Bipolar Me

Who does this sound like?

Someone—child or adult—who hyper-focuses on a particular topic or interest, exhibits repetitive behaviors, responds to routines and consistency, and can be diagnosed in early childhood.

And who does this sound like?

Someone—child or adult—who needs novelty and change; is distractible, restless, and impulsive; and who is usually diagnosed as an adult.

I bet you said an autistic person for the first description and someone with ADHD for the second. But recently, there has been a diagnosis that covers people with both conditions: AuDHD.

At first, it sounds illogical that someone could have both disorders, given the very different traits. But if you look at them closely, there are places where they overlap. And sometimes the same trait is expressed in different ways. Both may interrupt conversations, have difficulty maintaining friendships, have sensory differences, and seek sensory stimulation. This overlap can make it difficult to diagnose AuDHD.

Still, there are noticeable differences. For example, people with autism need familiarity, while those with ADHD want novelty. With autism, a person is detail-oriented and resistant to change. In ADHD, there’s a tendency to miss details and crave change and novelty.

But the combination of autism and ADHD sometimes produces surprising strengths. People with AuDHD are creative problem-solvers and think outside the box. They love puzzles. They can hyperfocus. Someone with AuDHD can be productive. The combination of traits can be balanced and lead to valuable strengths.

Of course, there are drawbacks to a person having AuDHD. They may not have the combination of traits that make them handy in business, for example. They’re bundles of neurodivergent traits that may or may not line up in ways that suit neurotypical individuals. And they are susceptible to the stigma and harassment that come with being neurodivergent.

AuDHD is not a medical diagnosis that appears in the DSM. AuDHD is often self-diagnosed, particularly as an adult, based on symptoms. It’s a condition recognized by the neurotypical people themselves, much as ADHD sometimes is (though it requires a professional to make an official diagnosis). Even professionals can have a hard time recognizing it, though. Because of the difficulties in diagnosing the condition and its relative newness, AuDHD isn’t well understood. Research usually focuses on either autism or ADHD, so there isn’t a lot of scientific data about the prevalence of AuDHD or treatments for it. And AuDHD is perhaps underdiagnosed in women and girls, given the difference in diagnoses of autism and ADHD. Also, autism is often stigmatized, even more so than ADHD.

While there are diagnostic criteria that point to a diagnosis of autism and ones that appear with ADHD, there aren’t any official ones for AuDHD. The phenomenon is so new that not much research has been done on it. And because many cases are self-diagnosed, therapy professionals may not be up on how to help or even react to someone who believes that they have the co-occurring diagnoses.

That being said, professionals sometimes start with a diagnosis of autism (sometimes difficult to pinpoint itself) and then look for characteristics of ADHD. Sona Charaipotra suggests that the non-medical condition be diagnosed by combining autism with one of the subsets of ADHD (inattentive or impulsive/hyperactive), demonstrating five characteristics of either one. A combination diagnosis would require five traits from each of the subtypes. And the traits must cause some kind of functional impairment.

Treatment for the condition? Therapy is the first option. But because there is no medication treatment for autism, medications like Ritalin that are used for ADHD are sometimes prescribed. Lifestyle and environmental supports are also called for. Persons with AuDHD can help by suggesting what accommodations they need. After all, they know better than many psychiatric patients what they’re feeling and thinking, and what they need.

This is just a brief overview of AuDHD. There’s so much that still isn’t understood that, as time goes by, more exact definitions, diagnoses, and treatments for it will begin to emerge.