1.1. What is comorbidity¶
Comorbidity refers to mental disorders that coexist (conditionally independently of each other) and typically often occur together.
From a statistical point of view, comorbid disorders are characterized by the fact that their joint occurrence is over-random. Consequences of this are that the respective disorders have at least partially common causes or must be (co-)causes of each other. This opens up a view of the possible causes of ADHD.
Mental disorders are very common. Experts estimate a lifetime prevalence of up to 66% for mental disorders. This means that 2/3 of all people suffer from a mental disorder at some point in their lives, with many simply going undetected because the person with ADHD does not seek treatment.
Many of the disorders listed under 2. for children and under 3. for adults as comorbidities arise in the same way as ADHD
- Purely genetic (common)
- Due to environmental pollution alone (quite rare)
- Through a combination of genes + environment (frequent)
ADHD is often accompanied by comorbid disorders. Comorbidities are the rule rather than the exception in ADHD.
In ADHD, however, comorbidities are often enough not an independent psychiatric entity, but a mere consequence of untreated ADHD.
Which disorder should be treated first should be decided on the basis of the degree of stress. If this is not clear, it is advisable to treat the ADHD first to see how much the comorbidity is influenced by the ADHD treatment. Often enough, separate treatment is then unnecessary.
For more information, see ⇒ Treatment prioritization for comorbidities In the article ⇒ ADHD treatment guidelines in the chapter ⇒ Treatment and therapy.
1.2. Comorbidity with ADHD¶
Children with ADHD are 60-100% likely to suffer from at least one psychopathological comorbidity (e.g. tic disorder, depression, social behavior disorder, etc.).
An average of 1.4 comorbidities were found in n = 174 adults with ADHD who were examined
Among 575 adults with ADHD, one study found at least one comorbidity in 52.4% (32.9% had one, 12.7% had two, 3.8% had three and 3% had four comorbidities).
One study found mental comorbidities in 53.9% of 5,840 people with ADHD.
1.3. Literature¶
Müller et al. recommend a particularly good book on comorbidities in ADHD:
Brown (2009): ADHD comorbidities, Handbook for ADHD complications in children and adults. American Psychiatric Press, Washington DC
