ADHD Questions
Does ADHD cause test anxiety?
Charles Li, MD
April 26, 2023
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Studies have shown that those with ADHD often experience test anxiety.
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There’s also evidence that ADHD can interfere with many of the thinking processes we need to do well on tests.
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ADHD medication may reduce test anxiety for those with ADHD and anxiety.
ADHD is often discussed in the context of academics. Teachers and parents often notice ADHD in children when they struggle with academics and behavior at school.
Because of the challenges ADHD can cause at school, many students with ADHD develop test anxiety.
One study found that college students with ADHD are more likely to have anxiety about academics and experience panic attacks.
Anxiety in college students With ADHD: relationship to cognitive functioning
The effects of test anxiety for those with ADHD
A second study confirmed this link between ADHD and test anxiety and provided data on the link.
Those with ADHD and test anxiety were more likely to feel physically tense during a test. They felt like their mind often went blank when trying to finish a test.
There was a fear of losing social standing among their friends because of their test anxiety.
The authors theorized that test anxiety might be part of a vicious cycle where test anxiety causes poorer performance, which worsens anxiety during future tests.
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These findings suggest the emergence of a vicious cycle in which problems with attention, concentration, hyperactivity, and impulsivity culminate in problems with test performance. The level of TA rises, test performance is compromised due to elevated TA, and the student attributes the failure to ADHD. Hence, fear of tests increases even more, thus further interfering with test performance.
Does anxiety make ADHD worse?
There is some evidence that anxiety can make ADHD symptoms worse, complicating the relationship between anxiety and ADHD. Finishing exams with ADHD is hard enough. Unfortunately, having anxiety may make ADHD worse.
One consequence of ADHD is its effect on working memory, the short-term memory you rely on to remember facts about a task. This is particularly important when solving complicated problems and finishing exams.
What is working memory?
A study on children with ADHD found evidence that those with ADHD and anxiety had the most difficulty with working memory.
What does ADHD + Anxiety look like in children?
Why does anxiety affect working memory?
One potential reason for this link may be that anxiety takes up mental energy. Anyone who’s ever dealt with anxiety knows that anxiety can be exhausting. Experts theorize that anxiety can reduce our available working memory because it uses the same parts of the brain as working memory, reducing our bandwidth for problem-solving.
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Worry is the cognitive component of anxiety and according to processing efficiency theory, its effect is to preempt some processing and storage resources of the working memory system (Eysenck and Calvo, 1992). As a consequence, worry tends to impair performance on tasks with high demands on working memory.
Eysenck and Calvo. 1992
Treating test anxiety and ADHD
There is some evidence that ADHD medication can potentially reduce test anxiety.
A study found that Ritalin reduced short-term feelings of anxiety on a cognitive test.
The study found that all participants, with and without ADHD, performed better on the cognitive test with Ritalin.
Those with ADHD also felt improvements in their anxiety when provided with Ritalin.
Methylphenidate Reduces State Anxiety During a Continuous Performance Test That Distinguishes Adult ADHD Patients From Controls
Another study found that adults with high anxiety experienced significant reductions in their anxiety during a test when provided with Ritalin.
These studies provide evidence that ADHD medications can reduce anxiety during a challenging test.
It’s important to remember, however, that Ritalin is not a treatment for anxiety disorders. There are medications approved specifically for anxiety disorders.
Key Takeaways
The data shows that those with ADHD have a much higher risk of experiencing test anxiety. Test anxiety can make an already difficult task even more challenging for those with ADHD. Fortunately, there is some evidence that those with ADHD and anxiety can experience improvements in test anxiety with ADHD treatment.