ADD vs ADHD: What’s the Difference in Adults?

ADD vs ADHD: are they different things?

People often ask me about ADD vs ADHD, and whether they’re the same thing. It’s a fair question. You’ll hear both terms at school gates, in workplaces and online, sometimes as if they mean different conditions.

The short answer: ADD is an older name. Today, clinicians in Australia and around the world use one term, ADHD, and describe how it shows up in each person as one of three presentations.

Understanding this matters because many adults, especially those who were quiet, daydreamy or anxious at school rather than disruptive, have never recognised themselves in the word “hyperactive”.

ADD vs ADHD: where the term ADD came from

The name has changed several times as research has developed:

• 1980: the American diagnostic manual (DSM-III) used “attention deficit disorder”, with or without hyperactivity. This is where “ADD” comes from.
• 1987: the manual was revised and the name became attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD.
• 1994: the next edition (DSM-IV) described three subtypes within ADHD.
• 2013 to today: DSM-5, and its 2022 text revision, call these three “presentations”. The change of word reflects that how ADHD shows up can shift across a person’s life.

So in the ADD vs ADHD question, when someone says “I have ADD”, they usually mean what is now called ADHD, predominantly inattentive presentation.

ADD vs ADHD today: the three presentations

1. Predominantly inattentive presentation

This is closest to what people mean by ADD. The main difficulties are with attention and organisation, such as:

• losing focus during long or routine tasks
• missing details or making careless mistakes
• difficulty organising tasks, time and belongings
• avoiding tasks that need sustained mental effort
• losing things and forgetting everyday commitments
• being easily drawn away by thoughts or surroundings

From the outside, this can look like daydreaming or not trying. On the inside, it often feels like working much harder than everyone else for the same result.

2. Predominantly hyperactive-impulsive presentation

Here the main difficulties are restlessness and impulsivity: fidgeting, finding it hard to stay seated, talking a lot, interrupting, or acting before thinking. In adults, hyperactivity is often less visible. It may feel more like inner restlessness or difficulty relaxing.

3. Combined presentation

A person meets the criteria for both inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity.

A formal diagnosis also looks at whether symptoms were present in childhood, show up in more than one setting, such as work and home, and genuinely interfere with daily life. Everyone loses their keys sometimes. That alone isn’t ADHD.

Why inattentive ADHD is often missed

Inattentive difficulties are quiet. A child who stares out the window doesn’t disrupt the class. An adult who works late to catch up on what they lost to distraction may look conscientious.

Many people, often women, only start to wonder about ADHD as adults, when the demands of work, study, parenting or running a household outgrow the coping strategies that got them through school.

If that resonates, it’s worth exploring. Only a qualified professional can tell you whether ADHD is the explanation. Stress, anxiety, sleep problems, burnout and other conditions can produce similar difficulties, and they can also exist alongside ADHD.

What about the “7 types of ADD”?

You may have come across the idea that there are seven types of ADD, popularised by the American psychiatrist Dr Daniel Amen.

It can be a useful prompt for one idea: similar difficulties, such as poor focus, may arise for different reasons in different people. But the seven types are not an accepted diagnostic classification. They aren’t used in Australian clinical guidelines, and they haven’t been shown to reliably match people to treatments.

When you’re reading about ADHD online, it helps to ask: is this an established diagnostic category, or one person’s model?

Getting assessed in Australia

If you think you might have ADHD, start with your GP. They can talk through your concerns and refer you to a psychiatrist, or a paediatrician for children, who can make a diagnosis. Psychologists often carry out detailed assessments as well.

The Australian clinical practice guideline for ADHD, published in 2022 and approved by the National Health and Medical Research Council, sets out evidence-based approaches to diagnosis and support for children and adults. It recommends a combination of approaches tailored to each person, which can include education, skills-based therapy and, for some people, medication.

Practical support for everyday life

A diagnosis, or even just the question, is a starting point. What most people want next is help with the everyday: starting tasks, staying on track, managing time and handling the emotions that come with years of struggling.

I’ve written a series of practical articles on exactly these problems:

• ADHD and starting tasks: when you know what to do but can’t start
• ADHD, task switching and interruptions: how to find your way back

More are on the way, covering procrastination, perfectionism, time management, overwhelm, hyperfocus and more. I’ll add each one here as it’s published.

Where kinesiology fits

Kinesiology isn’t a treatment for ADHD and doesn’t replace medical assessment or care. In my practice, I work alongside that care, helping people with the stress, overwhelm and old patterns that make focus and everyday tasks harder. I also work with children on reading, writing, behaviour and learning through our Advanced Education Program.

Your action right now

If the ADD vs ADHD question has you wondering whether ADHD explains some of your difficulties, write down three specific examples of where they affect your work, study or home life. Take that list to your GP. It makes the conversation much easier to start.

This article is general information only and isn’t medical advice.

References

• American Psychiatric Association (2022). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed., text rev.; DSM-5-TR).
• Australasian ADHD Professionals Association (2022). Australian evidence-based clinical practice guideline for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
• National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (2018, updated). Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: diagnosis and management (NG87).