Toronto, CANADA – Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) can adversely affect mental health in adulthood. A nationally representative Canadian study reported that the lifetime prevalence of suicide attempts was much higher for women with ADHD (24%) compared to women who did not (3%). Men with ADHD were also more likely to attempt suicide than men without ADHD (9% vs. 2%).
ADHD casts a very long shadow. Even when we took into account the history of mental illness, and the higher levels of poverty and early setbacks that adults with ADHD often experience, people with ADHD were still 56% more likely to attempt suicide than their peers without ADHD, ”reported lead author Esme Fuller-Thomson, professor at the University of Toronto’s Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work and director of the Institute for Life Course and Aging.
Because ADHD is more common in men than women, little research or clinical attention has been paid to women with the condition. In this study, women with ADHD were more than twice as likely to attempt suicide as men with ADHD.
“Our finding that one in four Canadian women with ADHD had attempted suicide underlines the urgency to provide this vulnerable and neglected group with adequate mental health support throughout the life course,” said Lauren Carrique, recent graduate of Masters in Social Work. from the University of Toronto. (MSW) program that is a social worker at Toronto General Hospital.
Adults with ADHD who had been exposed to chronic domestic violence by parents were three times as likely to attempt suicide compared to their peers with ADHD who had not experienced that setback in childhood. Domestic violence by parents was defined as “chronic” if it occurred more than 10 times before the respondent was 16 years old.
“The cross-sectional nature of this study hinders our ability to establish possible causality; the relationship between chronic parental domestic violence and suicide attempts could flow in both directions,” said study co-author Raphaël Nahar Rivière, a medical assistant in anesthesiology at the university. . from Toronto.
“We speculate that violent parental conflicts can cause extreme stress for the child with ADHD and predispose these individuals to mental illness and suicidal thoughts. In addition, the challenges of raising a child with ADHD who is struggling with severe mental health problems may cause parental conflict. ., that could escalate to domestic violence. ”
The study examined a nationally representative sample of 21,744 Canadians, 529 of whom reported having been diagnosed with ADHD. Data is taken from the Canadian Community Health Survey-Mental Health.
“The alarmingly high prevalence of suicide attempts among people with ADHD underscores the importance of screening patients with ADHD for mental illness and suicidal thoughts,” said study co-author Senyo Agbeyaka, a recent MSW graduate at the University of Toronto and social worker at University. health network.
“Knowing that women with ADHD who have experienced childhood adversity and adults with a history of drug addiction and / or depression are particularly vulnerable to suicide attempts will hopefully help clinicians better target and reach out to this population.”
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The paper was published online this month in the journal Archives of Suicide Research.
Article Details: “The Dark Side of ADHD: Factors Associated with Suicide Attempts Among People With ADHD in a Canadian Sample of a National Representative” by Esme Fuller-Thomson, Raphaël Nahar Rivière, Lauren Carrique and Senyo Agbeyaka Archives of Suicide Research
Manuscript DOI: 10.1080 / 13811118.2020.1856258
A copy of the document is available on request to licensed journalists. Please contact [email protected].
For more information:
Esme Fuller-Thomson (lead author of the study)
Professor, Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work
Director, Institute for Life Course and Aging
University of Toronto
Tele: 416209-3231
Email: [email protected]
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