More Complementary & Integrative Healthcare Articles
Gender Key In Treating Adolescent ADHD/ADD and Depression
Common symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are impulsive behavior, social impairment, anxiety, depressive symptoms, inattention, hyper-motor activity, academic/occupational impairment. These symptoms vary in their presentation and impairment between genders.
Males are more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD earlier in their lives as they are more likely to engage impulsive behaviors that warrant special attention from teachers and caregivers. Such behaviors provide clues to underlying causes of behavioral issues commonly associated with ADHD. Males also experience a difficulty in focus early on in their lives creating academic and eventual occupational discontent.
Females are less likely to engage in impulsive behavior and display hyperactive symptoms than males. Females do not externalize their behaviors but instead have a higher incidence of inattention, anxiety, and racing thoughts. Such symptoms are difficult to pinpoint at an early age and these children could be mislabeled as “quiet” or “reserved” making ADHD more difficult to detect in females than in males.
Females are less likely to be impulsive and have behavioral issues but due to the poor detection of ADHD, they are more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD later in their lifespan. Misdiagnosis or failure to investigate the presence of ADHD in females results in prolonged academic or occupational problems. Such problems generate feelings of hopelessness, poor self-image, and poor concentration in a given activity or task (clubs, sports, social settings).
These findings indicate a need for increased awareness on the gender differences in the presentation and duration of depressive and ADHD symptoms. While males display maladaptive behaviors at an early age, they are more likely to receive psychiatric intervention for ADHD symptoms and more likely to reduce, and in some cases, avoid onset of depressive symptoms resulting for impairment of ADHD. Female depression and ADHD are detected later in life but increased awareness of these differences will result in earlier detection of ADHD and also avoid or reduce depressive symptoms later in life.
Education on depression and ADHD for parents is the first step. Pay attention to your children by “checking in” with them to see if they are understanding information presented to them. They may be listening but might have difficulty encoding the information into memory. If this is the case, simply present the information differently. Accompany words with images or sounds so that the child can associate meaning to information.
With education on these topics, parents can understand what is going on with their child and avoid frustration or negative appraisal of their child's performance in school or other areas of their life.
Talk therapy (family and individual) coupled with pharmacological intervention have shown to have the best outcomes. If medications are to be avoided, research indicates that talk therapy alone is the next best practice after combination therapy.
