ADHD Facts About Attention Deficit Disorder
ADHD is the short abbreviation for "Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder", which is one of the most common childhood behavior disorders. It is estimated that somewhere between 5% and 9% of all children have ADHD. Of all children referred to mental health professionals, more are referred for ADHD than for any other condition. But ADHD is also one of the most treatable of all psychiatric disorders, with several effective options ranging from medications to alternative therapies, psycho-social treatments, and educational interventions.
Those with ADHD can have problems in many of the areas of their life, including home, school, work, and in relationships. ADHD is a chronic and unrelenting problem. Though it will change in form through the years, it will persist into adulthood and impact all relationships including marriages, parenting, and work performance.
What is ADHD ?
"Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder" or "ADHD" is a neuro-biological disorder. It is not the result of bad parenting, or watching too much T.V., or a lack of either discipline or love by parents. While any or all of these may exist and be problems, the ADHD would exist even if Ozzie and Harriet were the parents. ADHD has neuro-biological roots. There are very strong genetic factors that influence both brain function and development. There are many recent studies and imaging techniques that have demonstrated this over the past twenty years. There are also other potential contributing factors that might cause one to acquire ADHD problems, such as brain injuries received either in utero, or after birth, or high fevers from infections, and so on. While we would argue that head injuries should be classified as "head injuries" rather than as "ADHD", in most studies they are included as ADHD.
ADHD impacts individuals in four main areas of their life:
- Attention - causing people to have problems paying attention to routine or boring tasks, or staying focused on a task long enough to finish the task, especially if the task is not very interesting. The person might be able to focus on interesting projects or entertainment such as video games for long periods of time, but it is the mundain tasks of life that are very difficult.
- Impulsivity - a lack of self-control. Impulsive behaviors, or choices, can cause havoc in relationships, work, school, or life. Saying things, or doing things without thinking first, or considering the consequences, is a pretty classic symptom of ADHD in both children and adults.
- Hyperactivity - Many (though not all) with ADHD are "bouncy" like Tigger, hyperactive, always "on the go," and restless. The standard line is that they act as if they are "driven by a motor." Another good description is "excessive, non-goal directed, motor activity." This is mostly seen in younger children, and this is the symptom most likely to be "outgrown" as one matures.
- Easily Bored - Unless the task is very stimulating, like a video game or TV program or outside playing, those with ADHD are often easily bored by a task - especially bored by homework, math tests, balancing checkbooks, or doing taxes, and many of these tasks just never get done.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is a neurologically based disorder.
This position has become controversial as many would like to dismiss the diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder altogether saying that there is no evidence of neurological differences, or that there are no medical tests to diagnose ADD ADHD, or that the diagnostic criteria is too broad. But they would be wrong. There is an overwhelming amount of research to support the statement that, indeed, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is a neurobiologically based condition. We discuss this in great detail in the neurology of the ADHD brain and offer plenty of ADHD research information.
Brain imaging studies show that the brains of those with ADHD are different from those without ADHD in terms of size, activity, and development. Certain regions of the ADHD brain can be as much as 10% smaller than those without ADHD. And areas such as the frontal lobes, cerebellum, and anterior cingulate, can be very under-active compared to normal. These areas can also be as much as two to three years behind in development compared to normal. These differences will remain through the life of a person with ADHD.
ADHD impacts various systems of the brain, particularly systems involved with "executive functions", "inhibition", and "working memory". Most of these involve the activity of the frontal lobes, and the interaction of the frontal lobes with other structures of the brain acting as a "system". But since the frontal lobes are smaller, less active, and behind in development, each of these systems is impacted to some degree. As other areas of the brain are also affected, the look or type of ADHD is different.
ADHD is not the result of "bad parenting" or obnoxious, willful defiance on the part of the child.
Yes, a child may be willfully defiant whether he has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder or not. Defiance, rebelliousness, and selfishness are more often "moral" issues than neurological issues. We make no excuses for "immoral," "selfish," or "destructive" behaviors, whether from individuals with ADD ADHD or not. It may be true that the child or teen's parents may need further or more in-depth training on parenting defiant children. We are constantly amazed at how many young parents today themselves grew up in homes where their own parents were gone all day. We now see "grown up latch key kids" trying to parent as best as they can, but without having had the benefit of growing up with good parental role models. This is a problem that can be solved with some training. But it is not Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
Oppositional Defiant Disorder is not ADHD. Conduct Disorder is not ADHD. However, there is a sub-group of people who have both ADHD and ODD, or ADHD and CD. This is a very difficult group to treat and as a group has a poor prognosis. This is explored in greater detail elsewhere here at the ADHD Information Library. This sub-group may be a completely different problem than ADHD or ODD by themselves.
Neurologically based, genetically rooted Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is what we explore here at the ADD ADHD Information Library.
Dr Russel Barkley describes ADHD and treatment. Dr.Barkley is a smart guy, leaning toward the side of pharmaceutical companies, but extremely knowledgeable about ADHD and current research.
Defining "Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder"
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is a medical condition, a neuro-biological disorder, caused by genetic factors that result in certain neurological differences including the size, function, activation, and development of the human brain.
ADHD is one of the most common childhood behavior disorders. It is seen in about 5% to 9% of all children and teenagers, depending on the study and the definition. Children with ADHD have impaired functioning in a variety of settings, including at home, in school, and in relationships with peers. ADHD is persistant and chronic. If untreated, ADHD children can have long-term adverse effects into adolescence and adulthood. About 4% of the population still has their symptoms from the childhood ADHD bad enough that they are diagnosed as "Adult ADHD."
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder comes in a variety of types.
We have our own way of describing the different types of ADHD that is easy for both parents and children to understand, using the characters from the Winnie the Pooh stories. Pooh Bear has his head in the clouds, Piglet is anxious and worried, Eeyore is slow and depressed, Tigger is hyper and impulsive, Rabbit is over-focused and rigid. These are pretty descriptive of most of the different types of ADHD that present for treatment.
In the American Psychiatric Association's DSM IV manual, the different types of ADHD all fall under the main category of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The main category is then subdivided into
- ADHD Inattentive Type
- ADHD Impulsive-Hyperactive Type
- ADHD Combined Type
In the DSM-III the terms attention deficit disorder "with hyperactivity" or "without hyperactivity" were also used. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder comes in various forms, and truly, no two ADD ADHD kids are exactly alike. But there are two sub-groups to focus on in terms of both behaviors and neurology: ADHD Inattentive Type vs. ADHD Combined Type. And these two may actually be two different disorders, not just two types of ADHD. What about the Impulsive-Hyperactive Types? Well as time passes and they mature a bit, the hyperactivity calms down and "impulsive-hyperactive type" person gets re-diagnosed as a "combined type" person. This occurs about 90% of the time, so they are probably really the same thing, but just in different stages at different ages.
Description of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder might affect one, two, or several areas of the brain, resulting in the different "styles" or "profiles" of children (and adults) with ADD ADHD. These different profiles impact performance in these four areas that we will just list briefly here, but expore in more detail in other articles:
- Inattention, which is a problem with losing focus and not being good at paying attention to the right thing at the right time
- Impulsivity, which is a problem with a lack of impulse control, or a lack of self-control
- Hyperactivity, which is a problem with over-activity or motor restlessness - always "on the go"
- Finally, a problem which is not yet an "official" problem found in the diagnostic manuals, but ought to be: being easily bored, especially if the task is not interesting, or is only somewhat interesting
A few other important characteristics of this disorder are:
1) That it is SEEN IN MOST SITUATIONS, not just at school, or just in the home. When the problem is seen only at home, we then would wonder if perhaps the child is depressed, or if the child is just being non-compliant with the parents;
2) That the problems are apparent BEFORE the AGE OF SEVEN (7).
Since Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is thought to be a neurologically based disorder, we would expect that outside of acquiring its symptoms from a head injury, the individual with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder would have been born with the disorder. Even though the disorder might not become much of a problem until the second or third grade when the school work becomes more demanding, one would expect that at least some of the symptoms were noted before the age of seven.
Characterized by inattention, impulsivity, and perhaps hyperactivity, we have found that there are several different types of ADHD. Each type has a different symptom profile, and each type requires a different treatment strategy for the most effective treatment. Learn about the different types of ADHD and specific treatment strategies for each type of ADHD.
There are a number of effective ADHD medications available today, including those made from methylphenidate, better known as Ritalin. ADHD medications are discussed in this section.
Great alternative treatments to ADHD medication are also available, including Attend and Extress, which are manufactured and sold by VAXA International, EEG Biofeedback training, and our ADHD diet recommendations. These ADHD alternative treatments can be used along with medications, or in many cases can be used instead of ADHD medications.
ADHD is a neurological condition with a genetic basis and we discuss the neurology of ADHD. There are also many conditions that look like ADHD, but are not. A good assessment for ADHD will take “differential diagnoses” into account.
Treatment options and treatment planning for ADHD are considered and discussed.
We have hundreds of articles here at the ADD ADHD Information Library to help you learn just what is ADHD.
