Research Information System
14th International Congress on Psychopharmacology & International Symposium on Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology, Antalya, Turkey, 22 - 25 October 2023, pp.40
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that manifests itself with symptoms of
attention deficit, hyperactivity and impulsivity, develops in early life through gene-environment interaction, significantly
affects functionality and continues throughout life. The majority of adult ADHD patients have executive function problems
that include emotional regulation, planning, focus, motivation, time management, organization, and self-discipline.
Patients with ADHD experience emotional fluctuations throughout the day and from day to day, irritability, lack of selfconfidence, poor academic performance, low self esteem, low frustration tolerance, relationship problems, problems at
work, social problems, emotion regulation problems, impairment at executive functions and are at risk for anxiety and
depression.
Theory of Mind (ToM) refers to the ability of a person to realize that people other than himself have a different mind than
himself, and to understand and predict her own or other people's mental states, behaviors, knowledge, intentions,
emotions and beliefs. ToM is defined as the capacity to interpret the thoughts underlying other people's behavior. ToM
is critical for social and interpersonal functioning. First-order theory of mind is the ability to detect false thoughts in
others. Second-order theory of mind is defined as thought about thought and belief about belief. Understanding
metaphor and irony is a more subtle theory of mind skill that involves interpreting abstract speech. Faux pas recognition
is the most developmentally complex theory of mind skill, which can be translated as blundering.
Nearly 30 years ago, when researchers discovered that theory of mind was altered in individuals with autism spectrum
disorder (ASD). It was thought that theory of mind may also be affected in ADHD, which is another neurodevelopmental
disorder. A significant portion of ADHD patients also exhibit symptoms of autism spectrum disorder. Behavioral and
social problems seen in ADHD patients can increase the impairment in theory of mind. Attention deficit and executive
dysfunction in ADHD patients also play a role in the impairment in ToM. Children with ADHD perform significantly worse
on false belief tests and make more errors in mind reading from eyes than children with normal development. Children
with ADHD show impairment in self-reported empathy and faux pas recognition test when compared to healthy controls.
In a study comparing 42 adolescents diagnosed with ADHD with 41 age- and gender-matched healthy controls,
impairment in ToM skills was found in the ADHD group and impairment in ToM is associated with symptom severity.
Adolescents with ADHD have problems with second-order social cognition skills, irony, and reading emotions in the
eyes. In another study, it was reported that especially behavioral symptoms were correlated with impairment in ToM. In
a study comparing adolescents diagnosed with ADHD and ASD and healthy controls, it was found adolescent patients
with ADHD and ASD have difficulties in ToM. In another study evaluated the link between ToM skills and emotion
regulation, found that theory of mind deficits may partly explain ED in children with ADHD. In a study in which 40 adult
ADHD patients were compared with 40 healthy controls and evaluated with reading mind from the eyes test, trail making
test and continuous performance test, ToM was found to be significantly impaired in adults with ADHD. In this session,
theory of mind in ADHD will be discussed.
Keywords: Attention deficit, hyperactivity, theory of mind, social cognition, executive dysfunction, emotion regulation