Children with ADHD, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, are more prone to depression and other mental problems than their peers. That is why the experts of the Child and the World for You Brother program urge not to underestimate this disorder.
As part of this campaign, in March, the second series of training courses for educators and school psychologists from all over Poland was launched. How to recognize a child with ADHD and help him ?. Lecturers emphasize that children with ADHD are not just naughty, but really have trouble controlling their impulses, emotions and behavior. This is due to the fact that the part of the brain responsible for inhibiting unnecessary stimuli develops more slowly in them. Therefore, three types of symptoms are observed in them: concentration disorders, hyperactivity and excessive impulsiveness.
This in turn leads to worse results at school, being rejected by their peers, disliked by adults. Children with ADHD see all of this and cannot cope with these problems. Hence their low self-esteem, mood disorders and depression – explained PAP, child psychiatrist Dr. Artur Kołakowski, author of workshops organized as part of the Child and the World for Mr. Brother campaign.
The problem is that depression in children often comes with different masks and is therefore easy to overlook. Some children feel like nothing and are constantly sitting in front of the computer, and therefore are considered lazy. Others may be irritable, react to everything with anger. In children with ADHD, this may be interpreted as an increase in naughty behavior. Only when we start talking to a young patient, it turns out that he has a bad opinion, he has no strength to get out of bed, he thinks that life is not worth living, and sometimes he even has thoughts of suicide – explained Dr. Kołakowski.
In children with ADHD, complications in the form of depression appear most often in adolescence, but unlike their peers, children with this disorder often do not grow out of depression. Lack of motivation, a bad self-image, and a lack of faith in being successful can stay with them throughout life.
That is why we want to recognize ADHD as early as possible, already in grades 1-3, when thanks to appropriate therapy we can prevent these and other complications – said Kołakowski.
Patients with this disorder are also more prone to addictions at a later age, they more often finish education at a level below their abilities, they have problems in close relationships, conflicts with the law.
As noted by the psychiatrist, not only parents, but also school teachers and educators play a very important role in the diagnosis of ADHD. If a child cannot focus on the activities performed, does not understand complex commands, does not notoriously write down homework, reacts to every impulse, does not distinguish between the less important and important ones, speaks loudly and a lot, then one can start to become suspicious of ADHD – he explained. Then the teacher may ask the school pedagogue or psychologist for the initial diagnosis of the child at school and to talk to the parents so that they come to the pedagogical and psychological counseling center for a complete diagnosis and therapy. During the diagnosis of ADHD, consultations with a psychiatrist are also routinely used.
The basis for the treatment of the disorder is psychotherapy of the child and his family, but in Poland the burden of financing it rests mainly with the parents. A small percentage of children need drug therapy.
It is estimated that approx. 5 percent. children aged 7-13 suffer from ADHD, so in a class of 25 students there may be one child with ADHD. In Poland, only about 20 percent. children with ADHD are being treated.
In order to improve these statistics, it is necessary to educate the public and the pedagogical community. This task is to be fulfilled by the long-term educational program Child and the World for You Brother. From September 2010 to the end of February 2011, 548 employees from 293 educational institutions participated in the workshops carried out under the program. (PAP)