Psych evaluation for adhd

Psychological Testing For ADHD - Bright Pine Behavioral Health

What is ADHD?

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder is characterized by a marked increase in energy levels, an inability to sit still for long periods of time, and an extremely short attention span. There are generally considered to be three different types of ADHD: inattentive, hyperactive or impulsive, and combined type. Each category comes with its own list of potential symptoms that you might experience.

Inattentive ADHD must have several of the following symptoms:

Cannot pay close attention to the details or makes careless mistakes on assigned tasks
Difficulty remaining focused on tasks or activities
Does not appear to listen when spoken to
Does not follow through on instructions or complete tasks
Difficulty organizing tasks
Dislikes tasks that require mental effort
Frequently loses things
Easily distracted
Often forgets daily tasks

Hyperactive or impulsive ADHD exhibits a slightly different set of symptoms:

Fidgets with objects or taps hands and feet
Unable to remain seated
Runs and climbs where it is not appropriate to do so
Unable to play quietly
Acts as if driven by a motor
Talks too much or blurts out an answer before the question has finished
Difficulty waiting for turns
Interrupts or intrudes on others

As you might imagine, experiencing these symptoms in your daily life can significantly impact your performance at work and school. You might have a difficult time focusing on reading material to prepare for an upcoming exam, leading to poor grades and a difficult time in class. At work, you may have a challenging time remaining focused on the task at hand, leaving many things unfinished in your hurry to move onto the next thing.

School and work performance are the most common areas to suffer when you have ADHD, but your personal relationships are also affected by the disorder. Other people can become frustrated when you repeatedly forget to return their phone calls, constantly interrupt them when they are speaking, and seem to never listen when they are trying to have a conversation with you.

Pursuing the Proper ADHD Treatment

Because it is such a pervasive problem in every aspect of your daily life, you must begin to pursue proper treatment. This starts with an accurate diagnosis. Unfortunately, there are no lab tests that can accurately determine whether you have ADHD. Instead, you must undergo a neuropsychological evaluation to determine whether it is indeed the cause of your struggles.

Once an accurate diagnosis is received, you can begin to pursue treatment. There are two main types of treatment that are recognized for individuals who are diagnosed with ADHD: medication and therapy.

Medications can be used under the guidance of a skilled doctor or psychiatrist who has experience working with ADHD patients. This can often bring great relief from the more distracting symptoms of the disorder, but it shouldn’t be used alone. Patients have a greater chance of forming new and healthier habits when they use this medication in conjunction with behavioral therapy.

On the other hand, behavioral therapy helps to teach that there are positive rewards for performing the desired behaviors and consequences for other choices. It may also require the help of people within the patient’s family in order to be as effective as possible. But of course, the overall goal here is to help people with ADHD learn how to better organize their lives and take back control of their behavior.

Why is a Neuropsychological Evaluation Important in Diagnosing ADHD ?

The most important reason to obtain a neuropsychological evaluation is to ensure that you are receiving an accurate diagnosis.

This is the first step toward obtaining the proper treatment so that you or your loved one can begin to live a productive and successful life. Unfortunately, an accurate diagnosis can be difficult without a thorough evaluation that tests all of your cognitive functions.

A psychological test for ADHD includes assessment of your intelligence, memory and attention, language, executive functioning, and even your personality.

Each of these areas of cognition is incredibly important to help create a more accurate picture of your struggles with inattention and hyperactivity. They can help to pinpoint whether the issues are caused by an attention deficit disorder or whether there may be an underlying cause for your symptoms.

Many other conditions can cause symptoms that very closely mirror those found in patients with ADHD. Take a look at this list of potential issues that could cause symptoms very similar to those found in patients with ADHD:

Mood disorders
Anxiety disorders
Substance abuse problems
Migraines
Sensory integration issues
Learning disabilities
Autism Spectrum Disorder

In order to obtain an accurate diagnosis and pursue the proper treatment, you and your clinician have to be absolutely certain that you are struggling with ADHD.

A neuropsychological evaluation is the best and most thorough way to ensure that you have an accurate picture of your cognition and mental health.

ADHD Testing in Oakland County, MI

Bright Pine Behavioral Health psychological testing is administered by Dr. Kat Lewitzke PsyD. She’s a go to source for ADHD testing services in Oakland County, MI. Because a neuropsychological evaluation is so thorough, you should be prepared to spend half a day with your tester. It takes approximately 3-6 hours to complete a full work-up of each area that needs to be tested. This can often cause fatigue throughout the day, so be sure to get a good night’s rest before your evaluation. You may also want to remember to bring something to snack on during your examination.

Remember that doing your best work on this evaluation is incredibly important to help you obtain the proper treatment for your disorder or to pinpoint underlying causes of your symptoms. The sooner that you seek help for this potential disorder, the sooner you can find relief from the symptoms that bother you on a daily basis.

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Psychological Testing for ADHD in Adults

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) affects an estimated 2.5 percent of adults. It’s a mental health condition that leads to problems such as hyperactivity and impulsive behavior.

Untreated ADHD can disrupt many aspects of your life, such as your employment and your relationships. Getting a proper diagnosis is the first step to getting treatment.

Adults with ADHD often respond well to a combination of psychotherapy and medication.

There’s not one single test to diagnose ADHD. Rather, a comprehensive evaluation helps healthcare practitioners diagnose ADHD.

The key test is a standardized interview, but your healthcare practitioner may also ask to interview close family members and give you tests to rule out similar conditions.

Keep reading to learn more about how ADHD is diagnosed in adults and which tests are generally used.

Diagnosing ADHD can be complex because there’s no single test that diagnoses ADHD. When a healthcare practitioner makes the diagnosis, they use information from multiple sources, such as:

an ADHD symptom checklist
a detailed history of your past and current level of functioning
information obtained from family members or other close loved ones
standardized behavior rating scales
tests to rule out other conditions or learning disorders
a medical examination

Your healthcare practitioner will follow guidelines from the most recent edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) to diagnose ADHD. This is a reference handbook healthcare practitioners use to make diagnoses.

DSM-5 guidelines provide a common set of instructions to increase the likelihood that different healthcare practitioners will come up with the same diagnosis.

These guidelines list three potential patterns of ADHD:

inattention
hyperactivity
a combination of both

There are nine criteria for the inattention pattern and nine for the hyperactivity pattern. Adults need five of the symptoms of either pattern for an ADHD diagnosis, while children need six.

The combined pattern means you have at least five symptoms for both the inattention and hyperactivity pattern.

Below are the DSM-5 criteria for diagnosing ADHD:

Inattention

a frequent inability to maintain close attention to details or frequent mistakes at school or work
frequent trouble maintaining attention on tasks or activities
often not listening when spoken to
often not following instructions or failing to finish duties
often having trouble with organization
a frequent reluctance to do tasks that require sustained mental effort
often losing things
getting distracted easily
often forgetting duties or daily activities

Hyperactivity

often fidgeting or squirming when sitting
frequently getting up from your seat when inappropriate
often feeling restless
often unable to take part in tasks quietly
often “on the go”
talking excessively
frequently blurting out answers before questions are complete
persistently having trouble waiting your turn
frequently interrupting others

Self-diagnosing with online surveys

You can find many online surveys to self-diagnosis ADHD. However, some mental health experts strongly discourage using these surveys to self-diagnose since the majority of these tests aren’t scientifically validated.

A formal diagnosis can only come from a qualified and licensed professional.

Qualified healthcare practitioners follow the DSM-5 guidelines when making an ADHD diagnosis. There may be some variation in which tests healthcare practitioners use, but the following tools are often included.

Diagnostic interview

The most important part of your ADHD examination is the diagnostic interview.

It can be structured or semi-structured. No matter how your healthcare practitioner conducts the interview, they’ll ask you standardized questions about your current and past behavior.

The questions cover a range of topics. Your healthcare practitioner will ask follow-up questions to gather as much information as possible.

For them to make an ADHD diagnosis, your healthcare practitioner needs to find that you’ve shown characteristics of ADHD from childhood to the present.

If possible, your healthcare practitioner may want to do the interview when you’re with a family member or your partner. The interview takes a minimum of 1 to 2 hours to complete.

The interview uses standardized questions to maximize the likelihood that another interviewer would come up with the same diagnosis.

Each question correlates with one of the nine characteristics of either the inattentive or hyperactive pattern of ADHD.

Interview of family or close friends

Your healthcare practitioner may also interview family members or other people who know you well. This part of the diagnosis process helps your healthcare practitioner get extra details and corroborate your answers.

For example, your parents may have the ability to provide details about your childhood that you forgot, or your partner may be able to provide details about your relationship that you may miss.

Standardized behavior rating scale

ADHD evaluation often includes standardized questionnaires used to compare the behavior of people with ADHD with people who don’t have ADHD.

These surveys won’t be used as a diagnosis by themselves, but they can provide support for the diagnostic interview. Your healthcare practitioner may also want your partner to fill out the surveys.

Additional tests

Your healthcare practitioner might give you additional tests to screen for other conditions. These tests may include tests to measure academic achievement, intellectual capability, or to help your healthcare practitioner find coexisting conditions.

As many as 80 percent of people with ADHD have at least one coexisting condition. The most common are:

depression
anxiety
bipolar disorder
substance use disorder
personality disorders

Medical exam

You may be given a medical examination if you haven’t had one recently. This exam can help your healthcare practitioner rule out other conditions that may cause symptoms that mimic ADHD symptoms, such as thyroid problems or a seizure disorder.

Your family doctor likely won’t diagnose ADHD unless they have specialized training. But they can refer you to a healthcare practitioner who has experience diagnosing ADHD.

Some types of healthcare practitioners who may be able to make the diagnosis include:

psychiatrists
neurologists
developmental pediatricians
psychologists
clinical social workers
nurse practitioners
licensed counselors or therapists

Visiting your family doctor is one of the easiest ways to find a qualified professional to diagnose ADHD.

In some cases, your family doctor may have undergone specialized training to make the diagnosis themselves. In most cases, they’ll refer you to a specialist to make the diagnosis.

In many cases, you’ll work with a small team of mental health professionals with different areas of specialization.

Adults with ADHD often show a pattern of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity that causes problems in certain areas of their life, such as their employment or relationships.

For example, a person with ADHD may have difficulty performing well at work because they have trouble focusing and staying organized. They may have relationship trouble because they have angry outbursts and impulsive behavior.

The symptoms of ADHD may be more subtle in adults than children. Many adults with ADHD don’t know they have it. And ADHD often gets overlooked in girls and women.

Some general symptoms of ADHD in adults include:

poor focus
easily distracted
disorganization
poor time management
hyperactivity
forgetfulness
impulsivity
emotional concerns
poor self-image
low motivation
restlessness
fatigue
relationship problems
substance use

For your healthcare practitioner to diagnose ADHD, they’ll perform a comprehensive evaluation using multiple tests.

The key test is a diagnostic interview where they ask you standardized questions. Your healthcare practitioner will also likely want to interview close family members, have you fill out standardized behavior surveys, and perform tests to rule out similar conditions.

ADHD can produce different symptoms in different people. If you think you may have ADHD, it’s important to visit a trained healthcare practitioner for a proper diagnosis.

ADHD can be disruptive to your life, but treatment can help you successfully manage it.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Estimating the prevalence of ADHD is currently difficult due to the variability of diagnostic tools in different countries (in the USA it is DSM-IV, in Russia and Europe - ICD-10, and soon there will be ICD-11). Data available to date indicate that the prevalence of ADHD is as high as 4-13% in the United States, 9-18% in Germany, 3-10% in Italy, 1-13% in China, and up to 15-28% in Russia (Moscow and Moscow Region). region).

Consider how ADHD manifests itself from an early age and throughout life. Child is restless, restless, extremely impulsive and cannot restrain these impulses. He needs to keep moving. As a result - a violation of behavior at home, in kindergarten and school, difficulties in adaptation, school failure, conflicts with teachers and peers.

By adolescence increased motor activity in most cases disappears, and impulsivity and attention deficit persist. According to the results of N.N. Zavadenko, behavioral disorders persist in almost 70% of adolescents and 50% of adults who had a diagnosis of ADHD in childhood. The gender ratio is also noteworthy: among boys of 7-12 years old, signs of the syndrome are diagnosed 2-3 times more often than among girls, in adolescents this ratio is already 1:1, in people 20-25 years old - 1:2 with a predominance of girls.

ADHD as a diagnosis has existed for a long time, but in our country it is not so often put: there are still specialists (among them there are even psychiatrists) who completely deny the existence of such a disorder. This leads to the fact that children do not receive timely adequate care and, having reached adulthood, have a standard of living that is much lower than they could have had they been diagnosed and treated on time.

In Russia, ADHD was diagnosed on to an adult is an exceptional phenomenon. As can be seen from the above, this is a person (most often a woman) who has problems with attention, which leads to problems in intellectual activity. A person has poor control over his behavior, is inconsistent in his actions and decisions. The likelihood of problems with studying at a higher educational institution (as a result of which a person has a low educational level) and with subsequent employment increases. Impulsivity, poor ability to plan and predict consequences can lead to early and unwanted pregnancies and / or the presence of alcohol or drug addiction. We get an almost ready-made portrait of a dysfunctional person, but to declare that “we have half the country like that” is as inappropriate as talking about a schizophrenic patient wandering the streets, who was not provided with adequate medical care, that “he chose such a life for himself” . The prevalence of the disease rather characterizes the features of the organization of medical care, rather than its normativity.

Of course, the severity of ADHD, as well as many other disorders, varies from "extreme" cases of trouble, to milder, so-called "blurred" forms. A person can graduate from a higher educational institution and get a job, but still experiences difficulties: it is difficult for him to plan his actions, meet deadlines, he constantly finds himself in various ridiculous situations because of his alleged short-sightedness, marriage does not go well, etc. .

With a certain degree of awareness, such a person can turn to psychotherapists for help, but here too there are options - someone will choose the appropriate approach, and someone will draw mandalas for decades in the hope that troubles and troubles will recede, one has only to “open your inner Goddess. We have nothing against drawing mandalas and revealing different aspects of our personality, however, we believe that any influence chosen by a specialist should be adequate for the problem of the person who applied for help and effective in his particular case. In a situation with ADHD, psychotherapy alone is sometimes not enough and pharmacological support may be required. But only a psychiatrist can determine which one and to what extent.

How can we help?

If you have found some of the described symptoms in yourself or your loved ones, this may indicate the development of a mental disorder. In this case, it is worth contacting a psychiatrist for diagnosis and initiation of timely treatment. In addition to face-to-face communication , we offer remote consultation service (online reception) , which is not inferior to a face-to-face meeting in terms of quality. Thus, you can get qualified help a high-level specialist, no matter where you are located.

In our center for mental health and psychological assistance, within walking distance from the Elektrozavodskaya metro station (Moscow) and the Novokosino metro station (Reutov), specialists who have extensive experience in treating mental disorders work. We use the most modern and advanced techniques, guided by the principles of evidence-based medicine. Effective assistance and confidentiality of information constituting a medical secret are guaranteed.

Attention Deficit Disorder - health articles

11/10/2022

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (abbreviated as ADHD) is a certain disorder in the psycho-emotional development of a child. The first symptoms begin to bother from the age of three: the baby cannot sit still and tries in every possible way to attract attention to himself by deliberate disobedience.

Many parents do not consider it necessary to deal with hyperactivity in children, attributing bad behavior to a difficult age. However, in the future, the disease turns into serious problems for the student: inability to concentrate, poor progress, frequent criticism from teachers and friends, social isolation, and nervous breakdowns.

Hyperactivity is a dysfunction of the central nervous system. If left untreated in childhood, the disorder can greatly affect the quality of life of an adult. Therefore, it is worth seeking the advice of a specialist and conducting a comprehensive corrective therapy if you suspect a child has ADHD.

The development of ADHD is hidden in several reasons that have been established by scientists on the basis of facts. These reasons include: genetic predisposition; pathological influence.
Genetic predisposition is the first factor that does not exclude the development of malaise in the patient's relatives. Moreover, in this case, both distant heredity (i.e., the disease was diagnosed in ancestors) and near (parents, grandparents) play a huge role. The first signs of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in a child lead caring parents to a medical institution, where it turns out that the predisposition to the disease in a child is associated precisely with genes. After examining the parents, it often becomes clear where this syndrome came from in the child, since in 50% of cases this is exactly the case. Today it is known that scientists are working on isolating the genes that are responsible for this predisposition. Among these genes, an important role is given to DNA regions that control the regulation of dopamine levels. Dopamine is the main substance responsible for the correct functioning of the central nervous system. Dysregulation of dopamine due to genetic predisposition leads to the disease of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Pathological influence is of considerable importance in answering the question about the causes of the manifestation of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Pathological factors can serve as: the negative impact of narcotic substances; influence of tobacco and alcoholic products; premature or prolonged labor; interrupt threats. If a woman allowed herself to use illegal substances during pregnancy, then the possibility of having a child with hyperactivity or this syndrome is not excluded. There is a high probability of the presence of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in a child born at 7–8 months of pregnancy, i.e. premature.

Symptoms

Attention deficit disorder is expressed primarily in hyperactivity and inattention of the child. These are the main symptoms of the disorder.

Signs of hyperactivity:

A constant feeling of internal restlessness causes the child to fidget in the chair, jerk his legs, wave his arms or fiddle with something.
Feelings of anxiety increase when adults are forced to be quiet and calm. This causes a backlash: the children respond to the request not to make noise with stormy laughter, stomping or jumping up from their seats.
Hyperactivity is expressed in impulsive behavior. For example, a child shouts out an answer in class before the teacher has finished speaking the question. Or he may get into a fight because he is unable to wait his turn in the game competitions.
The inattention inherent in hyperactivity syndrome is expressed as follows:
Any task tires very quickly, just a couple of minutes after the start. It is almost impossible to focus on learning a new subject. Usually children are able to keep their attention on what they are really interested in. But in a child with ADHD, boredom and an absent-minded look appear in any activity, even in the one with which he “fired up” in the first minutes.
Problems with concentration develop absent-mindedness. Sitting down for homework in the language, the child opens a math notebook and does not notice that he is writing the text on a sheet in a cage. He forgets to write down information in a diary, he may forget his textbook and notebooks on his desk, or he may not hear a request addressed to him.
There is a very poor memory. Trying to learn something by heart, a child can repeat a phrase twenty times and not reproduce it after a minute. This happens due to constant distractibility: children mechanically pronounce the words they are learning, but mentally follow the crawling fly on the wall or listen to the sounds from the street.

Diagnosis

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is diagnosed using a questionnaire, behavioral observation of the child, and MRI brain examination.

Asking questions to parents, the medical specialist builds a clinical picture, differentiating normal behavioral symptoms from actual abnormalities, in order to accurately determine whether it is ADHD or normal puberty.

Frontal brain scan serves both to investigate attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children and to confirm the diagnosis.

Treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

The best treatment option for ADHD is complex - psychological correction in combination with medications.

A lot depends on the actions of mothers and fathers. Do not constantly scold the baby for wrong actions and inappropriate behavior. It is much more useful to offer your help in cleaning things or preparing for school, to praise for the diligence shown and overcoming difficulties. It is very important to emphasize every achievement, no matter how small, and give the child confidence in their own abilities.

Praise the child for any possible reason - he washed his cup after himself, put away his toys, wrote neatly in a notebook or helped his mother set the table. Do not skimp on words of support even in case of failure, because adults quite often make mistakes and minor misconduct.

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