Читать книгу New hope for ADHD in children and adults - Helena Bester - Страница 15

In the previous chapter we used a more informal questionnaire or checklist to look at how ADHD is diagnosed. In this chapter the formal diagnosis of ADHD is explored in more detail.

ADHD is diagnosed according to a list of diagnostic criteria or symptoms that are specified in the DSM-5 (see below). To date there is no blood test or other clinical examination such as a scan or electroencephalogram (EEG) that can be used to diagnose ADHD. However, data bases resulting from research by institutions such as the Brain Resource Centre in Australia show clearly that the brainwave activity of ADHD sufferers deviates from the norm, as is the case with other brain disorders.

Some clinicians hold the view that advanced scans such as the SPECT (single photon emission computed tomography) and PIT (photo image tomography) do show up differences. At the International Congress of Psychology in Cape Town in 2012, there was talk of the DSM-5 possibly containing criteria including EEG data for the diagnosis of ADHD, but this did not happen. The biggest change in the DSM-5 is the examples that have been added to facilitate the diagnosis of adult sufferers. The American NIMH (National Institute of Mental Health), the largest mental health research organisation in the world, announced in May 2013 that they would no longer be basing their research on the DSM-5 categories of disorders, but rather on the cognitive, genetic and neurological components thereof. Neurotherapy is one such therapy which focuses on neurological aspects, which could mean a lot more research being conducted on it in the next few years. However, the criteria discussed below are the only available for the diagnosis of ADHD at this stage.