ADHD Assessment - What Happens When a Doctor Diagnoses ADHD?
To make an ADHD diagnosis, doctors examine your symptoms to determine whether they fit the criteria of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders - Fifth Edition (DSM-V). The majority of professionals also conduct an interview with a clinician with one or more standardized ADHD rating scales.
It is best to find a professional who specializes in diagnosing ADHD and is covered by your insurance plan. Ask members of your local support group for specialists.
Symptoms
If your pediatrician tests you for ADHD He or she will ask you questions about your symptoms and past history. He or she will also conduct a physical exam to look for physical causes for your disorder such as vision issues hearing loss, or a medical condition.
The main characteristic of ADHD is the difficulty in paying attention or staying focused. This can result in careless mistakes and inability to finish tasks (e.g. chores or schoolwork). Teens and children with ADHD have trouble listening to others and appear distracted or daydreaming. In adults who suffer from ADHD, these issues can cause issues at home or at work and in relationships.
Another ADHD characteristic is the inability to remain still or be still for long periods of time. Some people who suffer from ADHD have trouble concentrating, squirming or speed up when waiting for others or during an event. They also may be too loud or interrupt others regularly.
Doctors rely on the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fifth Edition Text Revision (DSM-5-TR(tm)), to guide their diagnoses. They assess whether a person has at least six traits of inattention or hyperactivity/impulsivity to determine what type of ADHD they have.
To determine if you have ADHD, your pediatrician will consider the way you behave in various settings such as at school or other social events. He or she will ask you, your family members as well as teachers and other caretakers to explain your behavior. He or she will also use checklists and scales for ADHD symptoms.
Your child could be undergoing physical examinations or blood tests to rule out any other medical conditions like a thyroid disorder, a vision issue, or a hearing loss. A mental health professional will also assess your child's ability to focus on the task at hand, follow directions and complete tasks.
Neuropsychological tests are not used to diagnose ADHD however they can be helpful in certain situations. It involves measuring brain activity, including beta waves using an EEG scan or magnetic resonance image (MRI). Certain studies suggest that those suffering from ADHD have less beta wave activity in the frontal lobes of their brains, and that they create too many theta waves.
Diagnosis
A doctor can diagnose ADHD according to the symptoms of a patient as well as their family history, and the results of a variety of screening and assessment tools. These include rating scales continuous performance tests, as well as neuropsychological testing batteries (Table I). For each tool it is crucial to determine its sensitivity as well as specificity, which is the probability that the test will correctly identify those who have the disorder as opposed to those who don't.
The first step in assessing ADHD is to talk with the patient. It is a one to two-hour session with the clinician that includes questions about the patient's symptoms as well as his or her history of them. A specialist might ask teachers and other caregivers to gather details, particularly when diagnosing children. The clinician will review the child's medical and school records and ask for them to complete questionnaires that parents and teachers have completed.
The physician may also request for school records from adults who are being evaluated for ADHD to determine if the symptoms began in childhood. The doctor may also talk to the spouse, siblings, and other family members of the person about their experiences. A specialist may want to interview people who know the person well including former teachers or religious leaders.
For an adult or adolescent to be diagnosed with ADHD, the person must show a range of symptoms in a variety of settings, such as school, home and work. These symptoms must affect the person's functioning and cannot be explained by another condition. For adolescents, the symptoms must be present since the early years and remain consistent throughout the years. For adults, they must exhibit at minimum five ongoing symptoms and suffered from them for at minimum six months. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fifth Edition Text Revision of the American Psychiatric Association (DSM-5) contains criteria for determining the severity of the disorder.
Treatment
There are many treatment options available for your child or adult who is diagnosed with ADHD. These may include medication, therapy for behavior or a mixture of both. Your doctor and you will determine the most appropriate treatment for your child based on the symptoms and the length of time they've been experiencing them for. Your doctor will also rule out other causes that may be causing the symptoms, for instance a mental health conditions like depression and anxiety or medical issues like thyroid disorders.
It is important to talk to your child's teacher if you or are having difficulties at school. Teachers are often able to spot ADHD symptoms in children, and they can help determine if the difficulties are due to ADHD or a different cause.
Your evaluation may include a conversation with a clinician as well as the completion of ADHD symptoms lists and other questionnaires, as well as psychological tests, details about your family and friends, and medical history. It is crucial to be as precise as you can about the difficulties that you or your child is experiencing. This will help your practitioner to understand the complexities and help them make a correct diagnosis.
Adults and older teenagers will go through a similar procedure of evaluation, but their symptoms will be assessed differently due to the fact that they are typically connected to their work and other activities. Your psychologist or psychiatrist may be able to ask you to describe the problems and how they impact your life. For example, do the problems affect your social or professional relationships? If yes How much? Your clinician will utilize this information to determine if your symptoms are mild, moderate or severe.
Psychosocial treatments are more effective than medication for adults with ADHD. These treatments can teach your family and you better ways to cope. For instance, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) can teach you how to shift your negative thoughts and manage your emotions. Group and family therapy can help you develop new strategies and skills to improve your relationship with a spouse or partner. For children and adolescents it is recommended to conduct a behavior study before trying any medication. This includes parent training in child behavior management up to age 6 and different forms of training and therapy for adults and older teens.
Follow-up
As with any diagnostic process, the results of an adhd test should always be interpreted and with the help of a qualified physician. This ensures that the person receives the appropriate treatment for their specific condition. This also reduces the risk of false-positive results, when a test indicates a person has ADHD but they don't. This could happen when the test used in an assessment isn't verified or the person conducting the test does not have sufficient experience to interpret the results correctly.
When interpreting the results of an assessment for adhd , the clinician will examine whether the symptoms are consistent with the patient's past and if they're sufficiently disruptive to their life. They will also look at the time frame and duration of the symptoms, as well in comparing them to an estimate of mental age (i.e., is the patient's behavior disproportionately 'below' or 'above' for their age).
Neuropsychological testing is helpful to assess ADHD symptoms in addition to clinical interviews and observation. Certain tests were designed specifically to assess the most important ADHD symptoms that include impulsivity and inattention. Two of these tests are the Quantified Behavior test for children (6-12 year olds) and Qb+(c) for adults (12 years or older). These tests use motion tracking systems that measure head movements and produce measurements of activity (i.e., the time spent moving more than 1 cm/s) as well as distance and the surface covered by movement as also microevents (i.e. small movements that exceed 1 millimeter). They also calculate estimates of commission errors and omission errors which are the two main components of ADHD's executive functioning issues.
It is important that the doctor spends the time to conduct a thorough evaluation. They'll likely inquire about the person's health and the development history that dates back to their childhood, their education and work history, family life, and their alcohol and drug use, in order to determine the causes that might be contributing to the symptoms they are observing. They will then use a combination of the SWAN and the patient or parent evaluations and objective cognitive tests to arrive at their diagnosis.