Developing a therapeutic app based on the emotional Stroop task for objective discovery of daily life issues for people with ADHD

TL;DR

A new app based on emotional Stroop tasks helps identify daily life issues for people with ADHD, making therapy more objective and efficient.

Contribution

A proof-of-concept app using modified emotional Stroop tasks to objectively identify daily life issues for ADHD therapy.

Findings

ADHD participants responded slower to negative emotions and daily life issues compared to neurotypicals.

Negative emotions and social issues were especially prevalent in ADHD participants.

The app highlighted 2-5 issues per participant, indicating high mental load areas needing therapy attention.

Abstract

Pinpointing the most urgent problem to start treatment on in therapy for people with ADHD is a subjective and time-consuming process. To improve this process, we designed a proof-of-concept for an application that can identify daily life issues that cause negative mental load. Through several modified emotional Stroop-tasks, we show that people with ADHD respond slower to negative emotions and daily life issues related to ADHD, compared to neurotypicals. Negative emotions and social issues were especially prevalent in the ADHD participants. The application highlighted two to five issues per participant. This could indicate that these topics cause the highest mental load in the participant, and need attention first from a therapist. Using this application in a therapeutic context could deliver a more objective, personalized, traceable and efficient therapy for daily-life issues in ADHD.

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