 |
| Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder |
A.D.H.D. medications were in short supply from the fall of
2011 to the spring of 2012 throughout the United States. This shortage was due
to the supply being outpaced by the request for the medication. Prior to the
1990’s, less than 5% of school-aged children were thought to have Attention
Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. According to the Centers of Disease Control and
Prevention, 11% of adolescences from the ages of 4 to 17 had received the news
that they had A.D.H.D.; this 11% does not include the adult population. This
shows that the number of children diagnosed with A.D.H.D has skyrocketed over
the past 20 years.
 |
| A.D.H.D. Medications |
For many
years people felt that A.D.H.D. was a made up disorder. Yet, facts have shown
that A.D.H.D. is a genetic based disease. The way that scientist determine if
specific behaviors and traits are genetically based are by comparing twins.
Identical twins share almost 100% of the same genes, while fraternal twins
share about half of their genes. This shows that if a disorder is genetically
based, the identical twins have a higher chance of sharing it than the
fraternal twins. Researchers at Michigan State University, in 2010, studied 22
different twins and established that the traits of hyperactivity and
inattentiveness are greatly inheritable. Also, studies that use brain-imaging, display
dissimilarities between people who were diagnosed with A.D.H.D. and people who
were not. These images show that people with A.D.H.D. have less receptors for chemical
messenger dopamine in specific regions. This would cause the brain to not function
to its highest abilities.
| Brain Imaging of Non-ADHD and ADHD patients. |
Since
so many children and adults are diagnosed with A.D.H.D. the increase in
medications has raised. New medications are being produced and more medications
are being distributed. The genetic disorder A.D.H.D. affects the lives of many
people, especially children. Now knowing about this disease had opened up the
door to improvement for it. Children are now receiving the assistance that they
need to become focused and do well in school. There are therapists for them to
talk to, there is access to tutors, and time modifications for standardized testing.
Also, there is a drug treatment for this disease. People are beginning to
realize that this is not a disease that is just made up and people do suffer
from this. It really makes a difference to do the studies and find out where
this disease comes from and how you can resolve the problem.
To me many children do have A.D.H.D. and they need for it to be taken care of. It distracts them from the things that they need to do and accomplish in life. It can be the difference if they do good in school and obtain and retain an education. Knowing the it is a genetic disease does help figure out how they can fix the problem and make medication to fix the problem. I do believe that people do abuse the used of A.D.H.D. medications and that does need to be looked into. Though many people are diagnosed with A.D.H.D. I do not feel that they all have the disease.
To me many children do have A.D.H.D. and they need for it to be taken care of. It distracts them from the things that they need to do and accomplish in life. It can be the difference if they do good in school and obtain and retain an education. Knowing the it is a genetic disease does help figure out how they can fix the problem and make medication to fix the problem. I do believe that people do abuse the used of A.D.H.D. medications and that does need to be looked into. Though many people are diagnosed with A.D.H.D. I do not feel that they all have the disease.
While I do believe that A.D.H.D is a real thing I was also under the impression that the abuse of the medication used to treat it was the reason for the rise in diagnoses.I think research like this sheds an light onto this disease and takes away some of the negative social stigma associated with it. These are children that struggle harder in school when are not diagnosed. Everyone deserves the help they need in school despite their disability.
ReplyDelete