Cognitive schemas on adults diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: A comparative study

The aim of the present study was comparing adults diagnosed and not diagnosed with ADHD individuals in terms of cognitive schemas. Sample group consists of two sub-groups; adults without ADHD diagnosis as control group and adults with ADHD diagnosis who are receiving treatment in a special clinic located in Çankaya, Ankara. ADHD is a developmental syndrome starts in early childhood and has ongoing effects in adulthood. Main symptoms of this syndrome are attention deficit, hyperactivity and impulsivity that are causing difficulty in individual's interpersonal affairs, education and vocational abilities in adulthood. Ongoing ADHD symptoms and their negative effects on individual's life have quite an important part in development of various cognitive schemas. Schemas are cognitive structures and logical categories that help one to evaluate and understand events that one encounters in life. In this context schemas are emotional patterns and mindscapes as a result of experience that individuals develop from childhood through the communication with their parents and environment. Individuals internalize the new stimulus that presented for them with these emotional patterns and mindscapes and they decide how to act in the new situation again with the help of these patterns. Young suggests that some schemas, especially the ones result from bad childhood experiences, could be the underlying mentality of personality disorders, character problems and many chronic Axis I disorders. In this regard he identified some schemas and named them as "early maladaptive schemas". In this study Turkish version of Young Schema Questionnaire – Short Form III was used and adults with ADHD diagnosis were compared with control group in terms of early maladaptive schemas. Turkish version of YSQ-SF3 examines 14 schemas and 5 schema domains. Only on Self-Sacrifice and Emotional Inhibition schemas there was no significant conclusion between adults with ADHD and control group. It is suggested that adults with ADHD are under the influence of early maladaptive schemas more than adults not diagnosed with ADHD. Keywords: Adult ADHD, Schema, Early Maladaptive Schemas, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy