My topic
this week is The Natural Treatment Options for ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder); How to Avoid the Adverse Effects of
Psychostimulants. My goal is to find and
analyze the possible alternative treatments and options for ADHD, that are
available today, and compere them to the
standard treatment; to prescribe psycostimulant drugs to patients. This maybe a
little difficult to accomplish, but I think that this field of Psychology need
to be examined, explored more deeply.
ADHD was first recognized as a specific disorder in the 1070s, and
since, the number of children being diagnosed, is gradually increasing, ( Table
1.) and diagnosed by the DSM-IV-TR sytem. 50% of the
children, diagnosed with ADHD, are retaining the disorder to adulthood. (Sarris,
2011)
When the disorder carried to adulthood, it can create many
problems, such as serious social, economic issues and difficulties to adopt to
the society;
“The economic consequences of ADHD persisting into
adulthood are significant, with one U.S. analysis finding an
average of 35 days of annual lost work performance, representing
120 million days of annual lost work in the labor
force, equivalent to $19.5 billion lost human capital.” (Saris,
2011)
As I looked thorough in the
journal texts, I recovered, that ADHD is
routinely treated with psychostimulants,
a very strong pharmaceutical drug. ADHD treatment consist pharmacological and no pharmacological
methods, but in the United States,
psychostimulants (amphetamine and methylphenidate) are measured to be
the primary treatments for patients with ADHD to reduce the symptoms of the
disorder. ( Li, 2011)
When a child is diagnosed with ADHD in the USA, the parents are
advised by the psychiatrist, and the teachers to put the child on “medication”,
to avoid hyperactive behavior in the school, and home. Many parents follow this
advice, and make their child to take the stimulant drugs, to calm them down.
They happy to know, that their child’s behavior is improved, they no longer
hyperactive. The disappointment comes, when the children start complaining
about certain conditions that they did not have to deal with, before the
stimulant drugs. Taking the step to
relieve a child from the symptoms of ADHD, has a big price; facing with the adverse side effects of strong stimulant drugs. Most commonly reported
side effects are include; Anorexia, Weight loss, Abdominal pains, Sleep disturbances, Headaches, Irritability, Depressed mood and appetite, Some reports of stimulant induced psychosis (Saris, 2011).
Regarding these adverse effects, especially in a vulnerable
population as children, many parents start to look for, and take another road
to reduce or eliminate their children’s ADHD symptoms: using alternative
therapeutic treatments. The goal of this paper is, to introduce the most
recently researched alternative methods of treating ADHD, especially children
and to compere them to stimulant drugs, analyze
how could they deliver the same, effective results without the adverse
side effects. I will discuss these options next week in this blog!
References
Sarris J., Kean J., Schweitzer I. & Lake J., (2011)
Complementary medicines (herbal and nutritional products) in the treatment of
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): A systematic review of the
evidence, Complementary Therapies in Medicine, 19(4), 216p.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ctim.2011.06.007
