Willpower and ADHD

“Why is it that people with ADHD can do some specific things that they happen to be really interested in, or where they feel like, if they don’t take care of this right here, right now, something they do not want to see happen is going to happen fast?” Thomas E. Brown, PhD, of the Brown Clinic for ADHD and Related Disorders and the University of California-Riverside School of Medicine shared with 2022 American Psychiatric Association (APA) Annual Meeting attendees that attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may appear to be a problem of motivation, or “willpower,” but it is not. “The central mystery about ADHD is the situational variability of the symptoms…” Brown said. “Every patient I’ve ever seen with ADHD has a few activities in which they have no difficulty utilizing their executive functions, but has a lot of difficulty with doing almost everything else. It comes down to that one phrase: if I’m interested.” Read More