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Health Facts on ADHD

What is ADHD?

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurological disorder most commonly observed in children that can continue into adulthood. ADHD results in lack of attention and highly impulsive behavior in children. Children with ADHD are always high on energy and cannot sit calmly for even a few minutes. They have restless minds full of wandering thoughts all the time, which prevents them from keeping a constant focus (1).

Facts and Myths on ADHD

  1. The average age at which ADHD is diagnosed is 7 years old. Approximately 6 million children in America, aged 3-17, have been diagnosed with ADHD in the years 2016-2019. Each year, about 4% of American adults are affected by ADHD (2).
  2. It is an interesting fact about ADHD that boys (13%) are at higher risk of developing ADHD than girls (6%) (2).
  3. There are three types of ADHD. In one type, children have a problem focusing but are not excessively hyperactive. In the second type, the child is very impulsive and hyperactive but has a lesser problem paying attention. The third type is the combination of both, which is the most common of all (3).
  4. Medication can reduce the symptoms and make it easier to manage daily life, but it cannot cure ADHD completely (4).
  5. Social environment and household conditions play an important role in benefiting or worsening the child’s condition. A supportive outlook towards children with ADHD could help reduce its impact (5).
  6. It must be remembered that every child who is less attentive at school and is impulsive in nature does not suffer from ADHD. Its diagnosis is a multi-step process of evaluation through various psychological and physical tests. Only after that one can confirm of ADHD (5).
  7. Medical conditions like learning disabilities, depression, anxiety disorder, sleep disorders and bipolar syndrome can co-exist with ADHD. The diagnosis is confirmed only after differentiating these conditions from ADHD. Among people diagnosed with ADHD, about 30% of children have anxiety disorders and about 70% of people face depression in their lifetime (2).
  8. A popular ADHD myth says that it is caused by bad parenting and poor teachers but the fact is that it is totally a medical disability that has no relation to parenting techniques (6).
  9. ADHD treatment includes reducing the symptoms along with improving daily functioning. It is a combination of medication, counseling sessions, psychotherapy, proper food habits, behavioral support and educational training (7).
  10. Supervised and controlled medication helps improve the symptoms and does not make person drugged (7).