Term Paper on "ADHD Medications"

Term Paper 12 pages (4749 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

ADHD Medications

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder -ADHD is a widespread and often undetected psychiatric disorder. (Wender, 1996) Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder- ADHD is a slackly described collection of neuro-psychiatric collection of symptoms which come up during childhood and many times carry on into adulthood. (Kidd, 2000) Presently, 2 million children in the United States have been detected as having ADHD reported by the National Institute of Mental Health. (Gardner, 2005) in view of the fact that ADHD starts during childhood days, the foremost duty is to establish the psychiatric condition of the patient as a child and formulate a retroactive analysis. But few of the patients are assessed or treated as children. Counting upon the procedure and the cutoffs used, the incidence of ADHD in childhood varies from 3% to 10%. In every case the ailment is seen to be at least two to three times as frequent in boys as in girls. (Wender, 1996) ADHD is marked by lack of attention, impulsivity, and at times over activity. ADHD starts during childhood and frequently lasts during adulthood.

Even though the method to its detection is just experiential, ADHD more and more is being used as a detection marker for individuals who exhibit a broad array of symptoms, like impatience, incapability to remain concentrated, mood swings, bad temper, difficulties in accomplishing duties, ineptitude, failure to handle pressure and impulsivity. A deep argument has developed revolving the detection, etiology, and therapeutic management of ADHD. Parent groups, organizations supporting the interests of consumers, and modern doctors are inviting attention for substitutes to medicines employed to cure ADHD, whereas the interests of medicine producing companies and doctors especially inclined to recommend medicines are trying to support the existing situation of prescription of medicines. Majority of ADHD subjects grow emotional, social, and family troubles as an outcome of their main problems. ADHD is a key issue for society as well as the child, since it results in friction in school or at the workplace, demoralizes the educational activity of the student's whole class, gets in the way of peer relationship, and the strain within the family goes up. (Kidd, 2000)

Brain dysfunction in ADHD sufferers:

Different anatomic defects of the brain have been accounted for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder - ADHD. (Rubia; Overmeyer; Taylor; et. al, 1999) Starting from 1940 till 1960, the state of ADHD was found out with negligible injury to the brain or dysfunction and its etiology was considered as indignity to the brain like injury in the head, diseases and poisonous damage. Defects in the frontostriatal brain circuitry and potential hypofunctioin of dopaminergic pathways are noticeable in ADHD. (Kidd, 2000) Children having attention deficit hyperactivity disorder are at variance from normal controls in particular cortical and subcortical areas in brain-imaging researches held by Xavier Castellanos. (Sherman, 2000) in a research undertaken by Xavier Castellanos and others, patients having ADHD were having considerably smaller volumes of the brain in all portions, even though following modification for major covariates in the initial scan. This universal disparity was revealed in smaller net cerebral volumes and in considerably lesser cerebral volumes. (Castellanos; Lee; Sharp; Jeffries; Greenstein; Clasen; et. al, 2002)

Contrasting with bigger census of children with ADHD and controls has revealed lesser cerebral volume in children having the ailment. In a research of 110 girls, the total volume was 4.5% lesser in the 55 girls having ADHD. The caudate volume was also bilaterally lesser in case of those girls having ADHD. An identical disparity in caudate volume was date volume was even revealed in a sample of 110 ADHD and control boys, but it was restricted to the correct caudate. Boys and Girls having ADHD had the posterior and inferior lobes of the vermis short. The variation from normal controls in the global pallidus is "strong" among boys having ADHD, however in case of girls. There has been no reported variation in volume of putamen. (Sherman, 2000) Children having putamen even displayed amazingly lesser total white matter volumes. (Castellanos; Lee; Sharp; Jeffries; Greenstein; Clasen; et. al, 2002)

ADHD is connected with below normal commencement of the prefrontal systems accountable for higher-order motor control and the hyperactive adolescents will exhibit lesser strength of reaction in the right mesial prefrontal cortex. (Rubia; Overmeyer; Taylor; et. al, 1999) it has been revealed by Elizabeth R. Sowell of the University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine and her associates that children and teenagers having ADHD has less tissue in regions of the brain's prefrontal and temporal lobes compared to those not having psychiatric disorders. Apart from this, children having ADHD exhibit an abundant mass of the neuron-concentrated tissue called as gray matter in areas of the cortex near the rear of the brain as reported by the scientists. The cortex constitutes the outer layer of the brain. This ADHD-connected distinctiveness happens within a brain network which, in the opinion of the research team controls the concentration and guides the conduct of individual. (Bower, 2003)

The recent conclusions set up on previous evidence that youths with ADHD, who are devoid of attentiveness, self-discipline, organizational proficiencies, has smaller brain volumes compared to psychiatrically sound children act. (Bower, 2003) Less information is understood regarding the neuropsychological test performance of a collection of patients who are adults with residual ADHD (N=30) compared with usual controls (N=10). It was revealed by Gansler David et al. that the performance of the patient was shoddier on the Trail Making Test, a visual ongoing performance test, and also the "Brown-Peterson" Auditory Consonant Trigrams Test, however, not on any other any independent neuropsychological procedures. This model pointed out a shortfall in the sphere of executive control type functioning, an operational discrepancy, which might be, associated with improper regulation of the frontal lobe brain systems. (Gansler; Fucetola; Krengel; Stetson; Rose; Chris, 1998)

Identically interesting was the fact that patients who were found to be having ADHD/hyperactive impulsive type (ADHD+) and the patients detected as having ADHD/inattentive type (ADHD-) were having separate categories of executive system deficits. ADHD+ was linked with relative deficit on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. ADHD- was linked with relative deficit on the "Brown-Peterson" Auditory Consonant Trigrams Test, a calculation of working memory, as also less olfactory identification on a smell identification experiment. The data are talked about as regards latest localization concepts of functioning of the frontal lobe. The introductory data proposes that several cognitive flaws of ADD subtypes might be associated with dysregulation of distinct frontal brain areas and/or neurotransmitter systems. (Gansler; Fucetola; Krengel; Stetson; Rose; Chris, 1998)

Medications for ADHD and how they operate on a neuro physiological level? Include medications Strattera, Ritalin, Dexedrine, Concerta, Adderall. What are possible side effects and placebo effects?

More and more awareness has been generated regarding the treatment, detection, and demographics of adults having residual attention deficit hyperactivity disorder -ADHD. (Gansler; Fucetola; Krengel; Stetson; Rose; Chris, 1998) Psycho-stimulant drugs are normally chosen readily for medication of ADHD. Roughly, 70% of the children who are under treatment exhibit development in the primary ADHD symptoms and in co-morbidity like disorder in conduct, even though the benefits might not last beyond two years. (Kidd, 2000) Normally, drugs were used to enhance school conduct and educational performance. The most familiar treatment choices prior to the year 2000 were either immediate-release, stimulants acting for short period like methylphenidate - MPH (Ritalin) or dextroamphetamine (Dexedrine) consumed twice daily, or first-generation, extended-release (ER) instantly working stimulants, like mixed amphetamine salts (Adderall [MAS]), sustained-release (SR) MPH (Ritalin SR), dexotroamphetamine spanules (Dex Span), or pemoline (Cylert). (Stein, 2004) a research that has come out in the Journal of the American Association during October 2002 has stated that children having ADHD who were administered medicines demonstrated markedly bigger total volume of white matter in their brains compared to children having ADHD who were not administered drugs. The co-author of the study, Dr. Jay N. Giedd, a psychiatrist at the National Institutes of Mental Health in Bethesda, Md., refers that, preferring not to administer drugs to a child having ADHD may come up with its own dangers. (Common, 2003)

Atomexitine hydrochloride or Strattera for ADHD is the first non-stimulant to get an indication for ADHD from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Atomoxetine is a selective noradrenergic agent that was first of all developed as an antidepressant. Even though efficiency for curing adults with ADHD was initially exhibited in 1998, a lot of short - and immediate -term efficiency and safety studies were thereafter done taking children and adolescents having ADHD. Even though atomoxetine possesses plasma of half-life of nearly 4 hours, its clinical potency has been stated to remain considerably longer when administered either once or twice per day. In the previous few years, a lot of second generation, extended-release, long-acting stimulants have been prepared and assessed for treating the youngsters with ADHD. The drug acting for the greatest period MPH-based stimulant, osmotic release oral system (OROS) MPH (Concerta), was devised to copy MPH administered 3 times everyday. (Stein, 2004)

Adderall XR is adopted by… READ MORE

How to Reference "ADHD Medications" Term Paper in a Bibliography

Related Term Papers:

ADHD and How it Relates to Psychology Research Paper

ADHD and How it Relates to Psychology

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder or ADHD was known as hyper-kinesis or minimal brain dysfunction in the earlier times. It can be described as… read more

Research Paper 4 pages (1275 words) Sources: 4 Topic: Psychology / Behavior / Psychiatry

---

ADHD Psychology FAQ About Thesis

ADHD

Psychology

FAQ about ADHD: Some common concerns of parents

Why is hyperactivity such a debilitating diagnosis for my child?

Children who are diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)… read more

Thesis 2 pages (598 words) Sources: 2 Style: APA Topic: Drugs / Alcohol / Tobacco

---

ADHD the Growing Incidence of ADHD Attention Term Paper

ADHD

The Growing Incidence of ADHD

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), a neurological condition characterized by inattention, restlessness and impulsivity, is commonly diagnosed in early childhood and affects between 3… read more

Term Paper 7 pages (2621 words) Sources: 7 Style: APA Topic: Child Development / Youth / Teens

---

Attention Deficit Disorders Thesis

ADHD causes significant psychosocial dysfunction and severely affects academic performance of the child. The condition requires continuous monitoring and treatment, as the symptoms tend to persist well into adulthood. As… read more

Thesis 8 pages (2175 words) Sources: 8 Style: APA Topic: Child Development / Youth / Teens

---

ADHD Case Study

ADHD case study. Our focus is on the various functions of the behavior (the trigger and antecedent) that results from ADHD.We also research on the various interventions that could be… read more

Case Study 7 pages (1793 words) Sources: 6 Topic: Child Development / Youth / Teens

---

View 100+ more related papers  >>