Essay - ADHD and Substance Abuse the Noticeable High Incidence of Attention...

ADHD and Substance Abuse

The noticeable high incidence of attention deficit disorder (ADD) ***** ***** deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a relatively new phenomenon and, as a result, there needs to be considerably more empirical research conducted to know ***** about th***** condition. In fact, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV) of ***** American Psychiatric Association for mental illness is in the process of being updated and will include more information regarding this illness in adult years. The relationship between ADD/ADHD and substance abuse, for example, is one area that h***** been studied to some extent but still requires a gre*****t deal ***** *****. The For *****, does ADHD in childhood increase ***** risk of developing substance abuse disorders (SUD)? Is the risk of SUD *****d or decreased when treating adolescents? Do ADHD teens self-medicate with substances of *****? The five articles discussed in this literature review shed some light on ********** questions. However, as noted, all ***** these studies po*****t to the need for additional research on the connection between ADHD and substance abuse.

Treatment for individuals with both ADHD and ***** abuse is one of the areas of main concern, especially since, as is known now, ADHD continues into adolescence, young ********** and adulthood, when substance ***** has the greatest impact. According to Kolpe and Carlson (2007) from the Departments ***** Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine, Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapol*****, although there are no epidemiologic ***** on ADHD in adults, using studies from childhood and adolescent ADHD, it is estimated that somewhere between.3percent ***** 2 percent of adults as a whole may possibly have *****. *****se figures ***** very different when looking at the co-morbidity ***** ***** abuse and ADHD. Studies report ***** 30 percent adult outp*****ients with ADHD have a substance abuse d*****order, 34 percent have alcoholism, 15 to 35 percent in coca*****e ********** and *****4 percent in mixed use substance abuse users. However, say these authors (***** & Carlson, 2007), the amount of studies on *****dividuals with ADHD and substance ***** ***** treatment (e.g. methadone) are few. Due to this scarcity of studies, a review of ***** ***** records was conducted to determine ***** rate of current ADHD symptoms and its influence on treatment outcome.

The authors Kolpe and ***** (2007) analyzed 687 c*****secutive admissions to a methadone maintenance program to determine the degree of ADHD symp*****ms ***** *****ir relationship with treatment *****. Of ***** near 700 admissions, 396 or 58 percent ***** the patients self-reported experiencing at least one or ADHD symptom *****in the two-week before admission, and 131 or 19 percent of the patients said they had ADHD symptoms that were so severe that they made it very difficult to function in day-to-day activ*****ies.

***** months after these 687 individuals were treated, those who ***** significant ***** of ADHD ***** able to decrease their drug use but were not as able as the control group without ***** to attain abstinence. The auth*****s discuss ***** importance of screening for ADHD symptoms in methadone treatment