Adhd and violence
Are Adults with ADHD Violent?
Some adults living with ADHD may be more aggressive than others. But recognizing your triggers and other coping strategies may help manage your symptoms.
People who have attention hyperactivity deficit disorder (ADHD) may be more prone to anger issues, violent tendencies, and aggressive behaviors due to several factors.
Understanding the possible connection between ADHD and violent or aggressive behavior can help you navigate this mental health condition and manage your moods.
A causal relationship between having ADHD and being violent doesn’t really exist. But some people living with ADHD exhibit more aggressive behaviors compared to individuals who don’t have this condition.
It’s important to keep in mind there are three types of ADHD:
- inattentive
- hyperactive-impulsive
- combined
Violent or aggressive behaviors may be more likely to occur in the hyperactive or combined ADHD types compared to the ADHD inattentive subtype.
According to a 2013 study, males with childhood ADHD are more likely to be violent and verbally aggressive with romantic partners compared to males without a history of ADHD or conduct problems.
“Adults with ADHD show an increase in violent or angry outbursts and even an increase in criminal behavior,” says Alex Dimitriu, MD, a board certified psychiatrist and sleep medicine doctor and founder of Menlo Park Psychiatry & Sleep Medicine in California.
In addition, a 2010 study suggests that ADHD may be associated with violent behaviors within the forensic population. The study shows that people diagnosed with ADHD may exhibit higher rates of “reactive-impulse violence.” Impulsivity and heightened reactions are often associated with hyperactivity, a subtype of ADHD psychopathology.
The study also shows that men may be more likely to exhibit “proactive violence,” which is goal-directed violent behavior. Both childhood ADHD and current ADHD diagnoses increase the risk of violent behaviors as well.
According to Dimitriu, people who have ADHD tend to react more intensely, but may not be as “proactive” when it comes to initiating violence.
Many people who live with ADHD exhibit impulsivity, which could offer some explanation as to why aggression and violence may be more common among those with this condition.
“People with ADHD feel more intensely than the rest of us, [and] their moods can rapidly and intensely shift during the day,” Dimitriu says. “ADHD makes people more reactive and impulsive, so sometimes actions result without much thought or consideration, and this is where people get into trouble.”
Dimitriu adds that people diagnosed with ADHD, anxiety, or bipolar disorder may be perceived as being more intense, which could be conflated with aggression.
Renee Rosales, MEd, founder and CEO of Theara Way in Flagstaff, Arizona, lives with ADHD and says that folks with ADHD can have a hard time managing intense emotions like anger.
She explains this is because people who have ADHD are more likely to experience heightened emotions, which can make it challenging to calm down or express their feelings in healthy ways.
A lack of anger management skills could lead to outbursts or anger issues.
“This can be dangerous for all people, especially adults because we’re bigger, stronger, and more likely to do significant harm to a person,” Rosales says.
People with ADHD may experience emotional outbursts, anger issues, or violent tendencies.
“Emotional dysregulation, impulsivity, violence, anger, and aggression are connected to people [who have] ADHD,” Rosales says, adding that difficulty with focusing and managing moods can be frustrating.
While symptoms such as emotional dysregulation are common in ADHD, Rosales adds they may also be symptoms of other mental health conditions.
For more guidance on how to manage your moods and emotions, you may wish to speak with a healthcare or mental health professional.
If you live with ADHD and frequently experience anger, aggression, or violence, there are a few ways to manage your symptoms.
Rosales recommends the following coping strategies to help folks with ADHD manage their emotions:
- recognize your triggers and pay attention to what upsets or frustrates you
- work to avoid or learn how to cope more effectively when you enter frustrating situations
- ask your doctor about ADHD medication to help manage your symptoms
Healthy lifestyle choices
Dimitriu recommends a regimen called “SEMM” for folks with ADHD and other mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety.
He says that SEMM — which stands for sleep, exercise, Mediterranean diet, and meditation — may be helpful for reducing ADHD symptoms such as impulsivity.
While there isn’t any research on SEMM specifically, studies have shown that aspects of the protocol may be beneficial for adults living with ADHD.
Sleep
Whether you live with ADHD or not, a good night’s rest is beneficial for brain health. In fact, research from 2021 shows that a lack of sleep may be associated with ADHD, which could impact executive functioning in waking hours and make it harder to focus.
Exercise
There’s plenty of evidence to suggest that regular exercise is good for you, but it may also be beneficial for mental health conditions such as ADHD. For instance, research from 2017 shows that exercise benefits children and adults with ADHD by:
- improving mood
- controlling impulses
- helping with focus
- improving social skills
Meditation
Dimitriu says that meditation is an essential skill that helps folks avoid reacting to stimuli.
Although a 2019 review suggests that mindfulness meditation training may improve executive function and emotional dysregulation in adults with ADHD, more high quality research is needed.
Diet
We’ve all heard the adage “we are what we eat,” and there are plenty of science-backed benefits to following a Mediterranean diet.
For folks with ADHD, a 2022 case study suggests that adherence to a Mediterranean diet — which may be beneficial for mental health — may decrease the onset of ADHD in children. But the study didn’t determine whether a Mediterranean diet had an impact on impulsivity or emotional dysregulation and suggested that further evidence is still needed.
For more advice on managing ADHD impulsivity, you may wish to read our tips to manage impulses. You might also connect with a mental health professional for personalized help to manage your anger, aggression, or violent tendencies.
Folks with ADHD may tend to be impulsive or angry, but they’re not always violent.
ADHD doesn’t directly lead to violence or aggression among those who live with this condition, but some people diagnosed with ADHD may be more violent due to symptoms like emotional dysregulation and impulsivity.
Dimitriu describes intensity as a two-sided coin: “On one end can be rage, anger, and even violence,” he says. “On the other end can be brilliance, passion, and insightful thinking that’s naturally out of the box.”
Managing ADHD intensity may help prevent unwanted consequences. You can do this by:
- ADHD medication
- exercising
- meditating
- improving your sleep quality
- recognizing and avoiding triggers
- learning coping strategies
Remember that help and support are available. A healthcare or mental health professional can develop a personalized treatment plan to help you manage your ADHD symptoms.
“ADHD can be a complex condition to live with but don’t be afraid to advocate for yourself and seek out what works for you,” Rosales says.
ADHD and Aggression | Understood
By Kate Kelly
Quick tips to cope with aggressive behavior
Quick tip 1
Assess for danger.
Assess for danger.
It’s not uncommon for kids and some adults with ADHD to be aggressive. But get help if physical aggression is out of control and directed at people or property. Call 911 if you think someone is in immediate danger.
Many people with ADHD are quick to get angry. They feel emotions intensely and can have trouble managing them.
Kids with ADHD tend to have outbursts more often than other kids their age. Much of the time, these flare-ups aren’t threatening. Kids might yell or slam doors. But sometimes, they lose control and become aggressive.
The impulsivity that fuels aggressive behavior tends to lessen as kids grow up and move into adulthood.
But adults with ADHD can sometimes be aggressive, too. It’s often verbal, but not always.
When kids lash out physically, they might kick or hit other kids or even adults. They don’t mean to hurt anyone and often feel terrible afterward. But in the moment, they don’t have the self-control to stop themselves.
For example, a first grader who wants a toy that another child won’t give up might hit the child to get it. A fourth grader might shove a classmate who cuts in line to get the last slice of pizza at lunch.
Some people with ADHD have other factors that cause aggression. These include stress, bullying, learning challenges, and mental health issues. Lack of sleep and hunger can also have an impact.
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About the author
About the author
Kate Kelly has been writing and editing for more than 20 years, with a focus on parenting.
Reviewed by
Reviewed by
Ellen Braaten, PhD is the director of LEAP at Massachusetts General Hospital.
ADHD: 10 myths about Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
ADHD - Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder - a disorder surrounded by myths. There are not ten of them - there are hundreds and thousands of them. Let's focus on the main ones.
Drawing by Dmitry Petrov
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is a disorder that occurs in approximately 5% of children. In urban areas - more often than in rural areas, in boys - 4-5 times more often than in girls is a hoax, a myth, the result of a worldwide conspiracy of psychiatrists and pharmacologists. To argue with Scientologists is just as pointless as to avenge the road into the fall of the leaves, no matter how you remove it, it still attacks. The relationship of Scientologists with psychiatry and psychology in general and with ADHD in particular is a separate huge topic that is still waiting for its researcher. But the incredulous Russian society is very willing to take on faith the ideas “there is no disease”, “there is no need to poison children with pills”, “a good belt is what they need.
” Let's stop there. “They are not sick - they are spoiled and ill-mannered”
At first glance, it seems that children with ADHD, who do not recognize any rules and norms, do something wrong every second, are really badly brought up. It seems that you just need to explain to them how to behave.
The trouble is that explanations don't work with these children. Children are well aware of the rules and regulations. But when they need to put them into practice in a complex, emotionally overloaded situation, they forget about all the rules and immediately choose the simplest and most stupid solution. So housewives without any ADHD regularly grab onto hot pots and baking sheets, where something is burning, and burn themselves to bubbles - simply because they urgently need to remove food from the fire, and there is no time to think about potholders ...
Strictly speaking, children with ADHD are not really "sick" - and treating them as "sick" is very harmful. Approximately as harmful to treat them as healthy and "crazy", and treat them with a belt.
“They need a good belt”
A belt is only an act of intimidation. Children with ADHD break rules and regulations almost every minute. When parents begin to use a belt, their arsenal of pedagogical measures is very quickly exhausted. Relationships between parents and children are destroyed, intimidation becomes the main means of education. But it does not last long - until adolescence. And then?
And most importantly, violence does not help children with ADHD solve their problems: to remember their obligations in time, to do homework in time and check themselves, to think through algorithms of behavior that are difficult for them in difficult situations, even to clean up the room. For a child who is not able to build a simple program of behavior - what is first, what is next, what is last - and cannot keep three items on the list in his head, cleaning the room turns into a senseless torment, he must be specially taught to put things in order. A belt teaches nothing.
“They don't control themselves - they are sick, so they have to forgive everything”
This is just as stupid and harmful to children as a belt. To forgive everything is to leave the child in a chaotic world without any boundaries, frames, directions and indications at all. It's like dropping him off in the middle of Beijing or Kuala Lumpur without money, documents, dictionary, map or phone. How should he understand where to go, what to do, how to live?
Connivance is just as harmful as physical punishment. The key to solving ADHD problems is understandable (including written and drawn) rules, schemes and algorithms, constant feedback from adults, additional motivation (normal children's motivation - interesting, curious, want to know more - these children quickly fade away) .
“They do not need to be treated, they need to be educated”
Treatment and education are not mutually exclusive. When parents begin to understand what is the cause of the child's problems and how to properly organize his life and study, it becomes much easier for both the child and the parents to live.
If you manage to find a common language with the school and organize help for the child at school, life will almost completely normalize. A lot can be compensated, and with the right pedagogical approach, many children do without treatment. This, however, does not mean that no one needs treatment at all.
“They don't belong in a normal school, they need to be treated”
It may be necessary to be treated. A correct diagnosis and well-chosen treatment often allow you to achieve an effect that neither teacher's angry notes, nor father's belt, nor mother's tears give. In the best cases, parents themselves notice how the child changes after the start of treatment: he becomes collected, attentive, has more time, loses less things, quarrels and scandals less.
"The Witch Doctor-Charlatan" (1879g.), thin. Albert Anker
However, schools should not feel that it is not their job to teach hyperactive children. Children with ADHD have the same right to education as all other children.
And no other mothers have the right to write collective complaints with a request to remove a bad child from the class. They have the right to demand that the school ensure the safety of their children, and no more. And schools really have a lot to learn to deal with hypers. Pushing them out of school is the easiest option, but completely illegal. Ideally, treatment, help at home, and help at school should be complementary, not mutually exclusive.
"There have always been kids like that, it's a new-fangled name for losers and hooligans"
There really were such kids in every class, and usually they really got labeled as "losers" and "hooligans". When a child becomes accustomed from childhood to the fact that he is bad, that he deserves condemnation, an antisocial outcome becomes more and more likely for him. In order to avoid such an outcome, a lot of attention, patience, love - and high professionalism are required from the parents and teachers of such a child. Simple and understandable measures - “just love”, “just ask more”, “just smack”, “just pay more attention” - do not work with such children.
To cope with them, you need to specially learn special methods of assistance.
“Now all children have a lack of attention, this is because of the computer and TV”
In recent decades, it is increasingly being said that children used to be able to read slowly, comprehend complex texts - and now they are not even able to read and understand simple passage. They talk about "clip consciousness", about a civilizational shift - and about a new generation of children.
Indeed, even adults get used to reading quickly, diagonally. Old and beloved children's films that we watched with bated breath now seem unbearably drawn out, slow - we are used to faster editing, quick frame changes. Of course, all this is true for the new generation of children. In addition, today's children do not treat their elders with reverence by default - it is difficult for them to earn authority; many of them really have no idea about the rules and norms of behavior - but all this has nothing to do with the clinical manifestations of ADHD.
Anyone who has spoken in front of a children's audience has seen that usually children (provided they are told something interesting) begin to chat and fidget in their chairs in fifteen to twenty minutes after the start. But in every classroom there are three or four people who begin to twirl and sway within five to ten minutes - and usually these are our ADHDs. Although the generation is one, and a TV with a computer is available to everyone. Children with ADHD are indeed more likely to be addicted to the computer and the TV - but the causality here is quite different: the TV and the computer allow them to maintain a high level of attention without any effort. Hence the myth 8:
“Yes, he doesn’t have any attention deficit, he’s been sitting at the TV for the fourth hour and watching attentively.” When we walk down the street and see a flickering advertisement or a street fight - we involuntarily stare there, we do not need to make an effort. But when we drive a car, we need to specifically focus - and, on the contrary, ignore everything, both glowing advertisements and street fights (this is exactly what people with ADHD are given very badly, therefore adults with ADHD are more likely to get into accidents).
The TV and the computer themselves shine for you, twinkle, sing, dance, entertain – no effort is required of you to keep your attention on the screen or monitor. On the contrary, it is very difficult for children with ADHD to unstick from them. The same thing happens to them with very favorite things - collecting Lego, for example. But when you read a theorem on geometry, it takes a lot of effort to keep your attention on the text of the textbook. The only exception is children who are in love with mathematics, there are such people too.
"These are Indigo children, they do not need to be disturbed, they have innate wisdom"
"Indigo children" is an occult concept, one of countless variations of New Age religious philosophy. Alien entity Krion, blue aura, clairvoyant, crystal healing - there are people who really like it. Of course, a very attractive idea is to consider your child not sick, not problematic, but especially gifted and brilliant.
In fact, ADHD is often combined with giftedness, in the world this phenomenon is known as "double exceptionalism", a combination of deficiency in one area and giftedness in another.
What's more, gifted kids in a boring mainstream school can fidget, languish, and goof off just as much as the most hyperactive hyper-and an adequate level of study load saves them from this.
But treating your child as an “ancient wise soul” who knows everything herself is, in addition to occultism, also an irresponsible demand for premature maturation. The child, in fact, is forced to be an adult - to make difficult decisions, to be the master of the situation, to be a leader when he does not yet have the necessary experience, knowledge or skills for this.
“These are normal children, it’s just that adults want them to sit still and not interfere, and therefore they zombify children with pills
The child's normal cognitive activity, even when it is elevated, differs from hyperactivity in the main: it has purpose and meaning. Hyperactivity - activity is chaotic, random, aimless. Its only purpose is momentary stimulation, getting strong sensations, not knowledge.
Of course, schools are not perfect, schools can be boring, but hyperactivity and inattention are not caused by poor quality of education (nor are they caused by poor upbringing).
Treatment for ADHD does not aim for the child to sit still and be silent. Sedative (sedative) drugs are not used to treat ADHD. The drugs developed for this condition are aimed at increasing the time of active attention - that is, the child gets the opportunity to listen to the teacher attentively not for five minutes, but for twenty-five; do not react immediately, but think; do not leave homework on the fifth line, but finish it to the end ... In cases where the treatment is chosen adequately, parents often say that the child becomes older, smarter, more attentive, begins to study better, even the atmosphere in the family changes for the better.
However, as mentioned above, treatment does not replace, but complements parental educational efforts. To understand your child, to be able to properly help him, to be able to support him - all early on is the most important thing.
Still from the film The Leader of the Redskins (1962)) by Leonid Gaidai
0002 Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (abbreviated as ADHD) are certain disorders in the psycho-emotional development of a child. The first symptoms begin to bother from the age of three: the baby cannot sit still and tries in every possible way to attract attention to himself by deliberate disobedience.
Many parents do not consider it necessary to deal with hyperactivity disorder in children, attributing bad behavior to a difficult age. However, in the future, the disease turns into serious problems for the student: inability to concentrate, poor progress, frequent criticism from teachers and friends, social isolation, and nervous breakdowns.
Hyperactivity is a dysfunction of the central nervous system. If left untreated in childhood, the disorder can greatly affect the quality of life of an adult. Therefore, it is worth seeking the advice of a specialist and conducting a comprehensive corrective therapy if you suspect a child has ADHD.
Causes of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
The development of ADHD is hidden in several causes that have been established by scientists based on facts. These reasons include: genetic predisposition; pathological influence.
Genetic predisposition is the first factor that does not exclude the development of malaise in the patient's relatives. Today it is known that scientists are working on isolating the genes that are responsible for this predisposition. Among these genes, an important role is given to DNA regions that control the regulation of dopamine levels. Dopamine is the main substance responsible for the correct functioning of the central nervous system. Dysregulation of dopamine due to genetic predisposition leads to the disease of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Pathological factors can be: negative influence of narcotic substances; influence of tobacco and alcoholic products; premature or prolonged labor; interrupt threats.
If a woman allowed herself to use illegal substances during pregnancy, then the possibility of having a child with hyperactivity or this syndrome is not excluded. There is a high probability of the presence of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in a child born at 7–8 months of pregnancy, i.e. premature.
Symptoms
Attention deficit disorder is expressed primarily in hyperactivity and inattention of the child. These are the main symptoms of the disorder.
Signs of hyperactivity:
A constant feeling of internal restlessness causes the child to fidget in the chair, jerk his legs, wave his arms or fiddle with something.
Feelings of anxiety increase when adults are forced to behave quietly and calmly. This causes a backlash: the children respond to the request not to make noise with stormy laughter, stomping or jumping up from their seats.
Hyperactivity is expressed in impulsive behavior. For example, a child shouts out an answer in class before the teacher has finished speaking the question.
Or he may get into a fight because he is unable to wait his turn in the game competitions.
The inattention inherent in hyperactivity syndrome is expressed as follows:
Any task tires very quickly, just a couple of minutes after the start. It is almost impossible to focus on learning a new subject. Usually children are able to keep their attention on what they are really interested in. But in a child with ADHD, boredom and an absent-minded look appear in any activity, even in the one with which he “fired up” in the first minutes.
Problems with concentration develop distraction. Sitting down for homework in the language, the child opens a math notebook and does not notice that he is writing the text on a sheet in a cage. He forgets to write down information in a diary, he may forget his textbook and notebooks on his desk, or he may not hear a request addressed to him.
There is a very poor memory. Trying to learn something by heart, a child can repeat a phrase twenty times and not reproduce it after a minute.
This happens due to constant distractibility: children mechanically pronounce the words they are learning, but mentally follow the crawling fly on the wall or listen to the sounds from the street.
Diagnosis
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is diagnosed by a doctor using a clinical examination, psychodiagnostic scales and other necessary methods.
By asking questions to parents, a medical specialist builds a clinical picture, differentiating symptoms of normal behavior from actual abnormalities, in order to accurately determine whether it is ADHD or normal puberty.
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder treatment
The best treatment option for ADHD is complex - psychological correction in combination with medications.
A lot depends on the actions of mothers and fathers. Do not constantly scold the baby for wrong actions and inappropriate behavior. It is much more useful to offer your help in cleaning things or preparing for school, to praise for the diligence shown and overcoming difficulties.
