The Impact Of ADHD in America
By Rich Maloof for MSN Health & Fitness
Anyone wondering whether adult ADHD is a real problem with real impact need not look far.
Once believed to affect only children, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder afflicts 4.4 percent of the adult population. That’s over 13 million Americans with impaired ability to organize, relate and concentrate.
The repercussions are sometimes mild, sometimes devastating. Researchers have found significant burdens on people with ADHD with regard to medical costs and missed days at work. ADHD sufferers often have to contend with other mental disorders as well. They are more likely to be undereducated, underpaid, asthmatic or drug abusers.
Clearly ADHD can intrude deeply into people’s lives. When doctors diagnose ADHD, they look for these kinds of disruptions.
On the job, ADHD sufferers can have a difficult time actualizing their potential at work. Consequently, as a group they wind up more frequently underpaid, under-promoted and unemployed. Dr. Lenard Adler, director of the Adult ADHD Program at NYU School of Medicine, describes one characteristic case. “I have an executive who, prior to treatment, got his standard yearly review at work,�?he reports. “It read like a checklist of symptoms of ADHD: ‘Clients like you but all the work comes up against the last minute; things that don’t have to become crises, become crises; you drift off in meetings; you have potential but the quality of your work is not what it could be.�?�?/FONT>
Adler also explains that ADHD symptoms are sometimes not apparent until people are promoted to supervisory positions. Faced for the first time with keeping track of others as well as themselves, their personal systems of managing ADHD break down.
Employees with ADHD are more apt to miss work and incur medical expenses, and this is where the financial toll of ADHD becomes quantifiable. Using data from Fortune 200 companies, a 2005 study (“Comorbidities and Costs of Adult Patients Diagnosed With Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder�? found that absenteeism and medical costs for employees diagnosed with ADHD cost employers $11,861 compared to $8,024 for others—a difference of almost 48 percent.
The ADHD employees had more unofficial absences than others by a factor greater than 4 to 1. In the space of a year, the ADHD group missed a total of 43 work days compared to the average 29 days.
Medical expenses were more than double for ADHD employees ($5,561 versus $2,771), who visited more physicians more frequently, used more inpatient and outpatient services and had higher prescription drug costs.
Extrapolating related data over national averages, Dr. Joseph Biederman at Massachusetts General Hospital found that ADHD costs the nation a staggering $77 billion in lost in annual income.
Relationships
Just as having a child with ADHD is tough on parents, spouses become exasperated by ADHD partners who seem inattentive in conversation, forget important dates and plans and are unable to complete important tasks. While issues like these may be present to some degree in any relationship, the recent book Mastering Your Adult ADHD clarifies the difference between commonplace annoyances and those qualifying as ADHD obstacles:
"For example, everyone gets sad sometimes, but not everyone suffers from a clinical diagnosis of depression. In order for ADHD to be considered as a medical diagnosis for any individual, he must have significant difficulties with some aspect of his life, such as work, significant relationships problems, and/or significant problems in school."
The authors suggest that the impact on family members can be central in diagnosing the condition. After all, there are significant burdens to bear when a spouse constantly misplaces things, talks excessively, drifts off during important conversations or has mood problems such as anger, anxiety, guilt or depression. Indirectly, family members also suffer when someone in the household routinely works long hours (a common method for coping in the workplace), can’t relax and enjoy leisure time or has issues with financial responsibility.
Relationships with children can be strained as well when a parent lacks the ability to sustain attention through activities that engage a child, such as playing a board game, reading a plotless book or helping with homework. Friends, too, can be brought to their wits�?end when their comrade constantly “spaces out�?on plans, arrives everywhere late and fails to retain the details of past conversations.
On the bright side, family members and friends are in a unique position to help the person with ADHD. Even the act of identifying the symptoms as part of a condition—rather than considering the person lazy or stupid or selfish—is fundamental to providing support and encouragement.
Coping Complications
Adults often develop their own systems for dealing with troublesome ADHD symptoms, but with mixed results.
“The coping strategy itself can be impairing,�?explains Adler of NYU. “One patient of mine said �?the routines he had to go through to get ready and organized made him an hour late every day.
“Even if an adult is doing something that’s helping them cope, the coping strategy itself may cause difficulty,�?he continues. “For example, some will combat restlessness by exercising on a daily basis. Not everyone has an hour to take out of their day, every single day, to exercise. The coping strategy can affect their lifestyle and their job.�?/FONT>
Co-Travelers
Multiplying the burden, ADHD “travels�?with other mental disorders in at least 50 percent of all patients, according to the “Comorbidities and Costs�?study. That’s not to say ADHD causes these conditions, but people with ADHD tend to have more coexisting anxiety and mood disorders. (This complicates the issue for primary care physicians, who may have limited success treating anxiety or depression if the ADHD is missed.) There is evidence suggesting people with ADHD have a greater tendency to smoke and to be obese. And when ADHD goes untreated it can lead to substance abuse.
The Good News
Considering that four of every five adults with ADHD do not even know they have it, it’s crucial to raise awareness. Information on the disorder is more readily available today, and physicians like Adler are working in earnest to educate medical personnel and to establish good screening tests (see Helpful Information below).
Doctors specializing in ADHD indicate that 50 percent of people who receive treatment for the condition respond to medicines, and cognitive behavioral therapy is enormously helpful in addressing those symptoms the meds don’t reach. While the statistics and problems described here are daunting, they change dramatically for the better when education and treatment enter the picture.
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Rich Maloof lives in Brooklyn, New York. He specializes in health topics, music, and children’s books. He has written for CNN, Yahoo!, Billboard, “For Dummies�?books, and others.
Helpful Information
Dr. Lenard Adler publishes an ADHD newsletter for physicians, downloadable at www.med.nyu.edu/adultadhdnewsletter
Children and Adults With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (CHADD) www.chadd.org
National Resource Center on ADHD (a program of CHADD) www.help4adhd.org
Resources for this article include:
Dr. Lenard Adler
Associate Professor of Psychology and Neurology
Director, Adult ADHD, NYU School of Medicine
Dr. Steven Safren
Director of Behavioral Medicine Service, Massachusetts General Hospital
Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School
From: http://articles.health.msn.com/id/100108334
ADHD Treatment Improves Teens' Grades, Confidence
Survey of parents and affected teens suggests drugs, counseling help
Robert Preidt
THURSDAY, March 17 (HealthDay News) -- Treating teens diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) boosts their grades, provides higher self-esteem and improves family relationships, according to the results of a new U.S. survey conducted for the National Mental Health Association (NMHA).
The online survey -- which included 268 parents of 14-to-18-year-olds with ADHD and another 265 teens diagnosed with the disorder -- was funded by McNeil Consumer & Specialty Pharmaceuticals. The parents and teens were recruited independently and were not matched pairs from the same families.
Sixty-six percent of the parents said their teens were currently receiving treatment for ADHD, while 61 percent of the teens in the survey said they were currently receiving treatment, which included medication, counseling and/or behavior therapy, and school services.
According to the survey, 56 percent of the teens said their school grades improved after they began receiving treatment. Both teens and the parents of the teens with ADHD also reported seeing improvements in self-esteem, social relationships and enhanced participation in extracurricular activities.
"ADHD amplifies the issues that all teens grapple with, such as heavy demands at school, more complicated social situations, and a growing desire for independence," Michael Faenza, president and CEO of the nonprofit NMHA, said in a prepared statement.
"Therefore, it is critical that they receive the support and treatment needed to succeed during these critical years," Faenza said.
"Research shows that as many as 80 percent of children with ADHD exhibit persistent symptoms during adolescence, and 60 percent go on to display symptoms during adulthood," Dr. David Goodman, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University, said in a prepared statement.
"Left untreated, many teenagers with ADHD experience academic impairment, driving-related incidents, and are at higher risk of substance abuse, encounters with law-enforcement, and consequent negative impact within the family," Goodman said.
http://articles.health.msn.com/id/100101180/
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