Although ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder and it cannot be caused by childhood trauma, living with undiagnosed, untreated ADHD in childhood causes significant, and potentially life-long, emotional pain that can be mistaken for CPTSD when an adult seeks counseling for problems such as anxiety, depression, addiction or OCD.
Think of a child burdened by classic symptoms of ADHD. These can include some or all of the following: divergent thinking, inability to regulate attention, distractibility, poor short-term memory, inability to sit still and listen, disorganization, lack of motivation to perform schoolwork and chores perceived as dull or boring, procrastination, intense emotional sensitivity, impulsivity, reactive anger, and emotional meltdowns.
The undiagnosed ADHD child is frequently misperceived, misunderstood, and unfairly criticized by parents and teachers. Common criticisms of the ADHD child include being stupid, lazy or undisciplined; not trying or caring; not listening; not reaching his potential; and being oppositional, defiant or both.
Many children with undiagnosed ADHD grow up feeling different, disrespected, attacked, unloved, unappreciated, sad, angry, lonely, and even hopeless. These are germs of adult anxiety/depression
Notice how a competent therapist could easily see these problems as breadcrumbs leading her back along the path to diagnosable CPTSD. The CPTSD diagnosis is especially likely to obscure ADHD when there is objective evidence of ACES such as parental arguing, parental separation/divorce, domestic violence, and parental mental illness, alcoholism, addiction or incarceration.
It is highly possible for one and the same child to have CPTSD from ACES and ADHD. These conditions require different treatments. Thus, for purposes of treatment planning it is very important for therapists to search for both and disentangle what caused what.
