What is Masking in ADHD?

Children with ADHD may experience symptoms of “masking,” a phenomenon that prevents them from getting a proper diagnosis. Children who mask symptoms may experience depression, anxiety, and exhaustion. Even when the symptoms are more apparent later, they may feel guilty for hiding them. In such situations, it is crucial to identify the causes and effects of masking and treat them accordingly. Here is how to recognize the signs of masking in ADHD.

Masking symptoms

Many people with ADHD experience exhaustion and frustration due to the inability to effectively hide their ADHD symptoms. The process can feel like playing with a light switch – it takes a lot of concentration to keep up with conversations and pay attention to details. It can lead to a poor self-image and low self-esteem. But there is help! Several strategies can help you deal with your ADHD symptoms and live your best life.

One of the most common ways to mask the symptoms of ADHD in girls is by having a good social life. If you look at the average teenager, they are often cheerful and agreeable, but they lack focus and attention. This makes it difficult to focus on their studies. Their homework tends to take longer than they expect, and they are more likely to be distracted by the internet or forget their assignments. However, in order to avoid these issues, it’s important to understand the difference between these two types of ADHD.

Process of “extinction”

Two different accounts predict different things about the process of “extinction” in ADHD. According to one view, children with ADHD display impaired acquisition of behavior under partial reinforcement, while another proposes that the process is completely opposite. In any event, both approaches have significant limitations. Further research is needed to understand how the process of extinction in ADHD affects children. Here are two of the key concepts that may be important to understand this disorder.

The process of extinction refers to the gradual elimination of undesirable behavior. The goal is to stop the behavior before it becomes habitual. This is done by denying the client access to the object or activity that elicits the behavior. Using the extinction approach can be extremely frustrating for both the child and the caregiver. However, when done effectively, the extinction procedure can help a child learn to control his or her disruptive behavior.

Effects on health

For decades, adults with ADHD have been able to hide their symptoms, and only later did they learn that they have a disorder. Sometimes their symptoms were noticed by a friend or co-worker, or they were able to connect the dots because their parents were helping them get diagnosed. However, masking in ADHD is often misunderstood as a way to hide the symptoms of the disorder, as it is frequently compared to neurotypical behavior.

Those with ADHD find it particularly challenging to camouflage their symptoms, as the social stigma associated with their condition is high. In schools, kids with ADHD may hear words such as “stop fidgeting,” and they may even face bullying and shaming. Those with ADHD often feel shame and fear when they are publicly labelled as “weird” or “nervous”. Because of the social stigma of their condition, their masks may become so ingrained that they become exhausted and unable to perform their daily tasks.

Research on masking in ADHD

Many adults with ADHD have been hiding their symptoms for decades. They may have picked up on them from a friend or coworker, or they may have been diagnosed by their parents. However, when the symptoms become too much for them to handle alone, masking becomes a problem. Masking is often seen as an act that doesn’t really exist, and it may make the person feel guilty and shame. There are many ways to cope with the effects of ADHD masking.

In one study, children with ADHD showed a high rate of false alarms with both central and informational masking. They tended to say that the stimulus was there even though it was not. This suggests that children with ADHD may be more likely to notice a stimulus, even if it’s not in the immediate environment. A number of other studies have also looked into masking in children. Here, researchers examined whether the effect of masking could be a solution to the problems underlying attention deficit disorder.

Benjamin Guffoggio