Symptoms
ADHD has a range of symptoms most commonly including:
- Hyperactivity
- Trouble focusing
- Trouble staying organized
- Trouble remembering details
- Impulsivity
- Physical agression
- Inattentiveness or "daydreaming"
- Verbal agression
New Discoveries
Recently researchers have found when using an fMRI, or functional MRI, that children with ADHD have shown abnornal connectivity patterns in their especially in their frontal cortex region. The prefrontal lobes of the brain seperately are nonfunctional, thus why they work togther with other parts of the brain to allow it to function properly. Researches have observed a lack of communication and connection stimulation between specific parts of the brain that lead to the symptoms we see in ADHD: Ventrolateral Prefrontal Cortex where emotional sympoms are found, Anterior Cingulate Cortex which holds a person's selective attention, the Motor Cortex which holds motor functions and the Orbitofrontal Cortex which is the part of the brain responsible for impulsive behavior. Miscommunication of lack of communication between these parts of the brain are what neuroscientists believe is the reasoning for ADHD. This new information is helping doctors try and find alternative methods to treating ADHD without medication.
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| The left brain is a healthy brain with increased brain function and activity in comparison to the right brain of someone with ADHD. |
fMRIs of brains comparing the efficency of brain pathways (on the left) and amount of activity, connectivity and communicaton (on the right)
Controversey
Many people believe that doctors and psychiatrists are overmedicating children, especially when it comes to ADHD. There is also a significant amount of people that think ADHD isn't real and it is just something doctors use to prescribe medication. Although it is true that some medical professionals do think that prescription drugs are a one pill fix all and occassionally overprescribe, the idea that kids with ADHD don't need medication is in some cases absurd. I myself do have severe ADHD, I'm on the highest dose of medication you can be on. I can honestly say that this medication has changed my life. Before this mediation I was not able to focus, I was bouncing off the walls (something that drove my family insane!), I was overly impulsive and had way too much energy. It was so hard for me to not be able to focus on one thing at a time, especially being a high school student trying to prepare for college. I could be sitting doing my homework and then want a glass of water, then I would think oh maybe I'm hungry, then I would think maybe I should make dinner, then I would look up recipies and then I would go look for the ingredients. I could give a million examples but you get the point. With medication I am so much calmer and I'm able to accomplish all of my work without distraction. 2 hours of homework no longer took 6 hours. Medication made me feel normal and not bad about myself becuase I couldn't focus on one task at a time. I can understad why some people would think that medication isn't good becuase they don't like all the chemicals, but for someone like me who has really bad ADHD, I don't know how I could live without it.
I also have ADHD, which I use medication to treat. I'm glad that you posted on this topic because I've had people in the past who've looked down on me for using this medication. Like you, I have pretty severe ADHD and I know that if I wasn't treating it I wouldn't be able to keep up with my workload for school because I'd constantly be distracted both in class and at home, and wouldn't be getting as much out of my classes. So its pretty annoying when I hear people talking about how ADHD isn't a thing or that people with ADHD should just try to focus harder instead of taking pills.
ReplyDeleteI think medication for ADHD is 100% necessary. However, I also know many high school students that abuse this medication that have not been diagnosed with ADHD. It is common for students to want to be able to focus more before big exams, do you have any idea if doctors are concerned about this? Or do they only care about being paid for prescriptions (this generalization can't be made for all doctors, but still).
ReplyDeleteWhen reading this article, specifically the part about doctors trying to find alternatives to medicine, I found it very pertinent to today with these new toys. The fidget spinner and fidget cubes have recently become more popular and are aimed towards kids with ADHD, anxiety, and autism. Although they seem to have benefited many children there is still controversy about if they work or are just a distraction. This blog post gave a good insight to how a person with ADHD differs from someone who doesn't suffer from this mental disorder and makes me want to find out more about the issue.
ReplyDeleteI'm very glad you brought up this topic, because I don't think that people in today's society take ADHD very seriously. Yes, it is not fatal, and people can live a normal life with it, but it still should not be taken lightly. I think that ADHD medications are crucial to people suffering from ADHD because it allows them to avoid distractions and to be able to get on with their tasks. I found the part about ADHD could be caused by a lack of communication between different parts of the brain very interesting, because previously, I had the assumption that ADHD was caused by one specific area of the brain.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed how you really focused on showing that ADHD is related to the actual chemical makeup of someone's brain and not just kids who don't have the capability to focus because they don't attempt to. It's crazy to me how people can be so ignorant to just assume that ADHD is just the inability for a child to not focus and don't recognize how it is a real thing in society. However along the lines of medication I think that any prescription pills shouldn't be a first choice to treat any disorder because there is of course risk. In my own opinion I think that medication is definitely necessary for some but it would be amazing if doctors could figure out a way to slowly decrease the amount of dosage needed for ADHD patients, if that isn't being practiced already.
ReplyDeleteThis is such an important issue, I'm really glad you wrote about it. People dismiss psychology all the time and it makes me upset, especially when people refuse to acknowledge certain disorders' existences.
ReplyDeleteThough I don't have ADHD, I'm on medication for a differen disorder and it's helped me so much. I hate how stigmatized mental health issues are and it's through honest accounts like this that I think that can change. As the fMRIs show, ADHD is very real and due to differences in the chemical makeups in the brain. It's incredibly common, as are many other disorders, and people should stop making them taboo.