Patients responded well in times of ‘high environment demand’ because sense of urgency led to hyperfocus

A recent study  has revealed that some people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) cope best during periods of high stress.

Maggie Sibley, a clinical psychologist and psychiatry professor at the University of Washington and the study’s lead author, initially set out to learn whether it is possible for adults to recover from ADHD. In an earlier study, published in 2022, she investigated a National Institute of Mental Health data set that tracked 600 patients with ADHD over 16 years, starting from childhood.

“What we found was this pattern of fluctuating ADHD, and most of the people that were getting better, they would then get back to ADHD again,” she said.