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ADD/ADHD Research

Decent Essays

The topic of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADD/ADHD) was a very fitting topic of research for me. There was plenty of knowledge I already had on the subject and it relates to my personal life. In my family, my younger sister was diagnosed with ADD around the age of six. I was diagnosed with ADD at the age of 14, just as I was beginning high school. Both of us take the stimulant drug lisdexamfetamine, otherwise known as Vyvanse. Reading about the symptoms and different effects that ADD/ADHD has on individuals, it was very easy to see them in both myself and my sister. Around the time my sister was diagnosed, she was having behavioral issues in school. The principal of her elementary school was calling almost daily due to disciplinary …show more content…

“This group of disorders is characterized by: early onset; a combination of overactive, poorly modulated behaviour with marked inattention and lack of persistent task involvement; and pervasiveness over situations and persistence over time of these behavioural characteristics.” (Mulhauser, 2015, p.1) The hyperactivity aspect of this disorder is most prominent in younger children, and may decrease in intensity as a child ages, highlighting the inattentiveness and impulsive behavior in adolescence. Today, those that do not display this hyperactive trait but still experience the same problems with inattention are typically diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder. However, this term as a diagnosis has only been used in recent …show more content…

There was a great deal of information I already knew on this particular topic, but of course while searching for more I came across facts that were new to me. The research on this topic also lead me to find that I had some slight misunderstanding regarding some of my prior knowledge on the topic, which may also be common misunderstandings. The fact that “…at least 65% of children with ADHD have one or more comorbid conditions.” (Harpin, 2005, p. i4) was something that I had never heard before. I had never once thought that developmental disorders like ADHD could be linked to or exist simultaneously with conditions like mental retardation or Oppositional Defiant Disorder. Another piece of information that was new to me was that even the siblings of people with ADD or ADHD that do not have it themselves are profoundly affected by the disorder. While I had assumed that the disorder probably had a significant impact on the lives of parents of children with the disorder, I did not think that it might have even a slight impact on the lives of the siblings that do not have the disorder themselves. Research suggests that siblings of children with ADHD are more likely to suffer from behavioral and emotional issues due to feelings that they are frequently victimized by their hyperactive siblings. (Harpin, 2005, p. i3) There are many misunderstandings regarding ADD and ADHD. One of the more

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