Top

ADHD Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorders

Published in:

01-12-2010 | Review Article

Neurobiological and psychophysiological correlates of emotional dysregulation in ADHD patients

Authors: Martin J. Herrmann, Stefanie C. Biehl, Christian Jacob, Jürgen Deckert

Published in: ADHD Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorders | Issue 4/2010

Abstract

Emotional dysregulation in ADHD patients has become an important issue in recent years. Dysfunctions especially in brain regions related to emotional processing as well as psychophysiological reactions have been reported. This review includes functional MRI, event-related potentials as well as emotion-modulated startle studies in ADHD patients. It reflects a selective review of the authors with no claim of completeness. Changes in the processing of positive stimuli, with reduced brain activity in the amygdala, in the ventral striatum and reduced EEG potentials were found. The relevance of the observed dysregulation in emotional processing and psychophysiological reactions with regard to theoretical constructs of ADHD-specific emotional dysregulation versus comorbidity will be discussed.

Alpert JE, Maddocks A, Nierenberg AA, O’Sullivan R, Pava JA, Worthington JJ 3rd, Biederman J, Rosenbaum JF, Fava M (1996) Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in childhood among adults with major depression. Psychiatry Res 62(3):213–219CrossRefPubMed

American Psychiatric Association (2000) Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, text revision, 4th edn. American Psychiatric Association, Washington DCCrossRef

Biederman J (2005) Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a selective overview. Biol Psychiatry 57(11):1215–1220CrossRefPubMed

Biederman J, Faraone S, Keenan K, Benjamin J, Krifcher B, Moore C, Sprich-Buckminster S, Ugaglia K, Jellinek MS, Steingard R et al (1992) Further evidence for family-genetic risk factors in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Patterns of comorbidity in probands and relatives psychiatrically and pediatrically referred samples. Arch Gen Psychiatry 49(9):728–738PubMed

Biederman J, Faraone S, Spencer T, Wilens T, Norman D, Lapey KA, Mick E, Lehman BK, Doyle A (1993) Patterns of psychiatric comorbidity, cognition, and psychosocial functioning in adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Am J Psychiatry 150(12):1792–1798PubMed

Biederman J, Faraone S, Milberger S, Guite J, Mick E, Chen L, Mennin D, Marrs A, Ouellette C, Moore P, Spencer T, Norman D, Wilens T, Kraus I, Perrin J (1996) A prospective 4-year follow-up study of attention-deficit hyperactivity and related disorders. Arch Gen Psychiatry 53(5):437–446PubMed

Biederman J, Faraone S, Monuteaux MC, Bober M, Cadogen E (2004) Gender effects on attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in adults, revisited. Biol Psychiatry 55(7):692–700CrossRefPubMed

Brotman MA, Rich BA, Guyer AE, Lunsford JR, Horsey SE, Reising MM, Thomas LA, Fromm SJ, Towbin K, Pine DS, Leibenluft E (2010) Amygdala activation during emotion processing of neutral faces in children with severe mood dysregulation versus adhd or bipolar disorder. Am J Psychiatry 167(1):61–69CrossRefPubMed

Brown TE (1996) Brown attention deficit disorder scales. The Psychological Corporation, San Antonio

Cadesky EB, Mota VL, Schachar RJ (2000) Beyond words: how do children with adhd and/or conduct problems process nonverbal information about affect? J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 39(9):1160–1167CrossRefPubMed

Conners CK, Erhardt D, Sparrow E (1999) Conners’ adult adhd rating scales (Caars). Technical manual. MHS, North Tonawanda

Conzelmann A, Mucha RF, Jacob CP, Weyers P, Romanos J, Gerdes AB, Baehne CG, Boreatti-Hummer A, Heine M, Alpers GW, Warnke A, Fallgatter AJ, Lesch KP, Pauli P (2009) Abnormal affective responsiveness in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: subtype differences. Biol Psychiatry 65(7):578–585CrossRefPubMed

Corbett B, Glidden H (2000) Processing affective stimuli in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Child Neuropsychol 6(2):144–155PubMed

Fallgatter AJ, Herrmann MJ (2001) Electrophysiological assessment of impulsive behavior in healthy subjects. Neuropsychologia 39(3):328–333CrossRefPubMed

Fallgatter AJ, Ehlis AC, Rosler M, Strik WK, Blocher D, Herrmann MJ (2005) Diminished prefrontal brain function in adults with psychopathology in childhood related to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Psychiatry Res 138(2):157–169CrossRefPubMed

Faraone SV, Biederman J, Weber W, Russell RL (1998) Psychiatric, neuropsychological, and psychosocial features of dsm-iv subtypes of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: results from a clinically referred sample. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 37(2):185–193CrossRefPubMed

Fischer M, Barkley RA, Smallish L, Fletcher K (2002) Young adult follow-up of hyperactive children: self-reported psychiatric disorders, comorbidity, and the role of childhood conduct problems and teen cd. J Abnorm Child Psychol 30(5):463–475CrossRefPubMed

Frank MJ, Santamaria A, O’Reilly RC, Willcutt E (2007) Testing computational models of dopamine and noradrenaline dysfunction in attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Neuropsychopharmacology 32(7):1583–1599CrossRefPubMed

Hechtman L, Weiss G (1986) Controlled prospective fifteen year follow-up of hyperactives as adults: non-medical drug and alcohol use and anti-social behaviour. Can J Psychiatry 31(6):557–567PubMed

Herpertz SC, Huebner T, Marx I, Vloet TD, Fink GR, Stoecker T, Shah NJ, Konrad K, Herpertz-Dahlmann B (2008) Emotional processing in male adolescents with childhood-onset conduct disorder. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 49(7):781–791CrossRefPubMed

Herrmann MJ, Ehlis AC, Ellgring H, Fallgatter AJ (2005a) Early stages (p100) of face perception in humans as measured with event-related potentials (erps). J Neural Transm 112(8):1073–1081CrossRefPubMed

Herrmann MJ, Ehlis AC, Muehlberger A, Fallgatter AJ (2005b) Source localization of early stages of face processing. Brain Topogr 18(2):77–85CrossRefPubMed

Herrmann MJ, Schreppel T, Biehl SC, Jacob C, Heine M, Boreatti-Hummer A, Muhlberger A, Fallgatter AJ (2009) Emotional deficits in adult adhd patients: an erp study. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 4(4):340–345CrossRefPubMed

Hesslinger B, Tebartz van Elst L, Mochan F, Ebert D (2003) A psychopathological study into the relationship between attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in adult patients and recurrent brief depression. Acta Psychiatr Scand 107(5):385–389CrossRefPubMed

Jacob CP, Strobel A, Hohenberger K, Ringel T, Gutknecht L, Reif A, Brocke B, Lesch KP (2004) Association between allelic variation of serotonin transporter function and neuroticism in anxious cluster c personality disorders. Am J Psychiatry 161(3):569–572CrossRefPubMed

Jacob CP, Muller J, Schmidt M, Hohenberger K, Gutknecht L, Reif A, Schmidtke A, Mossner R, Lesch KP (2005) Cluster b personality disorders are associated with allelic variation of monoamine oxidase a activity. Neuropsychopharmacology 30(9):1711–1718CrossRefPubMed

Jacob CP, Romanos J, Dempfle A, Heine M, Windemuth-Kieselbach C, Kruse A, Reif A, Walitza S, Romanos M, Strobel A, Brocke B, Schafer H, Schmidtke A, Boning J, Lesch KP (2007) Comorbidity of adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder with focus on personality traits and related disorders in a tertiary referral center. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 257(6):309–317CrossRefPubMed

Kelly TM, Cornelius JR, Clark DB (2004) Psychiatric disorders and attempted suicide among adolescents with substance use disorders. Drug Alcohol Depend 73(1):87–97CrossRefPubMed

Kessler RC, Berglund P, Demler O, Jin R, Merikangas KR, Walters EE (2005) Lifetime prevalence and age-of-onset distributions of dsm-iv disorders in the national comorbidity survey replication. Arch Gen Psychiatry 62(6):593–602CrossRefPubMed

Knutson B, Cooper JC (2005) Functional magnetic resonance imaging of reward prediction. Curr Opin Neurol 18(4):411–417CrossRefPubMed

Kooij JJ, Burger H, Boonstra AM, Van der Linden PD, Kalma LE, Buitelaar JK (2004) Efficacy and safety of methylphenidate in 45 adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. A randomized placebo-controlled double-blind cross-over trial. Psychol Med 34(6):973–982CrossRefPubMed

Leppänen JM (2006) Emotional information processing in mood disorders: a review of behavioral and neuroimaging findings. Curr Opin Psychiatry 19:34–39CrossRefPubMed

Ludolph AG, Kassubek J, Schmeck K, Glaser C, Wunderlich A, Buck AK, Reske SN, Fegert JM, Mottaghye FM (2008) Dopaminergic dysfunction in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (adhd), differences between pharmacologically treated and never treated young adults: a 3, 4-dihdroxy-6-[18f]fluorophenyl-l-alanine pet study. Neuroimage 41(3):718–727CrossRefPubMed

Mannuzza S, Klein RG, Bessler A, Malloy P, LaPadula M (1998) Adult psychiatric status of hyperactive boys grown up. Am J Psychiatry 155(4):493–498PubMed

Marks DJ, Newcorn JH, Halperin JM (2001) Comorbidity in adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Ann N Y Acad Sci 931:216–238CrossRefPubMed

Marsh AA, Finger EC, Mitchell DG, Reid ME, Sims C, Kosson DS, Towbin KE, Leibenluft E, Pine DS, Blair RJ (2008) Reduced amygdala response to fearful expressions in children and adolescents with callous-unemotional traits and disruptive behavior disorders. Am J Psychiatry 165(6):712–720CrossRefPubMed

McGough JJ (2005) Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder pharmacogenomics. Biol Psychiatry 57(11):1367–1373CrossRefPubMed

Morrison J (1980) Adult psychiatric disorders in parents of hyperactive children. Am J Psychiatry 137(7):825–827PubMed

Murphy K, Barkley RA (1996) Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder adults: comorbidities and adaptive impairments. Compr Psychiatry 37(6):393–401CrossRefPubMed

Ochsner KN, Bunge SA, Gross JJ, Gabrieli JD (2002) Rethinking feelings: an fmri study of the cognitive regulation of emotion. J Cogn Neurosci 14(8):1215–1229CrossRefPubMed

Pelc K, Kornreich C, Foisy ML, Dan B (2006) Recognition of emotional facial expressions in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Pediatr Neurol 35(2):93–97CrossRefPubMed

Plessen KJ, Bansal R, Zhu H, Whiteman R, Amat J, Quackenbush GA, Martin L, Durkin K, Blair C, Royal J, Hugdahl K, Peterson BS (2006) Hippocampus and amygdala morphology in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Arch Gen Psychiatry 63(7):795–807CrossRefPubMed

Plichta MM, Vasic N, Wolf RC, Lesch KP, Brummer D, Jacob C, Fallgatter AJ, Gron G (2009) Neural hyporesponsiveness and hyperresponsiveness during immediate and delayed reward processing in adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Biol Psychiatry 65(1):7–14CrossRefPubMed

Rasmussen P, Gillberg C (2000) Natural outcome of adhd with developmental coordination disorder at age 22 years: a controlled, longitudinal, community-based study. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 39(11):1424–1431CrossRefPubMed

Ratey JJ, Greenberg MS, Bemporad JR, Lindem KJ (1992) Unrecognized attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in adults presenting for outpatient psychotherapy. J Child Adolesc Psychopharmacol 2(4):267–275. doi:101089/cap.1992.2.267 CrossRefPubMed

Rosler M, Retz W, Retz-Junginger P, Hengesch G, Schneider M, Supprian T, Schwitzgebel P, Pinhard K, Dovi-Akue N, Wender P, Thome J (2004a) Prevalence of attention deficit-/hyperactivity disorder (adhd) and comorbid disorders in young male prison inmates. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 254(6):365–371CrossRefPubMed

Rosler M, Retz W, Retz-Junginger P, Thome J, Supprian T, Nissen T, Stieglitz RD, Blocher D, Hengesch G, Trott GE (2004b) Tools for the diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in adults. Self-rating behaviour questionnaire and diagnostic checklist. Nervenarzt 75(9):888–895CrossRefPubMed

Rosler M, Retz W, Fischer R, Ose C, Alm B, Deckert J, Philipsen A, Herpertz S, Ammer R (2010) Twenty-four-week treatment with extended release methylphenidate improves emotional symptoms in adult adhd. World J Biol Psychiatry 11(5):709–718CrossRefPubMed

Sasayama D, Hayashida A, Yamasue H, Harada Y, Kaneko T, Kasai K, Washizuka S, Amano N (2010) Neuroanatomical correlates of attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder accounting for comorbid oppositional defiant disorder and conduct disorder. Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 64(4):394–402CrossRefPubMed

Scheres A, Milham MP, Knutson B, Castellanos FX (2007) Ventral striatal hyporesponsiveness during reward anticipation in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Biol Psychiatry 61(5):720–724CrossRefPubMed

Shekim WO, Asarnow RF, Hess E, Zaucha K, Wheeler N (1990) A clinical and demographic profile of a sample of adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, residual state. Compr Psychiatry 31(5):416–425CrossRefPubMed

Singh SD, Ellis CR, Winton AS, Singh NN, Leung JP, Oswald DP (1998) Recognition of facial expressions of emotion by children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Behav Modif 22(2):128–142CrossRefPubMed

Sobanski E (2006) Psychiatric comorbidity in adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (adhd). Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 256(Suppl 1):i26–i31CrossRefPubMed

Sobanski E, Banaschewski T, Asherson P, Buitelaar J, Chen W, Franke B, Holtmann M, Krumm B, Sergeant J, Sonuga-Barke E, Stringaris A, Taylor E, Anney R, Ebstein RP, Gill M, Miranda A, Mulas F, Oades RD, Roeyers H, Rothenberger A, Steinhausen HC, Faraone SV (2010) Emotional lability in children and adolescents with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (adhd): clinical correlates and familial prevalence. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 51(8):915–923CrossRefPubMed

Sonuga-Barke EJ (2003) The dual pathway model of ad/hd: an elaboration of neuro-developmental characteristics. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 27(7):593–604CrossRefPubMed

Sonuga-Barke EJ (2005) Causal models of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: from common simple deficits to multiple developmental pathways. Biol Psychiatry 57(11):1231–1238CrossRefPubMed

Spencer T, Biederman J, Wilens T, Doyle R, Surman C, Prince J, Mick E, Aleardi M, Herzig K, Faraone S (2005) A large, double-blind, randomized clinical trial of methylphenidate in the treatment of adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Biol Psychiatry 57(5):456–463CrossRefPubMed

Stark R, Bauer E, Merc CJ, Zimmermann M, Reuter M, Plichta MM, Kirsch P, Lesch KP, Fallgatter AJ, Vaitl D, Herrmann MJ (submitted) ADHD related behaviors are associated with brain activation in the reward system

Sterzer P, Stadler C, Krebs A, Kleinschmidt A, Poustka F (2005) Abnormal neural responses to emotional visual stimuli in adolescents with conduct disorder. Biol Psychiatry 57(1):7–15. i

Ströhle A, Stoy M, Wrase J, Schwarzer S, Schlagenhauf F, Huss M, Hein J, Nedderhut A, Neumann B, Gregor A, Juckel G, Knutson B, Lehmkuhl U, Bauer M, Heinz A (2008) Reward anticipation and outcomes in adult males with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Neuroimage 39:966–972CrossRefPubMed

Volkow ND, Wang G-J, Newcorn J, Telang F, Solanto MV, Fowler JS, Logan J, Ma Y, Schulz K, Pradhan K, Wong C, Swanson JM (2007) Depressed dopamine activity in caudate and preliminary evidence of limbic involvement in adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Arch Gen Psychiatry 64(8):932–940CrossRefPubMed

Ward MF, Wender PH, Reimherr FW (1993) The wender utah rating scale: an aid in the retrospective diagnosis of childhood attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Am J Psychiatry 150(6):885–890PubMed

Weiss G, Hechtman L, Milroy T, Perlman T (1985) Psychiatric status of hyperactives as adults: a controlled prospective 15-year follow-up of 63 hyperactive children. J Am Acad Child Psychiatry 24(2):211–220CrossRefPubMed

Wender PH (1995) Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in adults. Oxford University Press, New York

Willcutt EG, Doyle AE, Nigg JT, Faraone SV, Pennington BF (2005) Validity of the executive function theory of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a meta-analytic review. Biol Psychiatry 57(11):1336–1346CrossRefPubMed

Williams LM, Hermens DF, Palmer D, Kohn M, Clarke S, Keage H, Clark CR, Gordon E (2008) Misinterpreting emotional expressions in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: evidence for a neural marker and stimulant effects. Biol Psychiatry 63(10):917–926CrossRefPubMed

Woidich E, Conzelmann A, Muchal RF, Weyers P, Jacob CP, Pauli P (2009) The impact of methylphenidate on early emotional processes in adult patients with attention deficient hyperactivity disorder (adhd). J Cogn Neurosci Supplement:92

Title: Neurobiological and psychophysiological correlates of emotional dysregulation in ADHD patients
Authors: Martin J. Herrmann
Stefanie C. Biehl
Christian Jacob
Jürgen Deckert
Publication date: 01-12-2010
Publisher: Springer Vienna
Published in: ADHD Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorders / Issue 4/2010
Print ISSN: 1866-6116
Electronic ISSN: 1866-6647
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12402-010-0047-6

At a glance: The ONWARDS insulin icodec trials

Springer Medicine

Neurobiological and psychophysiological correlates of emotional dysregulation in ADHD patients

Abstract

At a glance: The ONWARDS insulin icodec trials

Springer Medicine

Abstract

Please log in to get access to this content

Other articles of this Issue 4/2010

The history of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Inflammation: good or bad for ADHD?

Developmental comorbidity in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Self-perception of self-regulatory skills in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder aged 8–10 years

To Andreas Warnke, Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Head of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy at the University of Wuerzburg, Germany, to celebrate his professional life and work at the occasion of his 65th anniversary

Case report: intoxication with high dose of long-acting methylphenidate (Concerta®) in a suicidal 14-year-old girl