Erwachsene, bei denen ADHS diagnostiziert wurde, verringern nach Beginn der Behandlung für ADHS häufig ihren Einsatz von Antidepressiva. Die ordnungsgemäße Identifizierung und Behandlung von ADHS kann die Notwendigkeit anderer psychiatrischer Medikamente verringern – insbesondere bei Erwachsenen, die zuvor wegen Symptomen wie Depressionen oder Angstzuständen behandelt worden waren.

I’ve linked to the news release in the post above. In this comment, for those interested, here’s the link to the peer reviewed journal article:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/acps.70007

From the linked article:

A nationwide study from Finland provides evidence that **adults diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) often reduce their use of antidepressants after beginning treatment for ADHD**. The findings, published in Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, suggest that **properly identifying and addressing ADHD may lessen the need for other psychiatric medications—particularly in adults who had previously been treated for symptoms like depression or anxiety**.

The researchers found that many adults with ADHD had been using antidepressants prior to being diagnosed. In these individuals, antidepressant use dropped significantly after they began ADHD treatment. This trend was not mirrored in the control group, who did not receive ADHD diagnoses, suggesting the decline was tied to the new ADHD-focused care.

The drop in antidepressant use may reflect that treating ADHD directly can reduce symptoms that were previously being managed with other psychiatric medications. In other words, some adults may have been treated for depression or anxiety when the root issue was undiagnosed ADHD. Once they began ADHD medication, their need for antidepressants may have diminished.

Tbh, it would surprise me if this is simply down to the self flagellation one experiences when ADHD causes them to fail, being much less of a thing once diagnosed and medicated. Much of my depression is definitely down to anger that I keep letting people down and feeling like loved ones can’t depend on me.

I *know* I have ADHD, I was diagnosed as a child. For some reason Drs keep refusing to treat it, instead saying „let’s get your depression and anxiety under control first“. I’m showing them this article at my next appointment and getting my damn meds

“You have anxiety and depression.”

No. I’m depressed because I keep forgetting everything important mess things up constantly and therefore feel like a failure, and I’m anxious as a coping strategy to help me NOT forget things all the time.

I’m one of those people, had been struggling with my mental health for years and finally been able to stabilize now that I’m properly treating my ADHD

This completely tracks with my xp. I was on various anti-depressant/bi-polar medications for nearly two decades with no mention of ADHD from anyone in the medical field.

None of those drugs did anything to improve my life or outlook and some of the made me so anxious and unwell that I became suicidally depressed on and off for years wondering why nothing got better even though I was in “treatment”.

Anyone who has ADHD will know how sensitive either way we can be to drugs and I have come as close as it’s possible to get to ending my life because of the treatment I received as a problematic child before and after I was even an adult.

I’m only going to say this once loudly for anyone that doesn’t understand this. Medical or otherwise:

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#DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY ARE THE SYMPTOM OF THE PROBLEM NOT THE PROBLEM ITSELF.

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#FIND THE PROBLEM AND TREAT THE PROBLEM AND THE DEPRESSION AND THE ANXIETY GETS BETTER.

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#YOU CAN “TREAT” DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY WITH DRUGS BUT IF YOU DON’T FIND THE CAUSE IT WILL NEVER GO AWAY.

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My problem was that I had PTSD and undiagnosed combined ADHD that made my life/success/happiness impossible. I have been this way since I was a child. Struggling to deal with triggers and make life work at every stage.

I was once a happy, carefree child that had the joy taken from me. Not only did I go through traumatic experiences in my early years that left me with PTSD. But the added trauma accrued from not meeting my parents, my families, my teachers, my societies and even my own expectations has been devastating to me as a person and as an adult. No human can cope with repeated failure. This is what caused my early spiral into addiction, anxiety and depression.

Then one day I was scrolling and YTs algorithm randomly showed me Jessica McCabe’s TED lecture on ADHD and something clicked in my brain. Everything suddenly made sense. The mood disorders, the addictions, the problems with executive function, the inability to stay focussed. I watched every video on YT. I bought books which I tried and failed to read… No surprise. So I carried on watching videos. It all made sense.

I went for assessment at 38 and was given an ADHD-C diagnosis and 5 years of properly titrated Elvanse and many years and months of therapy later I no longer have depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation or bipolar symptoms. Just your common variety ADHD-C with low level traits of Autism sensitivities that don’t require a diagnosis just therapy to work through and manage.

The realisation that I allow the build up of triggers often without realising, struggle to cope and then don’t ask for help or talk to anyone has been life-changing. Navigating this is a lifelong work. I won’t suddenly become less sensitive but I can change my reactions and behaviour.

Diagnosis changed my life. I’m in regular therapy. My relationship with my partner has never been better and I’m now working in a field that could actually have a future career for me. I finally gave up alcohol and drugs for good after nearly 30 years. I gave up all the addictive and repetitive behaviours that have held me back in life. Life has never looked better and my ghost years, as I now call them, are over.

If any of my story resonates with you then please consider that your depression and anxiety is a sympton of a bigger problem whether it’s Neurodivergence, Illnesses, Dietary, Inflammation, Trauma/PTSD, Addiction. The list is huge and ever growing of the problems that cause the symptoms of depression and anxiety.

There is always a reason for depression and anxiety. Don’t lose years of your life, relationships to these awful symptoms. Find the problem first and treat that because depression and anxiety is just the symptom.

Edit – Editing wall of text.