Watched a documentary last night that not only brought back memories, but also made me ponder many questions.

The documentary was:

BBC Horizon -2005- Living With Adhd (click links to the torrent file - a must for any other fellow ADD/ADHD/ODD people and my mum - I am posting her a copy on CD).

When most UK doctors see a child with a disability or behaviour problem, they know that will see them for ONLY 30 minutes and then move on to the next patient. The parents cannot move on. This programme showed some of what parents of children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have to put up with.

Dr Philip Asherson, a Senior Lecturer in Molecular Psychiatry at King’s College and a highly-regarded specialist in the field, contributed to a programme about a mother and her two children who suffer from ADHD. Dr Asherson has also written two articles for the Horizon website on this subject.

Some of the questions it raised within me are:

  • How can we identify the comorbidities associated with adult ADHD?
  • Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) - understanding it, does it affect adlts with ADD/ADHD, and is it becomming more common as a co-diagnosis (comorbidities)?
  • How much to do we really know about comorbidities?
  • How can we treat them?
  • If the potential clinical importance of comorbidity has been recognized in children, has it been recognised in adults?
  • It appears that ADHD/ADD subjects are vulnerable to earlier development of adult depressive disorders, so therefor, should all ADHD/ADD subjects consider anti-depressants as well as their stimulant medications?

I have been reading alot of the Journal Watch articles, and some of you may find it interesting.

The shortage of child psychiatrists in the United Kingdom will not be resolved in the next decade, so most ADHD will continue to be diagnosed and treated by community paediatricians, often without the ideal package of behaviour support as well. Depressing, isn’t it?

We (well, most of the Western scientific community, with the exception of the UK) are truly coming to terms with ADD/ADHD, and I am hoping that in my lifetime, we understand and learn more about it.

This could be the very minute
I’m aware I’m alive
All these places feel like home

With a name I’d never chosen
I can make my first steps
As a child of 25