ATTENTION DEFICIT

HYPERACTIVE
DISORDER
REPORTED BY:
MARION NICOLE DELA VEGA
PSY31

DEFINITION
According to DSM-5, the essential feature
of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
(ADHD) is a persistent pattern of
inattention and/or hyperactivityimpulsivity that interferes with
functioning or development.

PHYSIOLOGICAL EXPLANATION
There were significant differences in the frontal lobe
and in the cerebellum. The frontal lobe is where you
have your executive functioning. and the cerebellum
is where coordination is. As these kids got older and
hit adolescence, their cerebellum started to look
more like the same size as the typical "normal" kids,
and it would explain why the hyper-activity symptoms
seem to diminish and yet the frontal lobe still seemed
significantly smaller than the typical "normal" child
(Miller, 2010).

THE IMAGE ON THE LEFT SHOWS DIFFERENCES BETWEEN AN

ADULT WITH ADHD (RIGHT) AND A NON-ADHD BRAIN (LEFT).
(THE PURPLE HALO SURROUNDING THE BRAIN IMAGE IS AN
IMAGE ARTIFACT AND NOT PART OF THE BRAIN.)
(ADDITUDE, 1998)

PHYSIOLOGICAL EXPLANATION CONTD

Several brain regions and structures (pre-frontal
cortex, striatum, basal ganglia, and cerebellum)
tend to be smaller. Overall brain size is generally 5%
smaller in affected children than children without
ADHD. While this average difference is observed
consistently, it is too small to be useful in making
thediagnosis of ADHDin a particular individual
(ADDitude, 1998).

PHYSIOLOGICAL
EXPLANATION
CONTD

When you have Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity

Disorder, you use your dopamine and your
norepinephrine faster in your brain than the average
person. When you don't have enough of that, you
become inattentive or you become more impulsive or
you're more hyperactive. The centers of the brain
that are smaller on these patients who have ADHD
seem to be very rich in dopamine and in
norepinephrine, so it's very nice that there's a
neuroanatomical reason for us to be sure that the
chemicals that we are talking about are equal (Miller,
2010).

ONTOGENETIC EXPLANATION
Children who have ADHD usually have at least one close relative who also
has ADHD and at least one-third of allfathers who had ADHDin their youth
bear children who have ADHD. The majority of identical twins share the
trait. Studies of twins and families make it clear thatgenetic factorsare the
major causes of ADD/ADHD, says Russell Barkley, Ph.D., author ofTaking
Charge of Adult ADHD. In fact, an estimated 75 to 80 percent of variation in
the severity of ADD/ADHD traits is the result ofgenetic factors.
At the National Institutes of Health, researchers are also on the trail of a
gene that may be involved in transmitting ADHD in a small number of
families with a genetic thyroid disorder (ADDitude, 1998).

EVOLUTIONARY
EXPLANATION
As nomads, those of us who
could learn the best way to get a meal or
avoid getting eaten by a wild animal were the ones who survived,
reproduced, and passed their traits on to their children. It turns out that
many of those traits are surprisingly similar to the ones
we now associate with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, better
-known as ADHD
. Being impulsive, impatient, or easily distracted might make learning
in a formal classroom more difficult. But those traits may have helped
all of us, as a species, get to where we are today.
There'slimited evidence,based on modern-day tribes, that supports
the theory that some or all of these ADHD-like traits were beneficial for
our ancestors. Finding suggests one possible explanation of the
variant's frequency in nomadic societies that resemble those of our
ancestors: Certain characteristics that we now link with ADHD may
have helped some people survive and thrive under conditions more
akin to those of our earliest ancestors than to the offices and
classrooms of today.

FUNCTIONAL EXPLANATION
(BROWN, 2016)

OTHER SPECIFIED
ATTENTIONDEFICIT/HYPERACTIVITY
DISORDER

DEFINITION
This category applies to presentations in which
symptoms
characteristic
of
attentiondeficit/hyperactivity disorder that cause clinically
significant distress or impairment in social, occupational
or other important areas of functioning predominate but
do not meet the full criteria for attentiondeficit/hyperactivity disorder or any of the disorders in
the neuro- developmental disorders diagnostic class.

UNSPECIFIED
ATTENTION-DEFICIT/
HYPERACTIVITY
DISORDER

DEFINITION

This category applies to presentations in which

symptoms
characteristic
of
attentiondeficit/hyperactivity
disorder
that
cause
clinically significant distress or impairment in
social, occupational, or other important areas
of functioning predominate but do not meet
the
full
criteria
for
attentiondeficit/hyperactivity disorder or any of the
disorders in the neurodevelopmental disorders
diagnostic class.