I confess I used to think attention deficit disorders were not as serious as other disorders. I was so wrong.
Sure, teens with attention deficits had problems, but they didn’t compare with the disabling and dangerous problems resulting from bipolar or schizophrenia. ADHD kids seemed more ‘functional’ to me and treatments seemed to work better. They were also friendly and funny. While other families with mentally ill children talked about psychotic breaks, suicide, and panic attacks, I heard parents of ADHD kids talk about frustration and daily calls from school. Heck, kids with ADHD could attend school!
“Genius by birth; slacker by choice.”
–seen on a T-shirt
I confess, I thought ADHD symptoms made a person interesting, and fun and creative (true), but my perception changed radically when I found research on children with ADHD who were tracked from childhood to adulthood. These studies revealed deeply unsettling news—the consequences of ADHD can be quite serious.
Adults with ADHD have a higher risk of developing other psychiatric problems, being victimized and incarcerated, and facing lifetime struggles with education, employment, and relationships. Summaries from 10 research studies on the long-term prognosis of ADHD are found at the end of this post.
People with ADD and ADHD have so many gifts!
When I attended a children’s mental health conference, a workshop was lead by a panel of young people with with ADHD. They were articulate about their experiences and needs, answered questions, and interacted appropriately with audiences. So many strengths! Young people with other disorders can be challenged by the cognitive and emotional demands of these tasks. I learned a lot.
Parents need the support to address the basics: behavior at school and home, school attendance and educational attainment, self-esteem, and self-actualization. In addition to medical/medication treatment as recommended, parents need to know how to teach self-calming skills so their child can effectively control impulses.
Little things start adding up – Without skills (and/or medication), a person with ADHD slips up on life’s daily little challenges–losing, forgetting, neglecting, overreacting, disappointing others, and undermining themselves in a thousand different ways.
Guide your child to his or her gifts
A: “What was the question again? I saw something shiny.”
A personal rant: I’ve read articles that question the existence of ADHD or criticize parents who get medication for their son or daughter. Prejudice against this disorder and parents is sadly common. Public misinformation and controversy over ADHD and medication negatively influences parents’ decisions.
Some think ADHD is an excuse for bad parenting, or treatable with natural substances or meditation, etc. Parents don’t cause ADD, ADHD. And while non-drug options help, results can be marginal and short-lived. I know parents who cling to pseudo-treatments that fit a personal philosophy, but can’t admit when they’re child’s symptoms aren’t improving. If a non-drug remedy is effective, this will be the proof: the child keeps up with their peers at school, exhibits behaviors typical for their age, and is able to learn some self-control.
At another extreme, some parents want a “quick fix” with pills. Or, if parents are happy with the results of the right medication, they overlook their child’s discomfort with side effects, or worse, they overlook how their home environment aggravates distraction and chaos. A pill will partially compensate for bad parenting and a crazy-making household, but that child does not deserve the burden.
High School Students With ADHD: The Group Most Likely to…Fizzle
Breslau J, Miller E, Joanie Chung WJ, Schweitzer JB.Childhood and adolescent onset psychiatric disorders, substance use, and failure to graduate high school on time. Journal of Psychiatric Research. Jul 15 2010
Adolescents with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), conduct disorder, or who smoke cigarettes are least likely to finish high school (HS) on time or most likely to drop out altogether, researchers at the University of California, Davis, School of Medicine (UC Davis) have found.
Lead investigator Joshua Breslau, PhD, ScD, medical anthropologist and psychiatric epidemiologist reported that of a total of 29,662 respondents, about one-third (32.3%) of students with combined-type ADHD were more likely to drop out of high school than students with other psychiatric disorders. This figure was twice that of teens with no reported mental health problems (15%) who did not graduate. Students with conduct disorder were the second at-risk group (31%) to drop out or not finish on time. Cigarette smokers were third in line, with a staggering 29% who did not finish high school in a timely manner.
Educational achievement squelched in children with ADHD
Newsletter – NYU Child Study Center, New York, NY, February 2009
Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common disorders in childhood and adolescence, with prevalence estimates ranging from five to ten percent. Children with untreated ADHD drop out of high school 10 times more often than other children.
Adult psychiatric outcomes of girls with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
American Journal of Psychiatry, January 2010
Researchers studied age 6 to 18-year-old girls with diagnosed ADHD and followed up after 11 years. Conclusions: By young adulthood, girls with ADHD were at high risk for antisocial, addictive, mood, anxiety, and eating disorders. However, ADHD medications appear to reduce the prevalence of multiple disorders at least in the short-term. These findings, also documented in boys with ADHD, provide further evidence for negative long-term impacts ADHD across the life cycle.
Brain abnormality found in boys with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
Journal of Abnormal Psychology, March 2009
Researchers trying to uncover the mechanisms that cause ADHD and conduct disorder found an abnormality in the brains of adolescent boys suffering from the conditions. The research focused on two brain areas, the “mid brain” striatal, and cerebral cortex. The mid brain motivates people to engage in pleasurable or rewarding behavior. The cortex notices if an expected reward stops and considers options. However, this doesn’t occur as quickly in boys with ADHD or conduct disorders. Instead, the mid brain region keeps trying for rewards, which is a quality of addictive behavior.
Kids with ADHD more likely to bully, and those pushed around tend to exhibit attention problems
Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, February 2008
Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder are almost four times as likely as others to be bullies. And, in an intriguing corollary, the children with ADHD symptoms were almost 10 times as likely as others to have been regular targets of bullies prior to the onset of those symptoms. Bullies were the kids in class who couldn’t sit still and listen, didn’t do their homework and were almost constantly in motion. Children with ADHD symptoms make life miserable for their fellow students, and they too can develop attention problems related to the stress of being bullied.
Girls’ hyperactivity and physical aggression during childhood and adjustment problems in early adulthood: A 15-year longitudinal study.
Archives of General Psychiatry, March 2008
Girls with hyperactive behavior such as restlessness, jumping up and down, and difficulty keeping still or fidgety, and girls exhibiting physical aggression such as fighting, bullying, kicking, biting or hitting, all signs of ADHD, were found to have a high risk of developing adjustment problems in adulthood.
Teen’s inattentive symptoms may determine how long they stay in school
Forum for Health Economic & Policy, November 2009
Poor mental health of children and teenagers has a large impact on the length of time they will stay in school, based on the fact that at conception there are differences in genetic inheritance among siblings. This study provides strong evidence that inattentive symptoms of ADHD in childhood and depression in adolescents are linked to the number of years of completed schooling.
Children with ADHD more likely to participate in crimes
Yale School of Public Health and University of Wisconsin at Madison, October 2009
Children with ADHD are more likely to participate in crimes such as burglary, theft and drug dealing as adults. Those who had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder as children were at increased risk of developing criminal behaviors. Researchers said one reason is that children with ADHD tend to have lower amounts of schooling.
ADHD may affect adults’ occupational and educational attainments
Journal of Clinical Psychiatry September 2008
Adults who have ADHD generally have lower occupational and educational attainments as adults than they might have reached if they didn’t have the disorder, at least compared to what attainments would have been expected given their intellect. “Educational and occupational deficits… are a consequence of ADHD and not IQ,” lead researchers Dr. Joseph Biederman said. The finding strongly underscores the need for “diagnosing and treating ADHD to avert these serious consequences,” he said.
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in the course of life.
European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, September 2006.
ADHD is a pervasive disorder that extensively impairs quality of life and that can lead to serious secondary problems. Long-term studies have demonstrated that the disorder is not limited to childhood and adolescence. The clinical experience indicates substantial difficulties for adults whose ADHD is not diagnosed and treated, and they often create extensive costs for the welfare system. The evidence-based psychiatric treatment available is highly effective and inexpensive.
70% of crystal meth (methamphetamine) inpatients had ADHD
Journal of Addiction Disorders. 2005, and the blog: Adult ADHD Strengths.
Methamphetamine-dependent inpatients were screened for childhood attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and of the participants, 70.6% screened positive for ADHD and reported significantly more frequent methamphetamine use prior to baseline. ADHD participants exhibited significantly worse psychiatric symptomatology. At a three-week follow-up, all who didn’t complete treatment screened positive for ADHD.
Awesome blog I loved reading your info
I agree with your post.
An ADHD management program must be implemented as soon as the child is diagnosed to have it. That should include the child’s learning and acquisition of skills that he can use and enjoy. Properly reinforced with parental appreciation, this should boost the child self-worth and early self-actualization. He can then easily blend with others, and not be different.
Good thing today is that there are programs that are applied by individuals who understand the disorder well, and are able to provide therapeutic intervention, as well as psychomotor and behavioural modifications and developments to ADD/ADHD affected children. Among others are the wilderness treatment programs that has become popular today. Coupled with many other procedures, the children would just eventually mature as normally as others.
My grandson has ADHD an Asperger’s does not pick up after himself doesn’t keep himself clean steals mom car so he can clear his mind short tension span always needs someone helping him does get some social security he needs a place to help him and we gone for our own safety and mental health.