What is the relationship between anger management difficulties and ADHD?

Question

According to Wikipedia, "Difficulties managing anger are more common in children with ADHD" Is it that the anger is due to ADHD specifically? Is the anger suggestive of a comorbid disorder? Could it be either?

Answer 1

Students with ADHD have an executive functioning disorder which makes it hard to regulate their feelings and emotions. I find that people who ADHD often feel deeply which impacts them greatly. ADHD can be frustrating for many people if they do not figure out a way to manage their feelings and emotions. Given the correct tools and strategies students with anger or other emotional regulation disorders can better control themselves.

Answer 2

Folks with ADHD (myself included) have deficiencies in our working memory. We aren't the best cognitive jugglers. A neurotypical person might be able to juggle seven or eight separate snippets of information in their head at once, like the errands you have to run, the location of your water glass, and the fact that you left the stove on. ADHDers can only juggle two or three snippets. It's a pain, but it also explains a lot of the symptoms when you get down to it. We are more prone to bursts of anger in situations that stretch our working memory. As I type this, for example, my wife is asking me a series of questions, my eight-year-old is tugging on my shirt, and music is playing upstairs. My working memory is past max capacity, and I'm disoriented. It's frustrating to stay in this state for too long, as I'm sure you could imagine! Therapy can teach us skills to cope with these situations, but until we learn those skills, we're likely to act out in anger, unfortunately.

Answer 3

Patients with ADHD often do not have the ability to sit still or understand the importance of what is being asked. Their brain in stimulated by the environment around them including but not limited to touch, smell, sound, and even colors. When their brain experiences an overload of these senses sometimes they feel different and that emotion is something they may turn into aggressive behaviors or anger outbursts. Both of my children have ASD which often causes behavioral anxiety. ADHD characteristics and treatment is the same for them.

Answer 4

Students with ADHD have difficulty with attention and hyperactivity / impulsiveness. The inability to control anger is a symptom of a larger problem that is associated with deficiencies in executive functioning skills. When students cannot meet the demands that are being imposed on them because of their lack of executive functioning skills, they will more likely act out our manifest their disability as "anger."

Executive functioning skills include working memory, task initiation, emotional control, and problem solving.