Welcome to the Attention Deficit Disorder Expert Podcast Series by Attitude magazine.

Hey everyone, it's Susan Coffin and you are listening to Attitude magazine's

ADHD experts audio. I don't need to tell those of you who are on the line

that ADHD almost never travels alone. In fact, the vast majority of people

with ADHD have one or more additional co-occurring conditions such as learning disabilities,

dysloxia, anxiety,

depression, OCD, and oftentimes,

these overlapping conditions require

independently their own evaluation

and their own treatment plans separate from ADHD and yet many doctors and clinicians

assume that symptoms such as anxiety or depression are just side effects of

ADHD or on the other side of the equation, they may fail to evaluate people diagnosed with anxiety or depression for attention deficit disorder.

The result of this is a really ineffective treatment plan and pretty long-term health risks are pretty significant.

We are very fortunate to welcome our speaker today, Dr Robert Olavardia, to discuss specifically

anxiety and depression and offer information on how to correctly screen for co-existing anxiety and

depression in patients with ADHD, how to recognize the red flags of an

undiagnosed overlapping condition, how depression and anxiety affect ADHD symptoms and how ADHD

symptoms and how ADHD conversely can actually lead to or have an impact on depression and anxiety and

finally how to devise a treatment plan when both conditions exist. Dr.

Olavardi is a clinical instructor of psychology at the Harvard Medical School. He's a clinical

associate at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts. He maintains a private psychotherapy practice

in Lexington, Massachusetts, where he specializes in ADHD, eating disorders,

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