Co-Occurrence of Depression Among Adults with ADHD and Cognitive Impairment

The study’s main objective is to explore the relationship between adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and cognitive impairment and the possible co-existing depressive symptoms because of these two disorders. A sample of 174 patients diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (male, n = 76; female, n = 98) was selected through purposive sampling techniques from various hospitals and psychiatric clinics in Mansehra and Haripur (KPK) cities. Results revealed that female participants secured higher scores on ADHD than males whereas female patients scored higher on the CFI and depression scale as compared to males. Regression analysis predicted a positive relationship between depression and ADHD, and depression. Regarding gender, the result shows that ADHD, cognitive failures, and depression have a significant intercorrelation with each other among the patients. The regression coefficients for gender (β = 4.587) and ADHD (β = 0.170) are statistically significant at α = 0.05, except for cognitive impairment (β = -0.033). ADHD and gender have a positive relationship with depression or predict depression while Cognitive Impairment (β = -.033) has a negative relation or does not predict depression. The study promotes guidelines to the researchers to investigate various unidentified aspects of ADHD and depression in the context of cognitive impairment.