Adult Adhd, Diagnosis And Treatment Options

ADD (attention deficit disorder) better known recently as ADHD (attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder) has been recent subject to a surge of investigation and intensified clinical care in children.
In adults however, besides the fact that ADHD has been proven as an ailment continuing into adulthood (and not getting better with age-as it has been previously thought) very little progress has been made. About 2-7% of children are affected by ADHD and it is estimated that a similar number of adults are affected.

Despite the current data that ADHD does not improve with age, the number of ADHD patients being taken care of decreases with age and only an estimated 0.03% of the general population is diagnosed with ADHD. This means that roughly 90% of ADHD adults go unrecognized. What is worse, only one third of the diagnosed ADHD adults get medication.
Although traditionally ADHD has been attributed to a variety of environmental factors, recent research suggests that the main cause for it is genetic. Environmental factors however can be responsible for triggering or worsening the symptoms.

Attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder is a serious problem for many. It tends to disrupt normal day to day life in various degrees. Having dealt with ADHD symptoms for prolonged periods of time, many adults have developed coping mechanisms that failed over time. Adults with ADHD form a large number of the inmate population, get in trouble with the law, smoke and use illegal substances more than their peers, have difficulties with executive functioning and have problems keeping their jobs and even their families.
In many adults, during a lifetime of coping, the impulsivity symptoms are more prevalent than in children. About 50% of adults with ADHD report impulsivity.

A variety of comorbidity can develop in adults with ADHD and it is sometimes challenging to diagnose ADHD in patient where the most preeminent symptoms might not be the classical hyperactivity or lack of attention symptoms, but mostly behave as illegal substance users and abusers or antisocial.

It is the role of the psychiatrist evaluating the person with ADHD to find out, under the mask of coping and failure developed over the years the seed of hyperactivity and lack of concentration.

Treating adult ADHD benefits the patient, the family and the society as a whole. Treatment for ADHD includes medication and life style adjustments. Most medication used for children with ADHD is also approved by the FDA for adult ADHD and the medicines not currently FDA approved can be prescribed off label.

Many adults with ADHD take medications for a variety of medical problems, such as heart diseases, hypertension and others and interactions with those medications or possible worsening of the medical problems by the ADHD medication can make the medical management of the adult ADHD patient a challenge.

A variety of individualized life style changes are feasible and should be explored by the patient and the caregiver since these simple coping mechanisms may prove useful. Dietary interventions have been proved useful in various degrees in improving ADHD.

In summary, adult ADHD is a common but commonly underdiagnosed and undertreated disorder.Various effcient therapeutic options are available and can change the quality of life of the patients.

By: psychiatric fox

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com