ADHD & Memory: Impacts, Tips, & How To Cope

ADHD & Memory

There is a connection between ADHD and memory. Namely, people diagnosed with ADHD tend to have poor working memory and difficulty transferring information from short-term memory to long-term memory when learning² Research has found that individuals with combined type ADHD (ADHD that includes inattentive and hyperactive symptoms) as well as individuals with inattentive type ADHD are more likely to experience deficits in working memory than those with hyperactive ADHD.³

What Is Working Memory?

Working memory, sometimes termed fluid memory, is an individual’s ability to engage in general reasoning and problem solving skills. Furthermore, working memory covers three major executive function cognitive processes:⁴

• The way short-term memory is applied to cognitive tasks
• The ability to hold and manipulate information in short-term memory
• The use of attention to manage short-term memory

For example, an individual might use working memory to solve a math equation or even to make a decision about which restaurant to go to for dinner.

ADHD & Working Memory

There are differences in the brain processes of individuals living with ADHD when it comes to learning or encoding new information. Attention plays an important role in this process. Research often uses alpha waves to measure attentional activity in the brain. Research has found that alpha modulation deficits exist in individuals living with ADHD.⁵

Severity of working memory deficits in individuals living with ADHD can be correlated to the severity of ADHD depending on how much interference these working memory deficits impact an individual’s ability to function. For example, working memory deficits in children with ADHD might cause grades to suffer or may cause children to forget to complete homework assignments on time.

Working memory deficits have been found to persist into adulthood and do also often impact adults with ADHD. An adult living with ADHD might struggle with forgetting to complete tasks at work or may be overwhelmed with having to complete multiple tasks at once, especially those requiring problem solving abilities.

ADHD Prefrontal Cortex & Working Memory

The prefrontal cortex is the area of the brain responsible for most executive function tasks; like reasoning and planning. Individuals living with ADHD tend to struggle with these areas and research suggests there are likely differences in the prefrontal cortex (or PFC) of individuals living with ADHD.⁶

Also, an underactive PFC can cause deficits in working memory, as this is the area of the brain where the majority of working memory function exists. Research indicates that ADHD is a disorder which is associated with abnormal development in the PFC.⁷ The dorsolateral PFC is the part of the prefrontal cortex which is most linked to executive function abilities which are often impaired in people living with ADHD.⁸

What Is Long-term Memory?

Long-term memory is information that is taken from short-term memory and stored in the brain. These memories can span from recently acquired information to information that was learned decades ago. Issues with long-term memory storage often present as dementia or other neurocognitive disorders which impact an individual’s long term memory storage.

ADHD & Long-term Memory

There is a potential connection between ADHD and long-term memory, though the nature of this relationship is controversial. It appears that ADHD is more likely to impact an individual from encoding new information that is acquired in short-term memory, which ultimately does impact long-term memory storage indirectly. For example, if someone’s attention is impaired, it is going to impact the amount and nature of information available to be stored into long-term memory.

Does ADHD Cause Memory Loss?

It would be incorrect to assume that ADHD causes memory loss. Instead, impairments in attention change the nature and amount of information that is stored in long-term memory. While deficits in working memory are a symptom of ADHD, this does not mean that ADHD can cause an individual to lose existing memories that have been encoded into long term memory. ADHD is very different from dementia, for example, a neurodegenerative disease in which an individual’s long term memory is altered due to tangles and plaques that build up in the brain, causing irreversible damage to existing memories.

ADHD Memory Loss Vs Dementia

Dementia often does not impact people until later in life (after the age of 65) though earlier onset of symptoms is possible in some cases.

These questions can help discern whether the memory loss is caused by ADHD or dementia:

When Did Memory Loss Begin?

If someone is around the age of 65, this is an indicator that memory loss may be associated with dementia or a neurodegenerative illness rather than ADHD. For clients in this age group seeking testing, additional cognitive tests may be useful to rule out dementia as a cause for deficits in long-term and short-term memory.

What Other Symptoms Are Present?

Dementia causes issues in other areas of cognitive functioning aside from general reasoning and problem solving skills. For example, a person with dementia may forget what day it is or where they live or other important biographical facts that would not be observed in a person with ADHD.

What Kinds of Memories Are Being Lost?

The quality of memories being lost in dementia are different from the memory struggles that exist in ADHD. As previously mentioned, a person with dementia will forget general facts about themselves and the world that would not be observed in someone with ADHD.

ADHD Traits That Increase the Risk of Memory Loss

ADHD symptoms and dementia symptoms can overlap and it is important to rule out dementia or mild cognitive impairment as a cause for memory problems in individuals over the age of 50. However, research has not established that ADHD can cause dementia.⁹

Struggles with working memory associated with ADHD might predispose someone to having memory difficulties which can be worsened with the onset of dementia as a person ages. Like with many mental health disorders, there may be some common traits in individuals living with ADHD that might also impact an individual’s likelihood of experiencing memory loss later in life.

ADHD traits that might overlap with memory loss later in life could include:

• Excitement seeking behaviors: Seeking excitement and engaging in dangerous or impulsive behaviors could result in brain injury, which can also cause memory loss.
• Alcohol and drug abuse: Individuals living with ADHD might use alcohol and drugs to cope with symptom severity or as a means of chasing dopamine, which is often lower in the brains of individuals living with ADHD. It is widely known that chronic alcohol and drug use is associated with memory loss and certain kinds of dementia over time.
• Depression: If an individual living with ADHD also experiences chronic depression, this is also associated with deficits in memory over time.
• Being disorganized: Disorganization is a symptom shared between individuals struggling with early onset dementia and individuals living with ADHD.
• Having difficulty with directions: Someone who struggles with ADHD might have difficulty remembering directions that were just told to them due to difficulties with auditory attention and information encoding. This is something that individuals with dementia often struggle with.
• Mood swings: Having frequent mood swings is a symptom that has been found to exist in the early stages of dementia as well as in individuals living with ADHD.

6 Tips to Help Cope With Memory Struggles

If an individual is struggling with difficulties associated with working memory or memory loss, whether due to ADHD or other causes, there are strategies that they might use to help improve memory.

Here are six ways to help cope with memory struggles:

1. Medication

Discuss with your prescribing provider if ADHD medication can help with memory struggles. There is some research that supports stimulant medication helping children with working memory difficulties.¹⁰

2. ADHD Management Tools

In addition to medication, behavioral strategies or management tools can help with memory difficulties.

ADHD management tools that may help with memory struggles include:

• Alarms and timers: Having alarms and timers set can help offset difficulties associated with time management that are common in ADHD.
• Making lists: It is possible that making lists can help individuals who are struggling with memory.
• Saying things out loud: Research has found that repeating information out loud can help it be encoded into long term memory.
• Rehearsal: Behavioral repetition or “rehearsal” can help improve the chances of something being encoded into long-term memory.
• Making associations: Sometimes making associations between two things can help with memory, for example, knowing that every time you go into the bathroom, you associate that behavior with brushing your teeth.
• Apps: ADHD apps like the Inflow ADHD app uses cognitive behavior therapy strategies to help you learn to better manage ADHD symptoms.

3. Mnemonic Devices

Mnemonic devices are cognitive strategies that are used to help learn new information. These can be in the form of rhymes or acronyms that help an individual to remember a more complex concept. For example, the “ABC” song is one way children are taught to remember the letters of the alphabet.

Mnemonics that may help with memory difficulties include:

• Chunking: Chunking information helps an individual remember certain information.
• Acronyms: Coming up with acronyms to help remember certain concepts might help; e.g. using the word “KISS” to remember the concept, “keep it simple, silly.”
• Using rhymes: Rhymes are another way to help remember information you might otherwise forget.

4. Ask for Support

Asking for support from friends and family can be a way to help cope with memory difficulties. It can also be helpful to let people know when you’re struggling with working memory deficits or memory loss, because it can help people understand why you might be chronically late or disorganized and not take those behaviors personally.

5. Set Boundaries Around Time

Part of what might be causing difficulties with memory is feeling overwhelmed and like you’re taking on more than what you can handle at a given time. It is important in these moments to slow down and really be discerning about your capacity for what you can accomplish in a given period of time. Jobs and relationships may ask more of us than what we are capable of giving. It is important to be honest with ourselves around what we can reasonably expect and set boundaries.

6. Meeting Basic Needs

If you are struggling with memory, it is important to assess if your basic needs are being met. For example, are you sleeping enough and getting good quality sleep at night? Are you eating enough or too much and are you eating nutritional food? Are you getting enough downtime? How are your stress levels? It is imperative these basic needs are met in order to ensure that you’re operating at peak cognitive capacity.

When to Seek Professional Support

If difficulties with memory associated with ADHD are causing impairment at work, at home, or in relationships it is important to find a neurodiverse affirming therapist. An online therapist directory or online therapy platform is a good choice for finding a therapist who specializes in ADHD treatment. If you are considering medication, an online psychiatrist is a good choice for finding ADHD medication management.