Mental or Inner Restlessness and ADHD

Video Description

00:00 Introduction 00:56 Definition of this symptom 02:23 History of it in ADHD and relationship to child hyperactivity 04:50 Lisa Weyandt’s work on developing a rating scale for inner restlessness and its correlates 06:43 Differences from pressured speech and flights of ideas on psychosis and mania 07:43 Possible neurological basis for mental (and physical) restlessness 09:32 Nielsen’s thesis that ADHD generally and restlessness specifically arise from impaired sense of time 10:54 How this symptom could arise from Barkley’s theory of executive functioning and ADHD 17:26 Conclusions One aspect of adult ADHD that is often commented upon by them yet receives scant research attention is the symptom of mental or inner restlessness. This short video provides some background information on this important symptom and discusses my view of how this symptom arises from the more overt motor restlessness and excessive verbiage of children with ADHD based on my theory of executive functioning. References: Palmer, E. & Finger, S. (2001). An Early Description of ADHD (Inattentive Subtype): Dr Alexander Crichton and ‘Mental Restlessness’ (1798). Child Psychology and Psychiatry Review: Volume 6, Issue 2, 50-100. https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-3588.00324 L. Weyandt et al. (2003). The Internal Restlessness Scale: Performance of College Students With and Without ADHD. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 34 (4). https://doi.org/10.1177/00222194030360040801 S. Schepman, L. Weyandt, et al. (2010). The Relationship Between ADHD Symptomology and Decision Making. Journal of Attention Disorders, 16(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/1087054710372496 Soros, P. et al. (2019). Hyperactivity/restlessness is associated with increased functional connectivity in adults with ADHD: a dimensional analysis of resting state fMRI. BMC Psychiatry, Vol. 19. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12888-019-2031-9 M. Nielsen (2017). ADHD and Temporality: A Desynchronized Way of Being in the World. Medical Anthropology, 36 (3). https://doi.org/10.1080/01459740.2016.1274750 Biederman, J. et al. (2017). Towards operationalizing internal distractibility (Mind Wandering) in adults with ADHD. Acta Neuropsychiatrica, 29(6). https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/acta-neuropsychiatrica/article/abs/towards-operationalising-internal-distractibility-mind-wandering-in-adults-with-adhd/C7A96E7099A0ECA2573338EFDA75FF18 Barkley, R. A. (2012). The Executive Functions: What They Are, How They Work, and Why They Evolved. New York: Guilford Publications.