Analysis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

The provided document contains a comprehensive collection of research articles and studies related to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). It includes a range of topics such as the effects of methylphenidate on cognitive functions in children and adolescents with ADHD, behavioral interventions for ADHD, and the heritability of clinically diagnosed ADHD across the lifespan. Additionally, it provides an overview of ADHD research studies published in various journals and online sources.

ATTENTION DEFICIT
HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION.......................................1
MAIN BODY...............................................1
CONCLUSION............................................8
REFERENCES............................................9
Books and journals.......................................9

INTRODUCTION
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity
disorder is a mental disorder in which an
individual has difficulty in paying attention
and inability to control behaviour. It is one
of the major reasons for health inequalities
among young adults and children.
Symptoms of this disorder can start seeing
from childhood and move through
adolescence and adulthood. Children or
young adults suffering from them become
restless or inactive.
There are number of factors that
contributes to this disorder like genes,
smoking, consumption of alcohol, low birth
weight, exposure to pollutant environment,
brain injury etc. Essay includes an
explanation about health inequalities in
children and young adults and reasons for
existence of these inequalities among them.
It will also include initiatives taken to
improve health inequalities among children
and implementation of it(Visser and et.al.,
2014).
Health inequalities and experiences of
people suffering from ADHD
Health inequalities can be termed as
those differences in people's health, which
are unavoidable and do not occur randomly
or by chance in individuals. They are
discovered by situations which are largely
beyond the control of people. These
inequalities are caused by influence of many
factors like work, economic conditions,
education, lifestyle, family background etc.
They can also be caused due to poor income
of family, discrimination and inability to
access to basic health services(Thomas, and
et.al.,2015).
ADHD can also be termed as health
inequality, which is being faced by young
people and children. This health related
issue makes a person hyperactive and
impulsive that forces them to do work
without thinking. Health inequalities can be
reduced by providing equal opportunities to
all young people and children to lead a
healthy and successful life regardless of
their differences. Attention deficit disorder
can include symptoms like easily distracted
by useless things, not listening to others
while talking, failing in following
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instructions, making careless mistakes at
work(hat are health inequalities? 2017,).
ADHD can be caused due to
personal factors like smoking, alcohol
consumption, gene disorder etc. Biological
factors like injury of brain, any shock to
mind, mental disorder and psychological
factors like inferiority complex, feeling of
jealousy, low self esteem etc have also an
impact (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity
Disorder 2017,). Poverty can also influence
a child's mind that makes them inefficient to
learn new things and methods. Individuals
can experience disorders due to economic
lifestyle, social and environmental factors.
These inequalities in children or young
adults can be diagnosed by medication,
treatment by doctors, attention given by
parents, teachers or feedback from friends or
relatives(Shaw and et.al.,2014.).
People who are suffering from
ADHD have a problem in creating social
relations with people and are unable to
interact socially and build relationships with
other people and unable to relate to their
peers. Common issues faced by person
suffering from ADHD are anxiety, sleeping
disorders, impatience, and difficulty in
learning in social skills and have weird
attitude towards every other person.
Social and environmental factors can
also be reason for these inequalities like
smoking during pregnancy, stress in family,
feeling of depression, living in an unhealthy
area, feeling low, depression, failure in life
etc. These disorders can also be diagnosed
by behavioural therapy, physical exercise
that includes yoga, running, aerobics,
learning social skills, and taking feedbacks
from parents, peers or teachers (Barbaresi
and et.al.,2014).
Needs of children suffering from health
inequalities.
Children and young adult needs supervision
and support from their mentors, parents or
teachers which help them in improving their
mental health condition and also gives them
ability to fight against inequalities and also
help them in reducing depression and
anxieties.
Children need support from their families
and teachers to be successful in life without
any fear. Mental health doctors can also
teach parents of child suffering from this
disorder, which can help them to learn new
talents, skills or methods. Improving social
lifestyle can also help in improving mental
conditions of children they will feel more
motivated and happy to do perform any task
(Coghill and et.al., 2014). Parents also have
an impact on child’s brain as their learning
2

begin from home; when they see them
fighting and arguing then it affects young
adult’s mind and may have negative impact
on his mind, which may result in change in
his behaviour.
Reasons for existence of health
inequalities
Health inequalities in different
people may exist due to various reasons.
Reason for existence of ADHD may be due
to depression, anxiety issues or disorder that
causes mood swings. Depression may
include feeling of low self-esteem, loss of
interest in activities, change in eating
patterns, suicidal thoughts, aggressiveness,
unbearable pain etc.
Young children can also face
problems related to anxiety like feeling of
restlessness, easy irritation, fear of failure,
low self-confidence, difficulty in paying
attention etc. Person suffering from this
inequality may also face bipolar disorder,
which includes mood swings, talking
continuously, inappropriate behaviour with
peers, difficulty in social interaction,
excessive laughing on any situation etc.
(Evans, Owens and Bunford 2014).
Health inequalities arise mainly due
to inequalities of society or conditions in
which person is born, grows, lives, work or
ages. Social, economical and environmental
conditions faced by children also have an
influence on their health. These inequalities
may occur due to fundamental causes like
unequal distribution of income among
people, discrimination and poverty, macro
social-political changes, fairness and equity
in society, assistance of racism in society.
Sociological factors pay a huge
impact on life of young adults who are going
through ADHD. These factors may include
poor living and working conditions of
children or young adults, stressful work
environment, poor education,
unemployment, family background, failed
relationships, no status in social group,
deprived of basic amenities like food, water
and house. Psychological factors may
include mental health problem, fatigue,
hypertension, jealousy, insomnia, feeling of
irritation and aggressiveness.
These health inequalities may exist
due to social group differences. Social
differences are because of unequal
distribution of income and education. These
inequalities in people can be diagnosed by
providing them with high quality resources
that includes income, education and social
class (Daley and et.al., 2014).
begin from home; when they see
them fighting and arguing then it affects
young adult’s mind and may have negative
3

impact on his mind, which may result in
change in his behaviour.
Rights of children suffering from health
inequalities.
Children and young adults have right to
know about their health condition and also
they need to be explained about what type of
treatment they are going through. Young
adults also have right to share information,
feelings and thoughts which occur in there
mind to their teachers or health
professionals.
ADHD may also exist in children or
young adults due to poverty. Living in poor
area can damage health of children and
affect working of his mind. By this child
may develop feeling of jealousy, aggression
and negativity towards environment. It
might also happen when young adults are
deprived of basic amenities like water, food
and shelter which may severely affect their
mind and can result into anxiety, feeling of
depression, suicidal thoughts, sleep
depressives and hopelessness
Health inequalities may also occur in
young adult and children due to
unemployment. Poor job or no job can have
a huge effect on young adults mind and can
be bad for health of them. Employment has
potential to improve health of young adults
as children who have job contains high self
confidence and are also motivated. No job
can increase health related problems which
may result in low self esteem, fear of failure,
restlessness. Young adults while facing
these challenges should have support of
parents or mentors or should concern doctor
and share their feelings with them which
helps them to fight against disorders
Initiative taken to improve health
inequalities
Provision to support health needs of
children and young people
Health inequalities like ADHD are
faced by huge population of country due to
various reasons like social, economical and
environmental. Initiatives are taken by local
bodies, parents or teachers to improve health
conditions of young adults and children.
It may include:
Therapy: It may help young adults
suffering from ADHD to recover from this
health inequality. Therapy may include
behavioural and psychotherapy. It may be
different for children and adults. For kids, it
is being conducted with support of their
parents and relatives like scheduling an
appointment with doctor, regular check-ups,
organising daily routine tasks and providing
4

young adults with rewards and praising them
for their work
For adults, help can be taken from a
certified therapist and providing them with
better work and living environment,
motivating and supporting them to fight
against challenges face.
Psychotherapy is useful for those
who have anxiety disorders. This therapy
focuses on children's specific anxiety, needs
or wants. It helps them in fighting with
anxiety and depression issues(McLaughlin
and et.al., 2014). Behavioural therapy also
helps children who are suffering from health
inequalities. This therapy focuses on
analysing, challenging and then changing
unhelpful thoughts, which are occurring in
young adults mind. These therapies may be
performing on individual or group facing
same type of disorder. Focus lies on group
therapy, which is more effective and
efficient in solving problems related to
health inequalities.
Education and training: Teachers
and mental health professors can provide
education to children and young adults so
that they can improve their talents, skills,
methods and learning abilities. Parents
training can also help them to encourage and
motivate children and can praise them with
gifts and prizes.
Stress management training can also
help mentors of children for better
understanding of ways and methods
followed by children and young adult. They
can also connect with other people who are
suffering from ADHD for support and
feedback. Counselling can help children to
develop self-esteem and power to deal with
problems in life.
School based programs: School
needs to offer programs, which are based on
health inequalities to improve mental health
of kids studying in their school. Educational
specialists help child in doing their
homework and performing day-to-day tasks,
which helps child in succeeding. School
offers this type of services for free, which
also helps parents and teachers for better
understanding of their children(Tresco,
Kessler and Mautone, 2017 ).
Physical exercises: Programs are
also conducted by school or other local
bodies to motivate young adults or children
to participate in physical activities that may
help in diagnosing ADHD. It may include
involvement in any physical exercise like
aerobics, yoga, dance, music, drama etc. that
helps in improving confidence level of
individuals. In addition, it helps children in
building relationships with other kids,
improving social interaction, better
5

performing of function, high self-esteem,
and overall development of young adults
mind, reduce anxiety levels and also help in
fighting with depression. Physical activities
help children to boost their motivation and
also help in improving their communication
with parents or mentors(Larsson and
et.al.,2014).
Self-help and support group: Many
support groups are opened by people who
help individuals in facing disorders.
Children suffering from ADHD can join
these groups and share their problems with
them. They have also created internet chat
room facility for people who are facing
anxiety symptoms, so that they can freely
share their concerns or health status to
support group members. Children can also
share their feelings, thoughts, and beliefs
with any trusted adult or family members
that can help them to achieve success. It will
also help them to develop or create self-
enthusiasm and confidence among young
adults.
Implementation of initiatives taken to
remove health inequalities
Various initiatives are taken to
remove health inequalities among children
and young adult. For successful
implementation of such programs
organisation should have an objective which
they need to achieve. Goal should be related
with curing ADHD disease among children
and young adults which is one of major
cause for health inequalities. Focus of
individuals or groups creating these types of
program should be laid on whole
population(Russell and et.al., 2014.).
Treatment should be provided to all children
and young adults suffering from this disease,
there should be no discrimination on basis of
colour, caste, religion and culture of young
people. Organisation should have proper
data relating to groups whom they are going
to target. They can offer diagnose to
children who are studying in school,
institutions or colleges by creating
awareness among them which can be created
by advertising the scheme in public through
TV, radio, magazines or social media and by
organising seminars or workshops for
children and young adults. These data
collected should be taken as an opportunity
as it will help in successful implementation
of program.
For successful implementation of
programs commitment from organisation
organising them is also required. Changes in
work culture, enterprise structure, employee
turnover should not affect the quality of
program implemented. Staffing in
organisation should be done properly like
6

right people on right job. Organizers should
include medical professionals, teachers of
schools they are targeting, psychologist,
doctors, parents of children, family members
or peers related to young adult for better
implementation of initiatives. These people
will help them in better understanding and
addressing inequalities related to child or
young adults. Proper education and training
should be provided to people who are
engaged in implementing these
schemes(Bolea-Alamañac and et.al., 2014).
Funding of health programs related
to ADHD is also a crucial requirement for
success of such programs. There are various
organisations like The health foundation,
health and well-being , NHS England, the q
initiative who are involved in funding
programs related to health. These
organisations have aim to support persons
working in these agencies, they provide
them support in education and training,
management and administration, research
related to medical, sickness of employees to
make improvements in health services
provided by them.
These agencies fund those programs
who aims at targeting positive mental health,
better physical health, healthy eating habits
and strong social connections. Success of
these programs can be measure through
improve anxiety level, reduce depression,
increase self confidence, involvement in
physical activities among children and
young adults. Funds can also be raised
through schools, charitable organisation,
health care professionals, NGO, support
groups or doctors who are involved in these
programs.
For successful implementation of
initiatives agencies should also follow health
principles which can affect success of
programs like research and innovation in
programs should be promoted, children
should be treated equally without any
discrimination, strengthening efforts of other
people, partnership with other countries or
state, following policies and rules of
organisation who are funding them.
Agencies key focus should be laid on
building connections with children and
young adults and trying to understand their
behaviour and patterns which will help them
7

to fight against ADHD. They should provide
kids with friendly feedbacks and suggestions
which would help them in removing health
related inequalities. In accordance with
child's health agencies should motivate them
to share ideas, beliefs and fears with them
which would help in creating trust in eyes of
young adults(Visser and et.al., 2014).
Challenges faced by initiatives
Rising cost: Initiatives which are
implemented by agencies to fight against
health inequalities among children and
young people involves a huge amount of
cost to organise it. Research shows that
expenditure related to health care programs
often increases at rate exceeding inflation
and can also rise in the future (Barbaresi and
et.al.,2014). As successful implementation
of these initiatives require support from
various people like doctors, health care
professionals, psychologist, teachers which
involves a huge amount of cost. To control
expenses organisation must look for other
alternative ways like finding funders or
contributors which can help them to
successfully implement these programs.
Training and education: These
initiatives also involve training and
education of teachers, parents or employees
working with them so to provide better
treatment to children and young adults who
are going through ADHD. Training is also
one of major challenge in implementation of
programs as it requires lot of time and
resources which results in increase of
expenditure for organisation. It is also
longest and complex process as it involves a
lot of people who are engaged in providing
training to individuals. Imparting education
is also one of the difficult task as it takes lot
energy to make people understand what to
learn and what not to.
Technology advancement: Initiatives
which are implemented to remove health
inequalities among children and young adult
should be technically advanced.
Organisation should use updated technology
for well-being of kids. They should
advertise their programs by updating its
marketing strategies like use of social media
for making parents of children aware about
initiative, promotion through television and
radio, also they can apply for funds using
social media like Facebook, twitter or
linked-in (Evans, Owens, and Bunford,
2014). Children should be attracted by using
technology games like video games, cell
phones, play stations music, dance or any
other activity of their interest. Also, data
related to young adults and family members
should be kept safe by using updated
technology
8

Ethical challenges: Organisations
who are involved in providing initiatives
which can remove health inequalities of
children and young adult also faces
challenges related to ethics. It may happen
that people working with them have
inappropriate behaviours, weird ways of
doing task or are engaged in activities which
can harm image of enterprise. Leaders
should ensure that employees working with
them perform every task honestly and do not
miss-behave with any children or people
related to young adults. This would help
agency to build trust and will also help them
in creating funds and building relationships.
Tolerance of risk: Most agencies
face this challenges as there may chances
that implementation of program which is
being initiated for curing ADHD may fail.
Risk is also involved in finding funders who
will contribute to their research and
programs. It also involves risk related
change in environment, organisation
structure, change in technology, rise in cost
of training and education of employees or
people related to young adults, failure of
program or unable to find suitable person
like doctors, medical professionals or
psychologist who can successfully conduct
program (Daley, B. and et.al., 2014).
CONCLUSION
Report summarised about ADHD
which is one of major cause of health
inequalities among children and young
adults. It also consists of factors which
influence this disorder which includes
personal factors like smoking or
consumption of alcohol, biological factors
like brain injury, shock to mind and
psychological factors like anxiety,
depression, low self esteem etc. It also
shows reasons for existence of health
inequalities among children and young
adults. Reasons may include poor lifestyle,
unhealthy living, fear of failure etc. It also
includes initiative which are taken to remove
this disorder which includes education and
training, help and support group(Sharma and
9

Couture, 2014). Report also consists of
implementation of these initiatives like
using of proper funds which are given by
charitable organizations, NGO's, hospitals or
school. Staffing is also one of major points
in implementation of program. Report also
includes challenges faced by these initiatives
like rise of cost, technology advancement,
tolerance of risk and ethical challenges
which includes ways, methods and
behaviour of people working with them.
10

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Barbaresi.S and et.al.,2014. Long-term
stimulant medication treatment of
attention-deficit/hyperactivity
disorder: results from a population-
based study. Journal of
Developmental & Behavioral
Pediatrics.35(7).pp.448-457.
Bolea-Alamañac and et.al., 2014. Evidence-
based guidelines for the
pharmacological management of
attention deficit hyperactivity
disorder: update on
recommendations from the British
Association for
Psychopharmacology. Journal of
psychopharmacology.28(3).
pp.179-203.
Coghill and et.al., 2014. Effects of
methylphenidate on cognitive
functions in children and
adolescents with
attention-deficit/hyperactivity
disorder: evidence from a
systematic review and a meta-
analysis. Biological
psychiatry, 76(8).pp.603-615.
Daley, B. and et.al., 2014. Behavioral
interventions in
attention-deficit/hyperactivity
disorder: a meta-analysis of
randomized controlled trials across
multiple outcome domains. Journal
of the American Academy of Child
& Adolescent
Psychiatry, 53(8).pp.835-847.
Evans, S.W., Owens, J.S. and Bunford, N.,
2014. Evidence-based psychosocial
treatments for children and
adolescents with
attention-deficit/hyperactivity
disorder. Journal of Clinical Child
& Adolescent Psychology.43(4).
pp.527-551.
Larsson and et.al.,2014. The heritability of
clinically diagnosed attention
deficit hyperactivity disorder across
the lifespan. Psychological
medicine.44(10).pp.2223-2229.
McLaughlin and et.al., 2014. Widespread
reductions in cortical thickness
following severe early-life
deprivation: a neurodevelopmental
pathway to
attention-deficit/hyperactivity
disorder. Biological
psychiatry.76(8).pp.629-638.
Russell, M.N.,and et.al., 2014. The
association of attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder with
socioeconomic disadvantage:
11

alternative explanations and
evidence. Journal of Child
Psychology and
Psychiatry.55(5).pp.436-445.
Sharma, A. and Couture, J., 2014. A review
of the pathophysiology, etiology,
and treatment of attention-deficit
hyperactivity disorder
(ADHD). Annals of
Pharmacotherapy,48(2). pp.209-
225.
Shaw and et.al.,2014. Emotion dysregulation
in attention deficit hyperactivity
disorder. American Journal of
Psychiatry.171(3). pp.276-293.
Thomas, and et.al.,2015. Prevalence of
attention-deficit/hyperactivity
disorder: a systematic review and
meta-analysis. Pediatrics, pp.peds-
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Tresco, K.E., Kessler, J.L. and Mautone,
J.A., 2017.
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity
Disorder. In Handbook of Social
Behavior and Skills in Children.
Springer, Cham. (pp. 273-292).
Visser and et.al., 2014. Trends in the parent-
report of health care provider-
diagnosed and medicated attention-
deficit/hyperactivity disorder:
United States, 2003–2011. Journal
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& Adolescent Psychiatry.53(1).pp.34-46.
Online
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
2017. [ONLINE] Available
through:
<https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/t
opics/attention-deficit-
hyperactivity-disorder-adhd/
index.shtml>
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[ONLINE] Available through:
http://www.healthscotland.scot/heal
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