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ADHD & Dementia Both Cause Forgetfulness
A.B.O.U.T. Behavior #26 : Forgetfulness
Of the nine inattentive symptoms of ADHD, forgetfulness may be the most challenging to document for Mr. Trump. He has certainly seemed forgetful in his recent pronouncements regarding the coronavirus pandemic, blithely contradicting comments made minutes earlier by health officials, or even by himself. However, without more detailed awareness of what is going through his mind at each moment, such incidents might be better exemplars of “failing to give close attention to details”, or “often does not seem to listen when spoken to directly”, which are listed as two of the other inattentive symptoms of ADHD.
The official DSM-5 description for forgetfulness as a criterion for ADHD reads: “Is often forgetful in daily activities (e.g., doing chores, running errands; for older adolescents and adults, returning calls, paying bills, keeping appointments.)” Mr. Trump, as president, and prior to that, as a wealthy businessman and reality star, has been able to avoid many of these tasks or have others perform them for him. He has aides to run errands and make sure that he gets to appointments on time, just as he was able to delegate the tasks of rearing his children, to his wife and assorted servants, or of writing contracts, to his lawyers. He provides a vivid example of how socioeconomic status…
