Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
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Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

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Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

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Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity, and emotional dysregulation that are excessive and pervasive, impairing in multiple contexts, and developmentally inappropriate. ADHD symptoms arise from executive dysfunction.

Impairments resulting from deficits in self-regulation such as time management, inhibition, task initiation, and sustained attention can include poor professional performance, relationship difficulties, and numerous health risks, collectively predisposing to a diminished quality of life and a reduction in life expectancy. It is associated with other mental disorders as well as non-psychiatric disorders, which can cause additional impairment.

While ADHD involves a lack of sustained attention to tasks, inhibitory deficits also can lead to difficulty interrupting an already ongoing response pattern, manifesting in the perseveration of actions despite a change in context whereby the individual intends the termination of those actions. This symptom is known colloquially as hyperfocus and is related to risks such as addiction and types of offending behaviour. ADHD can be difficult to tell apart from other conditions. ADHD represents the extreme lower end of the continuous dimensional trait (bell curve) of executive functioning and self-regulation, which is supported by twin, brain imaging and molecular genetic studies.

The precise causes of ADHD are unknown in most individual cases. Meta-analyses have shown that the disorder is primarily genetic with a heritability rate of 70–80%, where risk factors are highly accumulative. The environmental risks are not related to social or familial factors; they exert their effects very early in life, in the prenatal or early postnatal period. However, in rare cases, ADHD can be caused by a single event including traumatic brain injury, exposure to biohazards during pregnancy, or a major genetic mutation. As it is a neurodevelopmental disorder, there is no biologically distinct adult-onset ADHD except for when ADHD occurs after traumatic brain injury.

Inattention, hyperactivity (restlessness in adults), disruptive behaviour, and impulsivity are common in ADHD. Academic difficulties are frequent, as are problems with relationships. The signs and symptoms can be difficult to define, as it is hard to draw a line at where normal levels of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity end and significant levels requiring interventions begin.

According to the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) and its text revision (DSM-5-TR), symptoms must be present for six months or more to a degree that is much greater than others of the same age. This requires at least six symptoms of either inattention or hyperactivity/impulsivity for those under 17 and at least five symptoms for those 17 years or older. The symptoms must be present in at least two settings (e.g., social, school, work, or home), and must directly interfere with or reduce quality of functioning. Additionally, several symptoms must have been present before age 12 as per DSM-5 criteria. However, research indicates the age of onset should not be interpreted as a prerequisite for diagnosis given contextual exceptions.

ADHD is divided into three primary presentations:

The table "Symptoms" lists the symptoms for ADHD-I and ADHD-HI from two major classification systems. Symptoms which can be better explained by another psychiatric or medical condition which an individual has are not considered to be a symptom of ADHD for that person. In DSM-5, subtypes were discarded and reclassified as presentations of the disorder that change over time.

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