Adult ADHD Focus Of Sacramento Conference

Dr. Faye Dixon is with the UC Davis MIND Institute in Sacramento, which is hosting the event.

On Capital Public Radio's Insight with Beth Ruyak, Dixon said hyperactivity is not outgrown, it's just less physically obvious.

"What we see in adults is while some of the hyperactivity tends to decrease over time what we continue to see is the inattention, difficulty with focus, easy distractibility and also restlessness."

Tomorrow's conference at the MIND Institute is titled "ADHD Grows Up: Transitions to Adulthood." It'll be held from 5:30 to 7 PM.

The discussion will include self-medicating.

"People with ADHD, once they do start using substances, they have a much harder time stopping. That's from everything from nicotine to alcohol to methamphetamine," said Dr. Julie Schweitzer with the MIND Institute.

Schweitzer said researchers are trying to figure out how to stop self medication before it starts.

"What we'd like to do over the next few years is look at how we can prevent the cognitive issues that people with ADHD have and the emotional issues that they're having, prevent them from becoming later substance abusers."

Schweitzer stresses that hyperactivity is a real, neurobiological condition and not a manifestation of a character flaw.