So, like I said today I'm going to talk with you about ADHD.

And I am going to be reading you some information from the new DSM 5.

And that's what I meant about "new facts about ADHD"

These four facts will come straight from the DSM-5.

Now, they diagnose, or describe the diagnosis of ADHD as follows:

"A persistent pattern of inattention and or hyper activity/impulsivity that interferes with functioning or

development."

Now, what that really means is that if we struggle with ADHD, we really struggle to complete tasks, to stay on task,

to stay focused. It's really difficult to sit still and to remain calm during situations. We often fidget a lot, feel really

restless.

But something that I want to talk about as I go through these new facts about ADHD, know that if you worry

that you struggle with this, please seek professional help and find someone who works with it specifically

and can test you appropriately.

Because many of the symptoms can be very similar to those with depression, anxiety, learning disabilities,

there can be a lot of overlap, so we want to make sure that we're getting properly diagnosed, so please seek

professional help.

So the first new fact about ADHD is that symptoms can now occur before age twelve.

So onset can be before age twelve, whereas in the DSM prior, it was before age seven.

So what that really says to me is that they understand that there are more people struggling and it can take

longer for ADHD to develop.

Because if they're saying, "Now we're giving you until age twelve to have the six symptoms for six months,"

(Which is part of the diagnostic criteria)

It means that they find people are still struggling with ADHD when they're young, they're just not getting to the diagnostic

criteria by age seven.

The second new fact about ADHD is that they have changed the criteria to say now that several symptoms must

occur in two settings, rather than there just being some impairment in two settings.

So, my guess would be that they did this because they felt that ADHD might be something that was potentially being

overdiagnosed, or diagnosed too early before all the criteria that they felt needed to be met was actually being met.

So instead of just having some impairment, now several symptoms in several different areas of our lives have to be

present at the same time.

The third new fact about ADHD is that they have kind of increased the information that's available to us clinicians

in the new DSM-5.

And what they've added is new, more lengthy descriptions about what ADHD will look like as people get older.

So, what that says to me is that they felt that a lot of adults struggling with ADHD weren't being diagnosed because

it appears different in adults versus children.

Which, I can tell you is very common among a lot of different diagnoses.

Kids will say, "I just feel really irritable" and you know, they'll be really lashing out and they actually struggle with

depression.

Where we know many adults are really lethargic and kind of quiet and withdrawn.

So, different diagnoses can appear differently depending on our age.

And so they're definitely making that very clear in the new DSM for ADHD.

And the final, fourth new fact about ADHD is that they have changed the diagnostic criteria for those of us who are

older and being diagnosed with this.

So, for any of us age seventeen or older, they are now only requiring that we have five symptoms persisting

for six months, rather than the original six.

So they've made it a little bit easier for us to meet the criteria.

And my guess on why they're doing this kind of goes back to the fact I talked about before.

When they've added in new descriptions for adults because it presents differently.

So they probably took away one because they understand that it kind of presents a little differently than it does

in children.

And so therefore we only need five symptoms for six months to be diagnosed with ADHD as an adult.

Living with ADHD isn't something that's going to hold you back.

People lead wonderful and successful lives and you can be another one of those people doing that.

So we just want to make sure we get all the information so that we can get treated properly.

And don't forget to subscribe to my channel because I put out videos every Monday.

And please leave your comments below, if any of you have struggled with ADHD, or have helpful tips or hints

or anything like that. We're a community working together to help one another.

And you can find me all over the web, I'm on Facebook, I'm on Tumblr, I'm on Twitter, I'm on Instagram.

Any place on the web that I should have a profile, I most likely do, so you can find me there too.

And don't forget to like this! Bye!

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