Questions about Adult ADHD Patients: Dimensional Diagnosis, Emotion Dysregulation, Competences and Empathy

Objective: To analyze certain diagnostic personality components of Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) patients and explore their consequences in competences, as well as to explain possible relationships to empathy. Given that emotion regulation is altered in ADHD, we seek to distinguish these disturbances from certain personality disorders. Method: We have conducted a short review of dimensional personality components and emotion dysregulation. The results of our study with several personality dimensions in adult outpatients comprise the background. Furthermore, we examine certain competences and comment in empathy in these patients. Conclusions: Adult deficit attention and hyperactivity patients exhibit high neuroticism and low motivation. This may imply the need to evaluate certain competences in forensic settings. This population reveals specific components of emotion dysregulation. Additionally, they display lower empathy in their mentalization subtype.