Adult ADHD Services & Treatment Options | FPI Attention Disorders Clinic | ADHD Diagnosis & Treatment Services

ADHD: It’s not just for kids!

The fact is that ADHD is not something that you outgrow. Maybe you’re a college student and you realize that you can’t focus in class, can’t remember what you read, are putting off doing your labs and term papers, and stay up all night trying to get stuff done.

noarrow”]You’re so wiped out from staying up late, that you’re missing classes and are avoiding your professors because you are embarrassed. Before you went to college, your parents helped you to get your work done. Your teachers gave you extensions to turn your work in, but it never cost you a failing grade. Now you’re a college student, you’re on the verge of flunking out, and you don’t know how to tell your parents.

Maybe you’ve somehow made it through school, but you always thought that you had problems paying attention. You had dreams and hopes, but could never organize yourself enough to put a plan together and make your dreams come true. So you find yourself working at a job you hate, wondering how you ever got there. You know you want a better life, but after work, you don’t have the energy to try to turn things around. So you use alcohol, drugs, video games, YouTube, Facebook, or gamble on sports games in order to just block it all out.

You remember that you never liked school, couldn’t really focus but no one ever thought you had ADHD. They thought you were lazy, unmotivated, or simply bored.

Maybe you’re in your 30’s, 40’s and your marriage is on the verge of divorce because your spouse can’t take your forgetfulness, failure to pay bills, inability to hold conversations, and your anger, depression, or alcohol use. You’ve got post-it notes plastered everywhere, your stuff is piled up all over the place. Maybe your boss has told you that you’ve made too many mistakes at work, you’re close to losing your job, and have no idea what to do next.

Maybe you’re in your 50’s, 60’s and 70’s and realize that you aren’t going to be able to retire “early” (if ever) and need to improve your attention, memory, and productivity in order to keep up with younger workers and remain employed. In the wake of your chaotic life, you may be feeling a sense of failure, and hopelessness and wonder if it’s too late.

Better late than never!

About 25% of our patients either were never diagnosed with ADHD as kids, or were diagnosed with ADHD but stopped treatment at some point. If that’s you, chances are you have lived with feelings of depression, anger or anxiety and tried to “self-medicate” with food, nicotine, alcohol, or other drugs. If you did talk with your physician about these problems, chances are you would have been given a medication for your depression or anxiety or anger. Unfortunately, anti-depressant and other medications to improve your mood typically do not work for adults with ADHD and often make symptoms worse.

So, what do we do?

We start by listening. By looking at the life story of our adult patients. By actually testing their attention. And by making sure that a thorough medical evaluation is completed, because adults (more than children) are quite likely to have other medical conditions that can cause symptoms of inattention or interfere with the successful treatment of ADHD.

Once we have an idea of the severity of the problem, the neurological characteristics of their ADHD, and the other medical conditions that are getting in the way, we develop a comprehensive treatment plan, and move forward.

What kinds of treatment do we offer for adults?

To help you improve your attention, concentration, working memory and organizational skills, we will guide the selection of medications that are most likely to work (provided that you are interested in the use of medication). If you begin a medication, we will evaluate your progress not just by a questionnaire, but by directly testing your brain’s response to any medication that you take. Our goal is to help you take the right medication, at an effective dose for you.

If you are interested in improving your attention through training, we can provide neurofeedback treatment, which has been found to be quite helpful for patients with ADHD. We also will share with you our knowledge of home-based computerized attention training software. Just like with medication, we will evaluate your progress to make sure that you are benefiting from these types of treatments.

Coaching, Marital Therapy, Parent Counseling

Once your attention has improved, many of problems that you may have experienced will lessen. However, it’s pretty common that our college students will need guidance in developing more effective habits in order to succeed at school. We will work with you to get you connected with your college’s Office for Students with Disabilities or Learning Assistance Center to get a plan together to get you back on track.

Our married patients will often need a series of sessions intended to help them focus on those aspects of marriage that are most important to their spouses and find ways to take care of those critical needs. Our patients raising children will look for help in learning parenting approaches that can lead to a happier home. Our adults living alone will often need help in taking on the mess at their home, and the disorganization of their lives. We provide individual counseling, coaching, and marital/parenting counseling at our clinic or via webinar’s and online sessions.

Do you have other questions?

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