ODT: ADHD no ‘made-up’ disorder

Eileen Goodwin writes in the Otago Daily Times about a recent seminar by Professor Anita Thapar in which she discussed attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and why it’s not a case of ‘too much sweets’.

Evidence is emerging that the disorder may be neurodevelopmental, which means it would be in the same class as schizophrenia and intellectual disabilities.

An excerpt: (read in full here)

At present, there was no effective long-term treatment for the disorder, she said.

ADHD was sometimes written off as a “made-up” disorder, which was unhelpful in working out how to treat it.

“ADHD is joining the neurodevelopmental disorders, rather than the too-much-sweets disorders.”

Prof Thapar said ADHD was 80%-90% inherited, with the rest environmental or random.