ADHD

ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) affects children and adults, causing behavioral and emotional challenges. If you or your child has symptoms of ADHD, visit Haresh Tharwani, MD, DFAPA, and the team at MD Psychiatry & Emotional Health, PLLC. At their offices in Durham and Cary, North Carolina, the team offers expert diagnosis and treatment for ADHD that helps patients live more rewarding and less stressful lives. To find out how you can benefit from ADHD treatment, call MD Psychiatry & Emotional Health, PLLC, today or book an in-person or telehealth appointment online.

What is ADHD?

ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) is a developmental condition that occurs because of an imbalance in brain chemicals. These imbalances affect the activity of certain areas of the brain, causing problems with hyperactivity, lack of attention, and impulsivity.

ADHD symptoms typically appear before a child reaches 12 and often around the time they start grade school. Many children receive an ADHD diagnosis at an early age, but the condition can go undiagnosed until adulthood.

Unless they have an expert assessment, children can be labeled as disruptive, badly behaved, or dreamers who get lost in their own world. Living with ADHD can be stressful and often leads to other mental health problems like depression and anxiety. Substance abuse and addiction are a risk as children get older.

What are the symptoms of ADHD?

Some people with ADHD have problems with inattention symptoms, while others have primarily hyperactive and impulsive symptoms. Many have combined ADHD, meaning they have symptoms of both types.

Children and adults with inattentive ADHD show behaviors that include: 

• Not paying attention to details
• Making careless mistakes
• Trouble concentrating
• Not listening when spoken to
• Not following instructions
• Frequently losing things
• Difficulties staying organized
• Avoiding tasks that require focus
• Becoming easily distracted
• Forgetting about responsibilities

Children and adults with hyperactive/impulsive ADHD tend to be fidgety, tap their feet, and find it impossible to stay seated. They might find it hard to contain their energy, stop talking, or wait their turn. Children with hyperactive/impulsive ADHD are likely to get into trouble for being disruptive at school.

ADHD also makes regulating moods and emotions difficult, so you often feel angry, frustrated, and bewildered.

The MD Psychiatry & Emotional Health, PLLC, team performs cognitive testing to diagnose ADHD in children and adults.

How is ADHD treated?

ADHD treatment combines medication management with talk therapy. Stimulant medications improve connections in areas of the brain that regulate attention and thought processes. Behavioral therapy helps you manage the behaviors that cause problems, like impulsiveness.

People with ADHD might also benefit from psychotherapy, which focuses on emotional challenges and anger management, helping to control frustration and angry outbursts. Innovative treatments like TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation) therapy could also help when other treatments prove unsuccessful.

If you or your child has ADHD symptoms, call MD Psychiatry & Emotional Health, PLLC, today or schedule an in-person or telehealth appointment online.