Evidence of emotion dysregulation as a core symptom of adult ADHD: A systematic review

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a developmental disorder, with an onset in childhood, that accompanies the person throughout their life, with prevalence between 3 and 5% in adults. Recent studies point towards a fourth core symptom of the disorder related to the emotional informat...

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Main Authors: Ana-María Soler-Gutiérrez, Juan-Carlos Pérez-González, Julia Mayas
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2023-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9821724/?tool=EBI
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author Ana-María Soler-Gutiérrez
Juan-Carlos Pérez-González
Julia Mayas
author_facet Ana-María Soler-Gutiérrez
Juan-Carlos Pérez-González
Julia Mayas
author_sort Ana-María Soler-Gutiérrez
collection DOAJ
description Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a developmental disorder, with an onset in childhood, that accompanies the person throughout their life, with prevalence between 3 and 5% in adults. Recent studies point towards a fourth core symptom of the disorder related to the emotional information processing that would explain the repercussions that ADHD has on the social, academic, and professional life of the people affected. This review aims to describe emotion dysregulation features as well as the brain activity associated in adults with ADHD. A search of the scientific literature was launched in specialized databases: PsycInfo, Medline, Eric, PsycArticle, Psicodoc and Scopus, following PRISMA guidelines. Twenty-two articles met the inclusion criteria: (a) an ADHD clinical diagnosis, (b) participants over 18 years old, (c) emotion regulation measurement, (d) empirical studies, and (c) in English. Due to the heterogeneity of the studies included, they were classified into three sections: measures and features of emotion regulation (ER) in people with ADHD, neurological and psychophysiological activity related to ER, and treatments. The studies found that meet the selection criteria are scarce and very heterogeneous both in aims and in sample features. Adults with ADHD show a more frequent use of non-adaptive emotion regulation strategies compared to people without ADHD symptoms. Moreover, emotion dysregulation was associated with symptom severity, executive functioning, psychiatric comorbidities, and even with criminal conviction. Different patterns of brain activity were observed when people with and without ADHD were compared. These results may suggest that psychopharmacological treatments as well as behavioral therapies could be useful tools for improving emotional difficulties in adult ADHD.
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spelling doaj.art-0abc7bbdcd9b4558bcd8f2338fddc2aa2023-01-09T05:31:21ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032023-01-01181Evidence of emotion dysregulation as a core symptom of adult ADHD: A systematic reviewAna-María Soler-GutiérrezJuan-Carlos Pérez-GonzálezJulia MayasAttention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a developmental disorder, with an onset in childhood, that accompanies the person throughout their life, with prevalence between 3 and 5% in adults. Recent studies point towards a fourth core symptom of the disorder related to the emotional information processing that would explain the repercussions that ADHD has on the social, academic, and professional life of the people affected. This review aims to describe emotion dysregulation features as well as the brain activity associated in adults with ADHD. A search of the scientific literature was launched in specialized databases: PsycInfo, Medline, Eric, PsycArticle, Psicodoc and Scopus, following PRISMA guidelines. Twenty-two articles met the inclusion criteria: (a) an ADHD clinical diagnosis, (b) participants over 18 years old, (c) emotion regulation measurement, (d) empirical studies, and (c) in English. Due to the heterogeneity of the studies included, they were classified into three sections: measures and features of emotion regulation (ER) in people with ADHD, neurological and psychophysiological activity related to ER, and treatments. The studies found that meet the selection criteria are scarce and very heterogeneous both in aims and in sample features. Adults with ADHD show a more frequent use of non-adaptive emotion regulation strategies compared to people without ADHD symptoms. Moreover, emotion dysregulation was associated with symptom severity, executive functioning, psychiatric comorbidities, and even with criminal conviction. Different patterns of brain activity were observed when people with and without ADHD were compared. These results may suggest that psychopharmacological treatments as well as behavioral therapies could be useful tools for improving emotional difficulties in adult ADHD.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9821724/?tool=EBI
spellingShingle Ana-María Soler-Gutiérrez
Juan-Carlos Pérez-González
Julia Mayas
Evidence of emotion dysregulation as a core symptom of adult ADHD: A systematic review
PLoS ONE
title Evidence of emotion dysregulation as a core symptom of adult ADHD: A systematic review
title_full Evidence of emotion dysregulation as a core symptom of adult ADHD: A systematic review
title_fullStr Evidence of emotion dysregulation as a core symptom of adult ADHD: A systematic review
title_full_unstemmed Evidence of emotion dysregulation as a core symptom of adult ADHD: A systematic review
title_short Evidence of emotion dysregulation as a core symptom of adult ADHD: A systematic review
title_sort evidence of emotion dysregulation as a core symptom of adult adhd a systematic review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9821724/?tool=EBI
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