ADHD

ADHD is generally ignored in medical education. About 1 in every 5 people who walks into a mental health office is going to have ADHD.The problem is that the diagnosis is routinely missed, and that’s because very few physicians have any training whatsoever in the field.

A clinician should use the symptom guidelines outlined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder – 5th Edition, along with standardized and normative ratings and using the Connors Rating Scale, the Child Behavior Checklist, the Strengths and Difficulties Checklist, and the ADHD Rating Scale. “Parents and teachers can complete these and the clinician can score them and determine the probability that a child is in the extreme range compared to the national average.

Unfortunately, the DSM-V guidelines are severely child focused, so a clinician evaluating an adult’s symptoms must take the extra step of interviewing family members, friends, and even colleagues. “The accuracy of diagnosis is much, much higher if you have input from two or more informants who have information about symptoms in several settings.

Besides,70% of children, adolescents and adults with an ADHD nervous system will have at least one other psychiatric diagnosis; 57% will have two or more, underscoring the prevalence of comorbid conditions existing alongside ADHD.

And then there are all those medical and psychological conditions that mimic ADHD. “These include a history of trauma, mood disorders, developmental delays, and a laundry list of medical and metabolic conditions… like sleep disorders and thyroid disorders.

Your doctor should recognize this, conduct a detailed medical history, and include screening tests for related conditions in his or her thorough ADHD evaluation.