What Therapies Are Available For Treating ADHD

ADHD enters into life of a child even before the age of seven and affects its memory, grasping power, and overall behavior. In a child, ADHD shows its presence through the display of three core symptoms namely, inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity. It is believed that there is no cure for ADHD, but through the help of medical professionals, its symptoms can be controlled and behavior can be improved drastically.

So, treating ADHD is actually improving the behavior of the child, and not the child itself. Therefore, different therapies and medications are available for treating ADHD.

As compared to medication, therapy is a bit different from the point of view of its nature and effects. It is different in the sense that it does not effect immediately and is challenging in nature for a therapist. However, both medication and therapies aim at improving the behavior of the child by controlling the symptoms. Therapy can change the nature of your relationship with the child and other people.

According to a research, the combination of medication, education interventions, and behavioral management therapy is the best treatment of ADHD. This is because on one hand, medication controls the ADHD symptoms and on the other hand, behavioral therapy takes care of conduct and uses educational techniques to improve the academic performance. As a bonus, psychotherapy given by a psychotherapist aids in coping up with the issues due to low self-esteem and relationships.

However, determining whether your child will benefit from the therapy is at the discretion of the specialist. The specialist is a medical expert of ADHD recommended by the GP and builds a treatment plan that suits your child after he/she diagnoses ADHD. This treatment is given either by the specialist itself or by some other medical expert.

Types of Therapies

NHS provides four main therapies listed below. However, you can also opt for a private therapy outside NHS due to lot of waiting time for these therapies in NHS.

• Behavioral therapy
• Systemic therapy
• Counseling
• Psychodynamic therapy

Behavioral Therapy

Behavioral therapy concentrates on dealing with each bad behavior and problems faced by your child practically. For example, if your child has the problem of low self-confidence, the behavioral therapy might teach you some ways of boosting his/her confidence. In this situation, you will be encouraged to avoid seeing any negative aspect of your child, praise him/her upon each little good action performed, and reward your child on really good behavior to cope up with low self-confidence.

There are two behavioral approach common in this regard namely, Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) and parent training.

CBT

Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) believes that in order to change the behavior, the thinking pattern and vision needs to be changed. Therefore, in CBT, the specialist first determines through the discussion on what basis does your child thinks and feels about different the aspects of life. Next, he/she spots the wrong or negative patterns of thinking and tries to provide the child with positive viewpoints. This can be done through providing an in-depth explanation, giving examples, and role-plays. This ultimately results in changing the vision that, in turn, changes the logic, thinking, and finally the feelings and behavior.

6 to 20 sessions will be conducted according to the needs of a child.

Parent Training

Parent training is another approach especially designed for parents having children with ADHD. A unique training session will help parents to tackle ADHD in a different manner, rather than the usual one. This is required keeping in mind that normal ways of dealing with a child are not at all effective for dealing with a child having ADHD.

Systemic Therapy

This is also known as family therapy carried out by a clinical psychologist. We all know that the environment of the family can be one of the factors in causing ADHD. This environment can further influence the intensity of the symptoms and the growth of ADHD. This therapy is based on the belief that if one family member attempts to think, act, and react differently, the others would also start adjusting to maintain the relationships and status quo.

In this therapy, the specialist treats all the family members, rather than just treating the child. Therefore, the therapists will observe how the family leads to the ADHD-related problems and based on this, how the family can change to minimize them.

The sessions of such a therapy take place once a month or even less than this.

Counseling

This is a therapy of short duration wherein parents are guided on how to tackle the problems caused due to ADHD, rather than controlling the symptoms of ADHD. This guidance can be regarding child disagreeing on medication and work issues.

The sessions last hardly for six weeks.

Psychodynamic Therapy

This therapy is analytical in nature, in the sense that it focuses on behavior analysis for improvement and is not that commonly used in treating ADHD.

Professionals Involved in Therapies for ADHD

Child and adolescent psychiatrist and clinical psychologist are the important therapy experts. Depending on your place and child needs, the specialist will decide upon an appropriate professional/therapist. Listed below are the professionals involved in the therapy of ADHD.

• Psychiatrists
  These are skilled doctors who have acquired specialization in mental health. In case of ADHD, a psychiatrist is responsible for the examination, diagnosis, and treatment. Only a few of them will offer psychotherapy.
• Psychologists
  These are not qualified, but do possess a degree in psychology. In case of ADHD, a psychologist deals with the behavioral aspect of the patient. An educational psychologist also possesses two years of experience along with a completed course in educational psychology. A clinical psychologist has taken postgraduate training and is a part of mental health service group.
• Counselors and psychotherapists
  These do not possess any professional background, but have undergone training. Only a fully trained and recognized counselor or psychotherapist is referred to treat ADHD.

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