More than likely, you know someone with ADHD.
Or at the very least you know someone who you suspect might have ADHD.
It’s one of the most common behavioral health diagnoses given to kids today.
So let’s say that you walk into an auditorium and you have
100 kids in sitting front of you.
On average, how many of them do you think are diagnosed with ADHD?
Go ahead and think about it and when you're ready, you can vote up here in the corner.
If you answered 11, then you’re right on the money.
About 11 percent of all teens and adolescents have been diagnosed with ADHD.
It’s so common that people with ADHD show up all the time in popular media.
Think of a character or somebody who shows up in TV or in the movies that has ADHD.
Just think about one.
Okay, most likely, you thought of a male character.
That’s probably because boys are two to three times more likely to be diagnosed with
ADHD compared to girls.
But why is that?
Well, let’s go back to your character.
The person that you thought of probably has the behavioral symptoms of the predominantly
hyperactive-impulsive type of ADHD.
These include symptoms like fidgeting, tapping, difficulty staying seated, playing loudly,
constantly moving, excessive talking, or interrupting others.
As you can imagine, these symptoms are easier to observe and, therefore, diagnose.
But there’s another kind of ADHD that gets much less attention
and that’s harder to see.
The inattentive type.
This type of ADHD is characterized by symptoms like not paying close attention to details,
making careless mistakes, having a hard time staying focused, not listening when spoken
to, not following through on instructions, not finishing tasks, difficulty staying organized,
avoiding complicated responsibilities, and losing things needed for everyday functioning.
Okay, now try to think of a character with the inattentive type ADHD.
It's not as easy, is it.
On average, women tend to have a higher rate of this subtype, which may be a big part of
why women are less likely to be diagnosed with ADHD at all.
There’s also the combination subtype, which is basically a mix of the two kinds.
If you find yourself experiencing a bunch of these symptoms and it causes problems at
school, at work, or just in everyday life, you may have ADHD.
Sorry for the sudden change in environment.
But I'm having a bit of a tough filming day.
The camera just died, so I decided to take a walk and just keep filming.
That's kind of fitting in honor of ADHD, don't you think?
Almost 70% of kids diagnosed with ADHD take medication for it.
In Alie’s video on the neuroscience of ADHD, our friends Cindy and Steve talked about their
experience taking the two most common forms of ADHD medications, which are
Adderall and Ritalin.
Medication for ADHD can be a polarizing topic.
You know, it’s often presented as the only form of treatment and a lot of parents don’t
want to give their kids stimulants.
Especially when the media talks about them being overprescribed or make it seem like
an ADHD diagnosis is just a way to control excitable kids.
Now many people wonder if Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, ADHD, is a real problem.
Could children just be overenergetic and/or naughty?
One in every ten male children takes medicine for the disorder and that number is increasing.
So if your mom doesn’t want to go that route, or if you’re just not feeling it yourself,
are you out of luck?
Are meds actually the only solution?
Well, most likely, if you’re watching this video,
you know the direction that I'm going in.
Turns out, therapy can be a very powerful adjunct or alternative to medication.
So, let’s take a look.
The most effective form of therapy for ADHD in children is Behavioral Therapy.
This is an umbrella term that refers to a lot of different kinds of therapy that focus
on a person’s unhealthy or unhelpful behaviors and works to change them.
The logic goes that by changing the behavior, you alleviate any
mental discomfort that's associated with it.
If you’re dealing with younger kids, then Behavioral Parent Training is the way to go.
Behavioral Parent Training, or BPT, is a type of therapy that involves providing parents
with specific instructions and directions on how they should interact with their child.
There are a lot of programs that use this model and it’s
pretty cool to see it in action.
I've actually seen it in person and when I've seen it done, it used a two-way mirror where
the therapist was on the dark side of the mirror with a walkie talkie and the parent
and child were on the other side in a playroom.
They can’t see the therapist, but the parent wears an earpiece so that they can hear what
the therapist is saying to them.
So as the child and parent talk and play, the therapist guides the parent through
Child-Directed Interactions.
These are essentially skills that teach the parent how to praise the child and increase
appropriate behaviors and focus on relationship building skills like
reflecting, imitating, and describing.
These skills make the child feel heard and understood and supported.
Parents are also instructed to provide dedicated attention to the child.
So a common suggestion would be to spend a few minutes every night showering their child
with praise on things that they did well that day.
This really reinforces those positive behaviors.
On the opposite end, parents also learn how to reduce problem behaviors by ignoring them
or providing consistent consequences, like timeouts.
By practicing all of this in session, then the parent can then use those same skills
at home and they essentially become like a co-therapist, which is pretty cool.
And it’s super effective, too.
Now, up to this point, most research on BPT has focused on younger kids, so it may or
may not be effective with teenagers.
But in general, 4 to 8 weeks of this therapy gives clear expectations to the kids and provides
a more positive relationship and home atmosphere.
And, surprise surprise, adults can benefit from therapy too.
Although the most effective form of treatment for adults with ADHD is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.
They just snuck in the cognitive part right there.
Funny enough, clients can actually use the same techniques of reinforcement and consequences
to change behavior like you would see in BPT.
But this time, you’re the one giving yourself the consequences, which can be tough.
Without a parent telling you what to do, it’s important for the client to examine their
cognitive processes and self-defeating thoughts to better understand and change their behaviors.
As you can imagine, when you consistently fail to complete tasks or have difficulty
with your social life as a result of your ADHD symptoms, that doesn’t make you feel
too good and it can really lead to a lot of negative thoughts.
CBT breaks down those barriers and builds up healthier, more positive thoughts.
A lot of ADHD-tailored CBT also focuses on building skills and routines that help the
client with organization, prioritization, and time management.
Essentially, you learn how to adapt your environment to be more forgiving of ADHD behaviors.
For example, if you often forget your keys or your wallet when you walk out the door,
maybe you create a pattern of putting them into your pants the night before or putting
them in your backpack if that's the thing that you can't leave home without.
Or if you often forget tasks, you might create a to-do list or
write down reminders on your phone.
This can vary from person to person and it's really all about finding changes that are
best suited for that person to make them feel more capable, calmer, and happier.
Alright, sun's is going down.
It's getting much colder.
It's a very pretty sunset, but let's go back inside.
I bet the camera's charged now.
There are other kinds of treatments that are promising for treating ADHD as well.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy, which was originally developed for treating Borderline Personality
Disorder, has shown some effectiveness because it teaches mindfulness, emotion regulation,
and interpersonal skill building.
Metacognitive Therapy, which essentially asks clients to examine how their mind works and
what they believe about their own thoughts, also appears to be effective because it teaches
new cognitive patterns and addresses maladaptive beliefs.
And specialized skill building in both group and individual forms seem to be effective
as well, which makes sense because it’s essentially CBT but, ya know,
without the C.
Now, with all of these therapies, you might be saying,
“Well, that’s not really treating the problem.
It’s not curing the ADHD.”
And that’s true, I mean,
these therapies doesn’t treat the core symptoms of
inattention, hyperactivity, or impulsivity.
Instead, they just try to make it easier to cope with the symptoms.
ADHD can’t really be cured, but the symptoms can be somewhat alleviated with medication.
That’s why the most effective treatment for ADHD is a combination of both
therapy and medication.
It’s like chocolate and peanut butter in the same candy.
Or archers and infantry on the battlefield.
Or a neuroscientist and a therapist explaining the same topic.
But the number of people who have received therapy for ADHD is horrendously low.
Only about 13% of kids diagnosed with ADHD ever receive therapy for it.
Contrast that to the CDC’s report that almost two thirds of kids with an ADHD diagnosis
are taking medications for it.
Damn.
Ultimately, it’s important for families and doctors and therapists to consider all
options for treating the condition.
And using effective, and evidence-based practices, then people can learn to live with their ADHD.
And perhaps, if therapy becomes more popular, then we can
decrease the number of stimulants being prescribed.
But that’s just my opinion.
I'd actually be curious to hear where you all fall on this.
So if you leave a comment down below, I'd love to start a conversation about all things
therapy and ADHD-related and get your feedback there too.
Anyway, thanks for watching this episode of Micah Psych on Neuro Transmissions.
And until next time, I’m Micah.
Think about it.
Okay, I think that's good.