Is it ADHD or anxiety?
ADHD and anxiety can look alike, but ADHD starts in childhood, while anxiety usually has worry driving the distraction.
With anxiety, focus slips because the mind is busy with worry, and it often improves when the worry passes. With ADHD, trouble with attention, organization, restlessness and impulsive choices has been there since childhood, at home, school and work, even on calm days.
The two also overlap. Many adults have both, and years of struggling with untreated ADHD can feed anxiety. A proper assessment looks at your history, often with school reports or input from someone who knew you as a child. A psychiatrist or psychologist with adult ADHD experience can tell which is which, or whether both are present.
Source: NIMH: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
See a doctor promptly if
- Thoughts of suicide or self-harm, or feeling others would be better off without you. Call your local emergency number or a crisis line today
- Low mood most days for two weeks or more, or a spell of very high energy with little need for sleep
- Using alcohol, cannabis or other drugs to switch off or to focus
- New problems with attention or memory starting later in life, which need a medical check rather than an ADHD label
Try the mood check2 min, free, nothing to installThe PHQ-9 and GAD-7, the two questionnaires doctors screen low mood and anxiety with, scored privately on your device.
Mind and sleepA private mood check, and guides on anxiety, low mood, ADHD and sleep
Answered by the AskDoc Medical Team · Medically reviewed under our Medical Director, MBBS · How we review
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