive disorders, depression and anxiety disorders could therefore also have a deeper cause in ADHD. The mental illness can make people more impulsive, sometimes to the point of losing control, even to the point of crime. Similar to bipolar disorder, it can also cause major emotional fluctuations. The ability to concentrate is very often severely impaired.
Creative, witty and empathetic people
The impression of permanent failure or not fitting in in professional and private life can torment those affected. However, such failure is not inevitable, emphasizes Reif. People with a high level of intellect or good adaptability in particular are often able to find a suitable niche for themselves. This is because men and women with ADHD often think particularly quickly and creatively, have a lot of drive, act quickly and are considered witty, emphatic and helpful. So perhaps it is no coincidence that many artists are among the celebrities who come out with ADHD.
The mental illness does not progress evenly over the entire lifespan. The burden fluctuates, sometimes it gets better, sometimes worse - especially when big tasks are on the horizon, such as an exam or starting a family. "When you need a high level of performance, it becomes difficult," reports psychiatrist Reif.
Medication works quickly
From his experience as a doctor, he knows the harrowing life stories of ADHD patients, but also the turnarounds for the better. "It was always about failure, people fell well short of their potential - and then the course of their lives could be turned around," he reports.
ADHD medication has been approved for adults in Germany since 2011. In December, a meta-analysis in the specialist journal "The Lancet Psychiatry" confirmed that the stimulants amphetamine and methylphenidate and the drug atomoxetine can usually quickly reduce the core symptoms in adults. Psychotherapy alone is therefore less effective, but together with medication it can curb accompanying psychological problems.
Orga apps rarely help
One problem: the waiting lists for a diagnosis from specialists are long and it can take many months to get an appointment. Experts also know what doesn't help with ADHD: mountains of advice literature, organization apps and well-intentioned tips such as setting alarm clocks, putting up sticky notes and writing to-do lists. "It's not a case of not wanting to, it's a case of not being able to," concludes specialist Reif. It is the basic dilemma of many mental illnesses.
