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ADHD Turns Kids into Troubled Adults, Study Finds

Those suffering from ADHD might develop other psychiatric disorders later in life

Mar 4, 2013 08:42 GMT  ·  By
Kids suffering from ADHD are likely to become troubled adults, study says
   Kids suffering from ADHD are likely to become troubled adults, study says

Today's issue of the scientific journal Pediatrics witnessed the publication of a new study claiming that children suffering from ADHD (i.e. attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) are likely to become rather troubled adults.

To put it in a nutshell: it appears that ADHD does not go away in time, and that those who are affected by this medical condition while still in their early years have increased chances of committing suicide and/or being sent to prison once they reach adulthood.

Newswise explains that this study showing how ADHD impacts on an individual's life as an adult is the first of its kind, meaning that no other researchers have thus far taken the time to investigate what happens to ADHD patients as they transition from childhood into adulthood.

These specialists base their claims that ADHD is bound to affect an individual all throughout their lives on data collected while researching a total of 367 adults who were diagnosed with this medical condition back in their childhood.

Of these, 29% still had ADHD despite their being adults, 57% had grown to develop a psychiatric disorder, three had committed suicide and ten had already found themselves in jail at the time of the researcher's rolling out this study.

“We suffer from the misconception that ADHD is just an annoying childhood disorder that’s overtreated. This couldn’t be further from the truth. We need to have a chronic disease approach to ADHD as we do for diabetes. The system of care has to be designed for the long haul,” argued Dr. William Barbaresi.

“One can argue that this is potentially a best-case scenario,” Dr. Barbaresi says. “Outcomes could be worse in socioeconomically challenged populations,” this researcher went on to explain.

For those unaware, ADHD is a neurobehavioral disorder which causes kids to be inattentive, impulsive and over-active.

Interestingly enough, this medical condition is the most commonly studied and diagnosed psychiatric disorder in children, seeing how it is believed to affect about 3-5% of the world's youth.