DoctorOz: ADHD Symptoms & Treatments: What You Need to Know

Today, we've got a brand new interactive experience. For the very first time, we're giving you an adult ADHD test you can take right now to find out if you could have this disorder. You can't seem to finish your work on time or remember to do simple tasks. Your day is completely unorganized. Every day, you daydream far more than you think you should. If this sounds like you, you could have ADHD, causing you problems at work, home, and with loved ones. And ADHD isn't just for kids. Experts estimate as many as 10 million adults could have ADHD. That's 4% of the adult population. Many of these cases are undiagnosed. And because their symptoms can be different than in men, some doctors believe women with ADHD are even more likely to be overlooked. Would you know the signs to look for? Could ADHD be the secret reason you're moody, exhausted, anxious? Today, we cut through the embarrassment and help you figure it out with a test developed by the World Health Organization, which you can do at home that can reveal whether you are at risk for having ADHD. I'm here with women's mental health expert, psychiatrist Dr. Suvarma, who treats patients with ADHD. Every day, she's a world expert. So what are the consequences of not appropriately diagnosing ADHD? There can be really serious consequences of not being diagnosed. In fact, the vast majority of people who have it aren't diagnosed. Only 20% of people who have ADHD get diagnosed, and only one quarter of those people actually get treatment. And the problem is that you have people who go through their life feeling as if they never reached their full potential, that there's an area of discontent, whether it be a job or in the family, and rather than realizing that there might be a pervasive theme that links all of these symptoms together. And in fact, when we look at the hallmark of ADHD, three core symptoms, distractibility, impulsivity, and fidgetiness, these three things can cause serious concrete consequences, such as increased divorce rates and even accidents, right? So we're talking about something that not only has a cost to a family, to an individual, but a society as a whole. Therefore, I think it's really important that you're doing the show today to talk about ADHD. So those three hallmark symptoms are not rare. No. So we want to tease into this. We're going to give you two at-home tests today for ADHD. I want you to go to DrRoz.com right now if you're at home, because you're going to want to have some of these things right in front of you. And if you miss it, it's okay. I'm going to go through it on the show. You'll be able to keep up with us. So the first test we're going to do is called the Stroop test. And everyone at home, you're going to take it with me right now. So the Stroop test is a test that measures your brain activity to be able to switch between different complex tasks that potentially interfere with each other. So when you're looking at a word, you're actually supposed to name the color and not read the text, which can be hard to do. Now listen, if you do have trouble with this task, it doesn't necessarily mean that you have ADD. We have to look at the context as a whole. Because the test is sensitive. It will detect a wide variety of cognitive problems, not specific. But just to be specific, so I see a word. Yes. That spells something different than the color that it is. Yes. So is this an example? Exactly. This is the Stroop test. All right. And you're going to do it. I'm going to do this one. You're going to do the test. So just do the first one for the audience at home. So that first one, I'm not looking. I'm closing my eyes still. So what color is it? You're supposed to say green. Even though the word says red, you're supposed to say green. And after that, when we look below it, it says… No, don't say more. I'm not looking. I don't want to cheat. I don't want you to cheat. So I'm going to say the color that is crayoned in, not the actual letters. Don't read the word. Because the brain's impulse is to want to read the word, which it does better than naming the color. Okay. And we have 35 seconds? You have 35 seconds. Is that what we all do with me? All right. Don't shout it out. Just do it yourself and keep track. 35 seconds. Scott, start the clock. Ready? Go. All right. So it's green, yellow, white, pink, orange, blue, orange, yellow, green, blue, red, blue, green, orange, pink, blue, yellow, pink, green, orange, red, I guess, blue, orange, orange, red, and green. Stop the clock. All right. So is that good or bad, 25 seconds? 25 seconds. That's really amazing. You're, like, in the high percentile. Good for you. You're saying that. No, no, no, no. You did a good job. Good. Your concentration is intact. But below 35 was the goal. Yes, yes. And you're definitely in the top standard deviation, I'd say. So can I explain why this simple test can give us a really important insight about how the brain shows signs of ADHD? This is a way of doing it. But imagine your whole life is like this. You're getting mixed impulses, and your brain can't cope. Because that's, frankly, what life is actually about. And you've got to be able to cope. So I've got a little model. Come on back here. So you drew this up. There's your eye up there and your mouth. And in between your eye and your mouth, hopefully, is your brain. So when your eye picks up the word blue written in red, right, like I just said, it goes to your brain, that signal. The brain figures out how the text and the color work together. And it gives you the right answer, which, in this case, is red, right, because it was the color red. So think of your brain, this over here, like you're in a factory with workers who manage the machines for each task. Now, for the Stroop test, you've got two tasks. You've got to read the text, and you've got to name the color. The goal is to name the color. So the worker walks over here to the read-me text, right, turns off the read-the-text machine, then runs back across to the name-the-color machine, turns that on, and you're good to go. Takes a little bit of effort, but she gets it done in a timely fashion. But in an ADHD brain, it would be like the worker sprained their ankle. Now they're hobbling over here as fast as they can to read the text, turn it off, spring back over here, but they can't make it, leaving all kinds of problems. It can make all the difference in your life if that doesn't happen because now you'll feel scattered and unfocused, and people around you will think that it was dumb because you were sloppy, not paying attention. So come on over here. I want to meet Jennifer because she's here today because she's worried that this is happening inside her brain. How are you? Thank you for being here. So what adult ADD or ADHD symptoms do you think you're having? Oh, my gosh. I'm the neurotic mommy, so I have so much going on in my brain. It's so hard to focus and, like, stay with my thoughts. Like, I have my son and my husband, and I run my own business, so I have, like, so many things going on. And I find myself, like, you know, the other day I was in the bathroom, and I was, like, with a fork in the bathroom. I'm like, what am I doing in here with a fork? Do I have to feed my son or brush my teeth? So, like, I wonder to myself, like, am I okay? Do I have ADHD? Like, what's going on? So interesting. You're able to do a bunch of things really well. Be a mom, have a job, be a wife. I try. You try. I do my best. But at the same time, you get that overwhelmed feeling, and I don't want you to blame yourself anymore, which is what women do all over the country. So I've got a little quiz. It's called the ASRS created by the World Health Organization to see if you're at risk. Okay. So we're going to walk over here and take a test together. Everyone at home, again, it's on DrRoz.com. You can take it tonight if you're not ready now or just take it with us at this moment. But you're going to answer six questions pretty effectively. So question number one. How often do you have trouble wrapping up the final details of a project once the challenging parts have been done? Sometimes. Good. Okay. Question number two. How often do you have difficulty getting things in order when you have to do a task that requires organization? Very often. Problems with order. That's a very often issue. Question number three. How often do you have problems remembering appointments or obligations? Again, never, rarely, sometimes, often, or very often. Oh, good. Question number four. When you have a task that requires a lot of thought, how often do you avoid or delay getting started? It's interesting. Some questions you do great on. Other ones you don't think you're doing so well on. Let's try question number five, which is how often do you fidget or squirm with your hands or your feet when you have to sit down for a long period of time? Sometimes. And the final question. How often do you feel overly active and compelled to do things like you were driven by a motor? Very often. Mm-hmm. All you've got to do is look at the shaded area. So look at this area to the right of that line. All this over here. If you're over in this category and you have more than four check marks over there, that means you have symptoms highly consistent with ADHD in adults. So Jennifer, one, two, three, four. You have four there. So it puts you in that category, which sort of confirms some of the things you've been saying to us all along that you're worried about. Yeah. So, Dr. Varma, what's the next step for Jennifer and others who are sitting at home right now realizing they checked four of the boxes to the right? If you have four or more boxes, I want you to seriously think of ADHD as a diagnosis. And, Jennifer, I have to give you a lot of credit for being here to talk about this. Thank you. For a lot of people, this is very difficult. Women have a hard time. There's a lot of mom-shaming, right, and women-shaming that, like, I have to be the best. And I think some of what you talked about is normal, but you have to look at the context, right? So I want everybody at home, and you especially, take this test and bring it to your doctor. A lot of times the primary care doctors don't have time. They're looking at your blood pressure, looking at your risk for heart disease and cholesterol, and this is not something that ends up getting a lot of attention. So I want you to say, hey, this is not an easy thing for me to talk about. And the test makes it really simple because you don't have to do a lot of the conversation, right? Definitely start off the conversation with your primary care doctor, but please ask for a referral or a recommendation to a specialist, somebody who treats adult ADHD. And realize that, look, there are a variety of options. Medication is just one of them. It's very effective, but there's also cognitive behavioral therapy. But whatever it is, stop blaming yourself. Like, this moment, if you can. Stop. You okay with that? I'm so fine with that. Not blaming myself anymore. It's not your fault. It's called ADHD, right? Just be like that. So for folks at home, if they're in that category, I'm going to show Jennifer, and this is advice that I think Dr. Varma and others will agree on, that if you've taken this test and you want to improve your concentration, that's great. But if you haven't taken the test, you probably still want to improve your concentration. So here's a clear plan to get closer to that goal. It starts with an O, and the O stands for omega-3 rich fats, which are in fish, for example. Add them to your menu twice a week or start a supplement regimen today. Next, add M. M stands for movement. 10 minutes of walking or stair climbing every day. By the way, these are all part of the regimen. Your daily checklist includes these because we want you to be able to learn stuff better. And finally, I'll give you a clue. O-M-M, the last M is meditation. And listen, let's get real. Asking someone who has a hard time focusing, like Jennifer, I get it, it's hard. Meditating is not easy for anybody, but asking someone with difficulty concentrating to meditate is like asking a 2-year-old to sit still for a 5-course dinner. Be sure to subscribe to my channel so you don't miss anything. And remember to check back often to see what's new.