ADHD in età evolutiva ed età adulta : differenze diagnostiche e fattori che concorrono a delineare il profilo del paziente

da dati strumentali, sia perchè esiste un'ampia fenomenologia sintomatologica che impone al clinico la capacità di considerare questo funzionamento su un continuum, dove l'intensità dei comportamenti e le manifestazioni possono avere grandi differenze da paziente a paziente e addirittura si possono modificare nell'arco della vita. [Testo dell'editore]

With a prevalence of over 5%, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one of the most frequent disorders in child and adolescent psychiatry. Furthermore, data indicate that approximately 2,5% of the adult population presents a neuro-atypical functioning that falls under the ADHD diagnostic label (following the DSM-5). This article aims to outline the main characteristics of the psychological functioning profile of subjects diagnosed with ADHD, both in developmental age and in adulthood. The aim is also to highlight possible constants that outline developmental trajectories and continuity throughout the life cycle, but also differences both in terms of diagnosis and phenomenological expressiveness of thisclinical condition, included into neurodevelopmental disorders.In conclusion, ADHD functioning is complex, both because the diagnosis is still definedas mainly clinical and not solely defined by instrumental data, and because there is a broad symptomatic phenomenology that requires the clinician to

consider this functioning as on a continuum, where the intensity of behaviors and manifestations can have great differences from patient to patient and can even change over the course of a lifetime. [Publisher's text]