Mental Illness Paper

Mental Illness Paper
By: XXXXXX-XXXXXXXX
09/07/2014
xXXXXX XXXXX

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, is when a person has issues with keeping their attention on something, maintaining their hyperactivity, and bad behavior. This disorder affects both men and women equally and starts out in adolescences years and follows a person into adulthood, but affects men more often than women. There has been no known cause of this disorder except that it’s genetic. Even if a parent doesn’t have signs of this disorder, it can still be passed down through the generations. If gone without being noticed, as a child a parent might think the child just has self-esteem issues and not understand how to help them. It isn’t uncommon for most parents to not realize their children’s problems and feed into them more than they should. Getting your child diagnosed as young as possible is the best thing you can do for both you and them and will help benefit their future.
The past of ADHD:
ADHD started getting discovered in the late 1700s and was known as mental restlessness then. When the 1900s hit, a man known as Sir George described ADHD as a behavioral disorder that could be developed from genetics. Scientists had found stimulant medication that would help maintain and control how a child acted with this disorder. A book was published showing exactly how a child with attention deficit hyperactive disorder acts. For the longest time doctors would blame this disorder on brain damage but still didn’t completely understand what was fully behind it. The most common form of punishment found useful was corporal punishment, which means flogging or caning. Shortly after this punishment took place, more scientists started studying the disorder to determine if there was anything they could do to help maintain a child’s hyperactivity. In the 1950’s, another disorder very similar to ADHD was discovered called hyperkinetic reaction to childhood. After finding this disorder, doctors and scientists worked on improving medications for better results, thus leading to a better developed Ritalin. In the late 1900’s, doctors found that ADHD wasn’t because of bad behavior or false parenting but that kids were biologically and genetically getting this disorder. After 1970, medications started becoming more available to help neurotransmitters such as Ritalin. They are known to help increase neurotransmitters in children allowing their brains to function more properly. Today, doctors can say that this disorder is definitely caused by brain activity and not anything else. Doctors found that there was also a disorder call attention deficit disorder which is also very similar to ADHD and three subtypes of this disorder were discovered. Knowing how many different kinds of disorders that are similar to each other are important so a child or teenager can get the proper treatment they need. In the early 2000s, non-stimulant drugs such as Strattera were developed so there were more options for patients.
Symptoms and Signs:
Most children definitely have problems with listening or being over hyper, but parents really should start paying more attention to their kids. There are many different signs and symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. This disorder has its name because it describes hyperactive problems and how people can’t pay attention. The most common side-effects of ADHD are difficulty paying attention, fidgeting, and easily distracted. This disorder can also make it hard for children to pay attention in school such as being able to learn correctly or understand what a teacher is teaching. Other things that can also be affected by this problem are house chores, school work, or any other tasks a child or teenager is supposed to do. Scientists still aren’t completely sure how ADHD is started or how it forms. It can run genetically but also be caused by environmental factors.
Neurotransmitters with ADHD: Neurotransmitters are known as the nervous system’s chemical messengers, which lets the nerves send messages to muscles, nerves, organs, and tissue cells. The neurotransmitters that are affected by ADHD are dopamine, norepinephrine and epinephrine, acetylcholine, serotonin, and GABA. There are many different side-effects that this disorder has and it takes over making these neurotransmitters not be able to function properly. Looking at all the symptoms these are all the neurotransmitters that seem to be affected by ADHD. Dopamine allows people to stay focused, motivated, to regulate people’s drives, and being creative. Serotonin allows people to maintain their moods and control our learning. Norepinephrine and epinephrine help keep the mind focused, take in long-term information, and staying motivated an alert. Acetylcholine allows people to access information easily to store it, makes people pay attention and memorize and store information. GABA helps people maintain a good organized lifestyle and is known for keeping a person calm and relaxed.
Testing:
When a child is under the suspicion of having ADHD, it’s generally not recommended to get them tested until they show full signs of this disorder. A medical exam is recommended just to make sure that there are no other problems present. Doctor’s will generally gather previous information to make sure there’s no past history in the child’s records that would determine anything else. They will also ask a lot of questions to determine what the family will say and also have ADHD rating scales to help determine more results. For a child to qualify as having ADHD, they have to meet 6 or more requirements in two categories from a manual known as the Diagnostic and Statisical Manual of Disorders. Diagnosing this disorder can be very challenging for doctors in young children because little problems such as a child is learning language slower than others. Doctors that normally is responsible for diagnosing ADHD is psychologists, speech pathologist, and developmental pediatricians.
Diagnostic and Treatment: The main forms of treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder are counseling, medications, training and education. Stimulant medications are generally the most common form for helping with ADHD, such as Ritalin, metadate, and concerta. Although it’s rare, stimulant drugs have been known to cause heart-related death in young children and teenagers, but it’s generally when a person has already developed heart problems or heart disease. There have been cases of students having suicide risks with having not stimulant drugs to help with their disorder. It is said that if a person has ADHD that they can benefit generously from counseling. The main kind of counseling recommended is behavior, psychotherapy, parenting skills, family and social skills. It is recommended to have parents, teachers and therapists to be fully active in the child’s to guarantee proper treatment.
Attention deficit hyperactive disorder has definitely taken a major change since it was first discovered. With all the technology that has been developed today compared to the past, it is easy to say that learning to understand this disorder more will have more of an advantage. Ritalin has been found to not be the best way to treat ADHD like it used to, but it is still recommended for use on younger children since it seems to work. Scientists are finding more useful medications to help develop more long-term effects. It been discovered that this disorder makes children’s brain growth slow and that it has nothing to do with parenting. Education for parents whose children were diagnosed with this have been developed is recommended to take these classes to help not only better themselves but children. There has also been a study called MTA that helps reassess children and teenagers to show what they need to help them move forward in life. ADHD is definitely not a disorder anybody would want to be diagnosed with because it probably makes them feel different or out of place, but with the right treatment and counseling the children can live happy and normal lives. Parents just need to remember that they shouldn’t ignore the suspicion if the child has it or not because it would completely change the child into someone they aren’t meant to be. Keeping a close eye on your kids to guarantee a positive happy life is a must.

References:
ADHD Past and Present. (n.d.). Retrieved September 7, 2014, from http://www.shriverspharmacy.com/adhd-past-and-present/
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children. (n.d.). Retrieved September 7, 2014, from http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/adhd/basics/symptoms/con-20023647
A Brief History of ADHD. (n.d.). Retrieved September 7, 2014, from http://www.healthline.com/health/adhd/history-of-adhd
The ADHD brain and Neurotransmitters. (n.d.). Retrieved September 7, 2014, from http://www.holistic-healing-for-adhd.com/adhd-brain-neurotransmitter.html

References: ADHD Past and Present. (n.d.). Retrieved September 7, 2014, from http://www.shriverspharmacy.com/adhd-past-and-present/ Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children. (n.d.). Retrieved September 7, 2014, from http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/adhd/basics/symptoms/con-20023647 A Brief History of ADHD. (n.d.). Retrieved September 7, 2014, from http://www.healthline.com/health/adhd/history-of-adhd The ADHD brain and Neurotransmitters. (n.d.). Retrieved September 7, 2014, from http://www.holistic-healing-for-adhd.com/adhd-brain-neurotransmitter.html