ADS in puberty
To diagnose an attention deficit syndrome in puberty is extremely difficult and often presents a great challenge to psychiatrists and psychologists. The main reason for this difficulty is that some symptoms of ADHD can be quite normal for the time of puberty and do not represent a disease value. The main reason for this difficulty is that some symptoms of ADHD can be quite normal for the time of puberty and do not represent an illness value.
Whether it is ADS or a normal pubertal development is also decisive, among other things, when the symptoms were first registered by the environment. Thus, ADS that begins in puberty is relatively rare. Much more often the first symptoms of ADHD become apparent in early childhood.
Children between the ages of 5 and 10 can already show the first signs of ADHD. If these symptoms intensify and are still present during puberty, then it is probably ADHD. If the symptoms first appear between 12 and 16 years of age, ADS is rather unlikely, but cannot be excluded.
The psychiatrist and psychologist also has a number of diagnostic tools that can be used to diagnose ADHD in adolescence. These are questionnaires that the patient or parents have to answer. The questionnaires ask for example about concentration disorders, mood swings, restlessness, social “incompetence”, irritability.
With every question answered positively, the suspicion of ADS increases. In today’s child and adolescent psychiatry, it is relatively common for treatment to begin with medication as soon as ADHD has been diagnosed in the adolescents. Here, drugs such as Ritalin are usually used.
However, the behavioural psychological treatment by the child psychiatrist or psychologist is important and is often presented by critics as much more helpful. Here, the patient should first of all be observed by the therapists to see whether it is really a pathological course or a non-pathological characteristic of a development. Subsequently, regular psychotherapeutic sessions are held to work on the patient’s behaviour in normal everyday life.
In the case of mild forms of ADHD, which occurs during puberty, medication is not necessary. In this case, a longer period of psychotherapy is sufficient to at least alleviate the symptoms of ADHD, although not to cure them completely. Sometimes it may also be necessary to carry out psychotherapeutic treatment over several years in order to achieve stability of improvement. In the case of severe courses of ADHD, drug therapy is indispensable to relieve the patients’ everyday suffering.
ADS in adults
The clinical picture known as attention deficit syndrome, which is normally known from child psychiatry, also occurs in adults. On the one hand, it can result from an untreated ADHD in childhood, but it can also be a new clinical picture in adulthood. In contrast to ADHD, the hyperactivity component is missing in ADHD.
It is assumed that 30-60% of the symptoms that develop in childhood extend into adulthood. Women are affected slightly more frequently than men. ADS is often easier to diagnose in children than in adults.
However, there are some screening questions that can help to diagnose ADHD in adulthood. There are screening questionnaires for the diagnosis of ADHD that can be used by a psychiatrist or psychologist. Once ADHD has been diagnosed in an adult, treatment must be considered.
Nowadays, treatment with medication would be rather restrained and this would only be considered in cases of high suffering pressure. Much more frequently, behavioural therapy measures are initiated, which can either be carried out by a psychologist or can be carried out in special ADHD clinics. The treatment takes place in sessions and lasts for several months.
One of the prerequisites is the patient’s insight into the disease, which is often the first hurdle. Very often ADS patients cannot be convinced that they are ill and need to be treated in order to relieve their everyday suffering, because they do not recognize any suffering. They rather relate the problem to their own individual character traits and may well be right.
The chances of success when treatment for ADHD is begun in adulthood are rather mixed. The treatment is often lengthy and is often discontinued by the patient. – Are you often restless?
- Do you often overreact to simple things? – Do you have mood swings? – Do you have concentration problems?
- Do you start new projects and stop them soon? – Would you describe yourself as chaotic or do others call you that? – Would you describe different areas of life as problematic?
