If you suspect that your child may have ADHD, you should contact your pediatrician. He or she will try to determine the extent of the disorder. This is because ADHD does not always necessarily require therapy. This is usually only necessary if there are social and psychological impairments as a result of the symptoms that the child is exhibiting. Learn more about the proper treatment of ADHD in children here.
Multimodal therapy for ADHD
Treatment for ADHD in children aims to alleviate the typical symptoms of the disorder and help children achieve better social integration. Treatment should enable children to lead as normal a life as possible. ADHD can be treated by various methods – usually a combination of the different methods, a so-called multimodal therapy, is recommended. This involves behavioral therapy with affected children, but medication is also administered at the same time. Parents and children are also informed in detail about the disorder and given valuable tips for everyday life. If the affected child suffers from anxiety disorders or depression, psychotherapy is sometimes also carried out.
ADHD: Treating with medication
Medication is usually prescribed to children with ADHD only if there is marked hyperactivity. The medication inhibits the hyperactivity, the child becomes calmer and can concentrate better. This is to avoid social exclusion and enable further therapies such as behavioral therapy. Psychostimulants such as methylphenidate or DL-amphetamine are often used to treat ADHD. These drugs ensure that the duration of action of the neurotransmitters dopamine or norepinephrine is prolonged at the synapses. This eliminates the imbalance that is triggered in ADHD children by the lack of dopamine. As an alternative to psychostimulants, active substances such as atomoxetine, which is one of the selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, can be prescribed. As the name suggests, they inhibit the reuptake of norepinephrine into the cell and thus increase the concentration of the neurotransmitter in the synaptic cleft. In addition, antidepressants as well as tranquilizers are sometimes used to treat ADHD in children.
Side effects of psychostimulants
Treatment with psychostimulants is effective in about 85 percent of patients with ADHD. However, side effects such as headache, abdominal pain, sleep disturbances, loss of appetite, or tearfulness may occur as a result of taking the medication. To keep side effects to a minimum, it is important to adjust the dosage of the medication individually to each child. For this purpose, the amount of active ingredient is increased until the lowest effective dose is determined. For children under six years of age, there is hardly any experience with methylphendiate so far. Therefore, drug treatment should only be given in urgent cases and under strict medical supervision. By the way, medications that only have to be taken once a day are most suitable for children. This reduces the risk of forgetting to take the tablets. In addition, children do not have to take their medication at school in front of their classmates.
ADHD: behavioral therapy for parents and children.
Behavioral therapy is a specialized form of psychotherapy that parents and children often participate in together. The older the child, the more the therapy focuses on the child itself. Parents are usually informed in detail about ADHD at the beginning so that they can support the therapy accordingly. The siblings and possibly even the educators or teachers can also be involved in the therapy. The goal of behavioral therapy is to train the children to deal with the ADHD symptoms that occur. During therapy, children should learn to better control their symptoms: For example, work is done to make children less aggressive and less easily distracted. Unfavorable behaviors are to be discarded through training and replaced by newly learned behaviors. This should enable the children to lead as normal a life as possible after therapy. In the context of behavioral therapy – if motor difficulties are present – these are also worked on.
Biofeedback for ADHD
Biofeedback refers to a procedure in which people can specifically perceive bodily functions that occur unconsciously and control them at will through their power of thought. In ADHD, a special form of biofeedback, neurofeedback, is used. This involves feedback about the brain activity of the person affected. In neurofeedback, a person’s brain waves are transmitted to a computer screen via electrodes. An animation runs in parallel on this screen – for example, a goalkeeper is shown taking penalties. However, the animation only works if the brain waves are strong enough. If the child is very attentive, the goalkeeper can hold the ball, otherwise the ball goes into the goal. In this way, an attempt is made to automate attentive behavior so that it can be recalled in other situations ¬- for example, at school.
Long-term therapy is important
When ADHD occurs in children, it is important that the condition be treated long-term. If no therapy is given or if it is not continued long enough, this can have serious consequences for the child: For example, without therapy, ADHD children are more likely to fail school and later fail to find a job that matches their mental abilities. They also find it difficult to establish and maintain social contacts with other people. In the long term, this can lead to low self-esteem, which in turn can result in mental illnesses such as depression. How long ADHD needs to be treated always depends on the individual case. While for some children therapy can be stopped after a few years, for others lifelong treatment is necessary.
