ADHD: A Guide to Understanding and Managing ADHD

By Amanda Allan

ADHD: A Guide to Understanding and Managing ADHD

Unlock the Mystery of ADHD today with this Comprehensive Guide!

Does your mind feel like it's always on the move, hopping from one thought to another like a lightning-fast pinball? Do you find it challenging to stay focused, or perhaps someone

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rivercat Books LLC
• Release date: Jun 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9781960748317

Book preview

Introduction

You’ve probably heard someone say, Sorry, that’s just my ADHD, or maybe you’ve said it yourself when becoming distracted or having a hard time focusing on work. When thinking of ADHD, most people imagine a boy bouncing around a classroom, unable to sit still. There is, however, more to ADHD than having a hard time concentrating, sitting still, and focusing.

ADHD stands for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (fifth edition with text revision), or DSM-V-TR, is the current golden standard for the diagnosis of all the known and recognized mental disorders in the United States. It is also what I, and most professionals working with ADHD, will primarily refer to when discussing symptoms and diagnoses.

ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder associated with impulsivity, inattention, and hyperactive behavior. This can cause tension and disruption in many different settings. This is due to executive dysfunction, which means the parts of the brain responsible for planning, decision-making, and executing actions aren’t working as they should. In a sense, people with ADHD don’t have the same filters for incoming stimuli and outgoing actions as neurotypical individuals. This causes them to become easily distracted, makes it harder to focus, and also makes it more difficult to consciously control their own behavior at times. Their brains are simply processing a lot more information at once than neurotypicals, and depending on which theory you follow, at a much faster or much slower pace.

It’s no secret that opinions about ADHD can be highly divided. One group believes that it’s an excuse for children who are lazy and haven’t been raised well to be medicated to make them easier to handle by overworked teachers in poorly developed education systems. Another group, on the other hand, advocates for ADHD and believes that it is a disorder worth recognizing with certain, albeit unclear, causes that individuals can’t help. On top of that, people disagree heavily over the use of Ritalin to treat people with ADHD, particularly children.

You might recognize some depictions of ADHD in popular media. One of the most prominent examples is Bart Simpson, who was even prescribed methamphetamine—not unlike Ritalin—in a 1999 episode of The Simpsons called Brother’s Little Helper. Other examples are Robin from the popular Netflix show Stranger Things whose ADHD turns out to be very helpful and Stiles from Teen Wolf, who is the poster child for the hyperactive-impulsive type of ADHD. These characters often serve as social commentary—or comic relief—despite the fact that people with ADHD often struggle severely with daily functioning. Accurate representation of mental health is important because it can help reduce stigma and work to normalize their actions and struggles.

In this book, I’ll go over the history of ADHD, how it came to be recognized and named, and how approaches and treatments have evolved over time. I’ll also discuss how ADHD is diagnosed, the signs and symptoms of ADHD, and how they differ between genders. I’ll include the current top theories as to what possibly causes ADHD and its impact on daily life. A chapter on treatment options for ADHD will detail the medications currently available and strategies employed in therapy. Lastly, I will discuss how you can support someone with ADHD as it doesn’t always affect the individual alone.

This book will serve as an introduction to all of the most important aspects of ADHD, arming you with enough knowledge to understand yourself or anyone you know who has been diagnosed with ADHD. The last thing someone with ADHD wants is a wall of intimidating text, so I’ll keep things as simple as possible without skipping out on important details.

It’s important to remember that everyone’s experience with ADHD is different, to respect others’ journeys, and to be kind and patient with yourself if you’ve been diagnosed with ADHD yourself.

Chapter 1: A Brief History of ADHD

What Is ADHD?

The American Psychiatric Association’s fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) defines ADHD as a persistent pattern of inattention and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity that interferes with functioning or development. It’s characterized by inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. It is a neurodevelopmental disorder, meaning that it consists primarily of a dysfunctional neurological system that affects the way the brain develops and functions, which can cause problems with social, intellectual, and emotional development and functions. For this reason, the onset is most often in childhood, although due to differences in symptom severity and expression between boys and girls, boys are more likely to be diagnosed than girls.

The History of ADHD

In terms of the broader scope of the history of psychiatry, ADHD is a relatively recent discovery. There are practically no texts or other accounts, whether medical or otherwise, that refer to symptoms we know as markers of ADHD before the late 18th century, as opposed to references to obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) going