Comment: Prevention is better than cure
Rob Rodrigues Pereira
pp 3-3
Every month we read in the news that too many children are diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and prescribed potentially dangerous medication. Indeed, we have to be careful not to over-diagnose and overtreat our children. The same goes for the new ‘epidemic’ of adults who are emerging with ADHD. As therapists, we are permanently working on this issue by educating health workers and lay people. Nevertheless, we should not forget that the far larger problem is underdiagnosis and misdiagnosis. In physical healthcare nobody would accept underdiagnosis: a large amount of money is spent on screening and prevention of cardiovascular disorders, diabetes, asthma and cancer, for example. We even treat pre- diabetes and pre-hypertension, because prevention is much cheaper than treatment, and the harm to patients and their families can be greatly reduced.
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The relationship between ADHD and fetal alcohol spectrum disorders
Raja AS Mukherjee
pp 4-7
Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders represent the range of outcomes that may be seen in a person who has experienced differing levels of prenatal exposure to alcohol. The most common presentation is the full classified syndrome, fetal alcohol syndrome.
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Non-violent resistance in practice
Amy M Farmer and Rachel E Califano
pp 8-11
In January 2015, South Warwickshire Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services launched the Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Parenting Strategies Group, targeted at parents and carers of children with a diagnosis of ADHD. The aim was to provide a supportive environment in which they could develop an awareness of the core principles of non-violent resistance and explore the application of NVR in the safe and effective management of risk-taking behaviour often associated with ADHD.
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Resources: 5th Congress of the UK Adult ADHD Network: Key Challenges and Practical Solutions
UKAAN
pp 11-11
The 5th Congress of the UK Adult ADHD Network aims to raise the level of awareness, knowledge and expertise among healthcare professionals about individuals with ADHD as they grow older, and to provide a better understanding of the persistence of the disorder and the development of comorbid mental health problems.
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ADHD drivers, teenage bullying and a new non-stimulant drug
Nigel Humphrey
pp 12-12
In this edition we return to the topic of ADHD and driving. Eensoo et al suggest that undiagnosed and untreated ADHD plays a significant role in road traffic accidents and should become an important consideration for driving schools. Epstein-Ngo et al describe some of the risks and pressures adolescents with ADHD experience at school. Hassan found a surprisingly high prevalence of ADHD among those with learning difficulties, while Huss et al looked into the new non-stimulant medication guanfacine, and its merits for patients who are unable to tolerate stimulant treatment.
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False confession among individuals with ADHD
Gisli H Gudjonsson
pp 13-15
False confessions can result in heavy legal penalties, including imprisonment and the death penalty. So why do people confess to crimes they did not commit? Extensive research and systematic analysis of real-life cases since the early 1980s, which have shown that false confessions are much more common than previously thought, has provided some answers to this question. First, false confessions are typically caused by a combination of factors rather than a single cause. Second, there are different psychological types of false confession, originally referred to by Kassin and Wrightsman as voluntary, coerced internalised and coerced compliant confessions. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is a relevant risk factor to all three psychological types of false confession.
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Multimodal treatment of ADHD: the need for coaching
Rebecca Champ
pp 16-18
In 2005, Sam Goldstein called out to coaching professionals, asking them to engage in more research on coaching as part of a multimodal treatment approach for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). He noted that the effectiveness of coaching had not been formally studied, and that the differences between coaching and other treatments remained unclear. Yet coaching continues to rise in popularity as a way of managing and working with ADHD.
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