The MERIM model
The Mental Effort Reward Imbalances Model: Dr Poulton’s explanation of why ADHD makes effort cost more and reward count for less.
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Explanation Sheet 1
What is ADHD?
A lot of people have heard of ADHD, but may not really understand the effects it has on a person’s functioning. Explanation 1 describes ADHD, giving examples of the types…
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Explanation Sheet 2
Oppositional defiant disorder and MERIM
Most children with ADHD (and also many ADHD adults) show some difficult and oppositional behaviour. Explanation 2 describes a logic to the maladaptive reward-seeking behaviour. This explanation may make it…
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Explanation Sheet 3
ADHD as a continuum
People whose brains function slightly differently often represent more extreme forms of the types of functioning all of us experience at times. Recognising our own features of ADHD and oppositional…
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Journal article
Understanding Attentional Functioning in Adult Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder—Could This Improve Diagnostic Specificity?
The diagnostic criteria for ADHD describe behaviour, not the thought processes behind it. In workshops with adults who have ADHD we asked how their attention actually behaves, and three patterns…
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External article
Do you ever feel like you are trying to run your brain on a battery that is low on charge?
One of the lesser known symptoms of ADHD is taking ‘mental short cuts’.
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Book chapter
Therapy for ADHD Directed Towards Addressing the Dual Imbalances in Mental Effort and Reward as Illustrated in the Mental Effort-Reward Imbalances Model (MERIM)
In this chapter we describe a clinical model for ADHD: the Mental Effort Reward Imbalances Model (MERIM). We use this model to explain some of the behaviour commonly observed in…