Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a highly prevalentdisorder, affecting approximately 4.4 million children in the United States (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).  ADHD is often characterized by inattentiveness, hyperactivity and impulsivity.  A study from the University of Chicago and the University of Pittsburgh suggests these traits may make children with ADHD more susceptible to depression and suicidal thoughts as young adults. This study was also reported by CNN.A long-term study published in the October issue of Archives of General Psychiatry indicates that children diagnosed with ADHD between ages 4 and 6 “are more likely to suffer from depression as adolescents than those who did not have ADHD at that age” (Science Daily).  The inattentiveness, hyperactivity and impulsivity so commonly identified in children with ADHD may “cause poor performance in school, difficulties in social situations and a loss of confidence and self esteem.”

The study followed 123 children diagnosed with ADHD at age 4 to 6 for up to 14 years, until they reached ages 18 to 20.  It compared them with 119 children from similar neighborhoods and schools, matched for age, sex and ethnicity.  The children were assessed annually in study years 1 through 4, 6 through 9 and 12 through 14. (Science Daily)

Eighteen percent of the children diagnosed with ADHD at a young age suffered depression as adolescents.  This figure is approximately 10 times the rate of that found in adolescents without ADHD.  Kids with ADHD were also five times more likely to have considered suicide at least one time, and twice as likely to have made an attempt (Science Daily).

Benjamin Lahey, Ph.D., a professor of health sciences and psychiatry at the University of Chicago, cautioned, “Suicide attempts were relatively rare, even in the study group.  Parents should keep in mind that more than 80 percent of the children with ADHD did not attempt suicide and not one in this study committed suicide.”

Nonetheless, the study indicates that parents of children that are diagnosed with ADHD at a young age should be keenly aware of their child’s emotional state.  Additionally, “children with inattention or combined subtype were at greater risk for depression.  Those with combined type or hyperactivity were at greater risk for suicidal thoughts.” Children with more complicated ADHD were more likely to be depressed and/or have suicidal thoughts than were children with less complicated ADHD.  Complication refers to the extensiveness of ADHD’s prevalence, whether or not children suffered from anxiety, displayed oppositional defiant disorder and conduct disorder symptoms. Although more boys than girls have ADHD, “being female increased the risk for depression.”  So, too, did having a mother who had suffered from depression.

Unfortunately, Brainjogging has witnessed the tolls of ADHD and depression on some of its own students.  Brainjogging, however, counteracts depression and enhances impulse control in individuals with ADHD.  Brainjogging is a viable solution to ADHD and related depression.

Researchers at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, Maryland and the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center recently conducted two studies, both of which were published in the February issue of Neurobiology, on the ability of children with Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) to control impulsive movements.In the first study, “children with ADHD performed a finger-tapping task” (Science Daily).  Unintentional “overflow,” or movements occurring on the opposite hand, were noted using video and a device that records finger position.  Mirror overflow is “defined as unintentional and unnecessary movements occurring in the same muscles on the opposite side of the body.” The study included fifty participants, 25 with ADHD and 25 typically developing children, ages 8-12 years.  All subjects completed five sequential finger-tapping tests on each hand.  Children tapped each finger to their thumb of the same hand.  Children alternated tapping hands between the left and the right.  When children with ADHD completed left-handed finger-tapping tasks, they demonstrated twice as much mirror overflow as typically developing children.    Boys with ADHD showed almost four times as much mirror overflow as typically developing peers.

Dr. Stewart Mostofsky, the study’s senior author and Director of the Laboratory for Neurocognitive and Imaging Research at the Kennedy Krieger Institute, stated, “This study used quantitative measures to support past qualitative findings that motor overflow persists to a greater degree in children with ADHD then in typically developing peers.  The findings reveal that even at an unconscious level, these children are struggling with controlling and inhibiting unwanted actions and behavior.”

In the second study, researchers further examined ADHD “be measuring activity within the motor cortex, the part of the brain that controls voluntary movement.” Using Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), researchers applied “mild magnetic pulses for brief durations to trigger muscle activity in the hand, causing hand twitches.”  Researchers applied single or double pulses in 60 trials and measured the corresponding brain activity, called short interval cortical inhibition (SICI).  Children with ADHD demonstrated “a substantial decrease in SICI, with significantly less inhibition of motor activity during the paired pulse stimulation compared to typically developing children.”  Children with ADHD showed 40 percent less inhibition control than their typically developing peers.  Additionally, children with ADHD with “less motor inhibition (decreased SICI) correlated with more severe symptoms.”  Measures of SICI predicted motor impairment in children with ADHD and predicted behavioral symptoms as substantiated by parents.  Researchers believe SICI “may be a critical biomarker for ADHD.”

*WebMD also posted an article about this study.