When you think of ADHD, a hyper kid running around an elementary school classroom may come to mind. But while attention deficit hyperactivity disorder often starts in early childhood, an estimated 4% of adults have the condition—and many of them don’t even realize it.
“A lot of people have this vision of ADHD in their minds of Dennis the Menace running amok causing chaos and terror wherever he goes,” says Dale Archer, MD, board-certified psychiatrist and fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and author of The ADHD Advantage. “But the condition is the same whether it’s in children or adults like myself; it’s the symptoms that might be different.”