A misunderstood illness in a world of misunderstood illnesses
What is ADHD?
There are children in classrooms across the world who are unable to concentrate, get bored easily, find it difficult to focus on a given task, often lose things, fail to hand in homework or assignments regularly, and cannot sit still for prolonged periods of time.
For most people, these are symptoms of a pervasive weakness in our educational systems; students are under-stimulated, teachers are disinterested, and classrooms have become places where education fails to thrive, leaving ill-equipped and educationally malnourished students in their wake.
For a segment of the population – roughly one to seven per cent – these are not symptoms of failing educational standards, but of a neurodevelopmental psychiatric disorder known as ADHD.
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is a complicated learning and developmental disorder. Saying that ADHD is complicated, however, is an understatement of cosmic proportions.
How does ADHD Work?
Modern medicine is still not certain as to what causes ADHD, but we are aware of three trait qualities that represent symptoms of the illness: inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. Furthermore, we know that ADHD is three times more common in boys than in girls, that 30 to 50 per cent of those diagnosed in childhood carry the symptoms into adulthood, and that it is notoriously difficult to precisely diagnose ADHD because of its similarities to other similar disorders.
ADD, for example, is attention deficit disorder. It is diagnosed in patients who have trouble focusing, are unable to pay attention, often lose things, and who are easily distracted. It differs from ADHD through the simple fact that those diagnosed with ADD do not experience high normal activity. In short, those with ADD are not “hyperactive.” However, ADD is not a standalone illness.
According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (the DSM) published by the American Psychiatric Association (APA), ADD is actually classified as ADHD-PI (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder predominantly inattentive). Simply put, ADD is ADHD that manifests with less hyperactivity, and more inattentiveness.
How does ADHD work, then? We don’t know.
While we know that vaccines certainly don’t cause it, we don’t know exactly what causes ADHD, and we don’t know how to prevent ADHD. However, we know how to diagnose ADHD, and we certainly know how to make life easier for those with ADHD. Furthermore, there is a general consensus within the medical community that individuals must display the symptoms for ADHD for at least six months before a diagnosis can even be considered.
Why is ADHD Important?
The Ontarion has a weekly mental health column that addresses the importance of openly discussing mental health in a safe and public forum. Our culture as a whole is highly critical of the things we don’t understand, and mental health tops that list. Understanding ADHD, then, is important for a multitude of reasons – chief among them being the fact that understanding mental health is integral to treating mental illness.
For the sake of simplicity, I argue that ADHD is important because of the astonishing difficulty associated with diagnosing ADHD, as well as the harm that comes from missing a diagnosis. As mentioned earlier, individuals must display symptoms for at least six months before a diagnosis can be considered. Additionally, for a diagnosis, individuals must show that their symptoms are negatively influencing at least two areas of their life. These areas include school, personal relationships, work, home, in the community, etc.
This is to say that, if an individual shows hyperactivity, inattentiveness, and an inability to focus for six months or greater, but their lives are not being negatively influenced, ADHD will not be diagnosed.
To consider the potential harm associated with a missed diagnosis, consider that 52 per cent of those with untreated ADHD develop drug or alcohol problems, 18 to 25 per cent of those with ADHD develop personality disorders, 20 per cent of problem gamblers have ADHD, and almost 50 per cent of adolescent suicides are individuals who have been diagnosed with ADHD or another learning disability.
What is the Future of ADHD?
We can treat ADHD, and individuals with ADHD can lead healthy, active lives in any number of possible avenues. ADHD is not necessarily a critical life-or-death diagnosis. We currently live in a world that is still scared of those who are different, because we don’t understand what makes them different.
The future of ADHD is the same as the future of all mental illnesses. There will come a time when we look at those diagnosed with mental illness, shrug, and say “they’re really not that different from the rest of us.”