Psychology
Attention Deficit in adults (ADD/ ADHD)
Our team of adult psychologists has the experience and professional training require to make a diagnosis and help you overcome the problem.
Has your son or daughter just been diagnosed with attention deficit and now you are wondering if he/she could have inherited it from you? Have you always had difficulties achieving medium-long term goals despite considering yourself an intelligent person? Do you forget important things and have difficulty getting organized?
Could I be suffering from ADD/ADHD?
If you think you may have Adult- ADD/ADHD, please answer the questions below. As you answer each question, place an X in the box that best describes how you have felt and what your behaviors have been over the past 6 months.
| Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale-V1.1 (ASRS-V1.1) | |||||
| From WHO Composite International Diagnostic Interview © World Health Organization |
Never | Rarely | Sometimes | Often | Very often |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. How often do you have trouble wrapping up the final details of a project, once challenging parts have been done? | |||||
| 2. How often do you have difficulty getting things in order when you have to do a task that requires organization? | |||||
| 3. How often do you have problems remembering appointments or obligations? | |||||
| 4. When you have a task that requires a lot of thought, how often do you avoid or delay getting started? | |||||
| 5. How often do you fidget or squirm with your hands or feet when you have to sit down for a long time? | |||||
| 6. How often do you feel overly active and compelled to do things, like you were driven by a motor? | |||||
If four (4) or more marks appear in the darkly shaded boxes then your symptoms are consistent with ADD/ADHD in adulthood and further investigation with a specialist is recommended.
Evaluation Plan and Diagnosis of ADD/ADHD in adults in SINEWS:
1st session (1,5h)
Initial Clinical Interview:
The main goals of our first meeting are to collect comprehensive information on the symptoms that motivated the consultation (difficulties finishing tasks or projects, distractibility, frequent lost of personal objects…), to frame them in your life situation and determine how they are affecting your goals and daily functioning as well as to rule out that the attention problems are the result of other problems (stress, obsessive thoughts, depression…).
Implementation of different assessment tools for:
- Screening of ADD/ADHD symptoms in adults
- Assessment of other psychological symptoms
- Assessment of ADHD symptoms during childhood
- Assessment of executive cognitive functions
2nd session (2,5h)
The second session is dedicated to the assessment of the neuropsychological profile. Different tests and exercises are carried out that allow us to obtain a neuropsychological profile in order to compare it with the profile found in people with attention deficit in adults.
3rd session (1h)
Delivery of the complete personalized report and feedback about the results.
TREATMENT PLAN IN SINEWS:
Below you will find a description of a standard treatment plan. While this is a standard model, it is ALWAYS necessary to adapt it to the characteristics of each patient and their particular problems, which will lead to a personalized treatment plan.
Block 1 Psychoeducation, Organization and Planning
- Session 1: Psychoeducation and introduction to organization and planning tools.
- Session 2: Participation of one family member.
- Session 3: Organization of multiple tasks.
- Session 4: Problem solving and management of tasks / objectives that require overexertion and perseverance.
- Session 5: Organization of papers.
Block 2: Reduction of distraction levels
- Session 6: Measure concentration time and delays caused by distractions.
- Session 7: Modify the environment.
Block 3: Adaptive thinking
- Session 8: Introduction to the cognitive model of ADD/ADHD.
- Session 9: Adaptative thinking.
- Session 10: Rehearsal / test and review of the tools of adaptive thinking.
Block 4: Additional tools
- Session 11: Implementation of tools to avoid apathy and lack of motivation.
- Session 12: Relapse prevention.
Very often ADD/ADHD (attention Deficit disorder in adults) is an obstacle to achieving our goals, a difficulty for adapting to changes and/or a source of conflict in our relationships with others. If you think you might suffer from this problem, it’s never too late to benefit from professional help.