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ADHD: But what happens when you grow up?
| Everyone recognizes ADHD (attention deficit/hyperactive disorder) as a problem in childhood and adolescence when the full weight of medicine is on hand to suppress the more worrying symptoms.
But what happens when the child becomes the man? Does ADHD vanish when you're old enough for higher education?
A new study of psychiatric records suggests that not only does the problem continue into adulthood, it's also not just a problem suffered by children. People are being diagnosed with ADHD for the first time when they are adults.
Researchers from the Massachusetts General Hospital discovered that only 25 per cent of adults with ADHD had first been diagnosed when they were children.
Interestingly, health professionals were able to immediately diagnose ADHD in only half the cases when the patient described his symptoms. This suggests that even professionals are not expecting to see cases of ADHD in adult patients.
But once the problem was diagnosed, the therapy was pretty much the same as for children. Around 84 per cent were prescribed stimulants, and nearly 60 per cent of them later requested an occasional drug 'holiday' - something that children unfortunately can't do. |
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