Treat DESR symptoms as an important focus of clinical intervention in adults with ADHD¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 3 claims (3 for) · 1 study (1 associational), q3 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 3 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The article recommends that impairing emotional symptoms in adults with ADHD be identified and addressed clinically, arguing that DESR's association with lower quality of life and worse social adjustment makes it "an important focus of clinical intervention." It notes preliminary pharmacotherapy evidence and calls for psychosocial treatment studies to determine whether such treatments reduce DESR symptoms. The recommendation rests on the study's own functional-impairment findings rather than on a tested intervention in this article.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• identification of DESR symptoms in adults with ADHD, for example via the eight-item self-report measure used here

Constraints¶

• evidence that DESR is treatment-responsive is preliminary and drawn from prior clinical trials, not tested in this study

Target Learners¶

• adults with ADHD presenting for clinical care

Target Learning Goals¶

• recognizing and addressing deficient emotional self-regulation in adult ADHD

Claims¶

• Extreme DESR in adults with ADHD is linked to lower quality of life on nearly all QLES-Q-SF domains [+W]
• Extreme DESR in adults with ADHD is linked to worse social adjustment on most SAS-SR domains [+W]
• Extreme DESR in adults with ADHD is associated with reduced marital status and higher risk of traffic accidents and arrests [+W]

Related Strategies¶

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Surman Craig B. H., Biederman Joseph, Spencer Thomas, Miller Carolyn A., McDermott Katie M., Faraone Stephen V. (2013). Understanding deficient emotional self-regulation in adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: a controlled study. Attention deficit and hyperactivity disorders. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4009378/