Did it ever happen to you or to one of your friends to take hours to finish a task that usually takes thirty minutes? 

ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) is a mental health condition that mostly affects teenagers and young adults. This condition has a lot of symptoms like having trouble concentrating, being forgetful, getting easily distracted, having difficulty staying still, and interrupting people when they’re talking. There are also other aspects of ADHD like impulsivity, people who suffer from this condition can have difficulty making decisions or controlling their emotions. There is also having difficulty focusing, they can have trouble maintaining focus when listening, reading or even holding a conversation with someone, they can make mistakes easily or miss a lot of important details, losing items frequently, and having trouble organizing daily tasks.

This mental health condition has been divided into three different categories to make diagnoses more consistent. There is ”predominantly inattentive” As the name says it means people who have extreme difficulty focusing. Researchers have found that it is more common in girls who have ADHD. The next category is ”predominantly hyperactivity-impulsive”, this is more of hyperactivity and impulsive behavior. It can be seen by people who fidget a lot and by those who cannot wait for their turn. The last one is a combination of both and it’s called ”Combined hyperactive-impulsive and inattentive type” This is the most common type, it is mainly the inability to pay attention, impulsiveness, and above- levels of energy.

Even though this condition was discovered in the early 1900s doctors and researchers still haven’t found the real cause of ADHD, they think that the principal cause is a reduction of dopamine. Dopamine is a chemical that helps move signals from one nerve to another. More than 60% of children with ADHD will only start showing symptoms as adults, it can have negative impacts at work, with their family, or even in their relationship. With children it’s more difficult to diagnose it, it is mostly associated with problems at school, in this case, it is easier to diagnose boys than girls.

For treatments, there are two types that most people use, behavioral therapy or medication. Behavioral therapy can help you learn how to live with this condition, it can help you manage your behavior. The most common is by taking medication, doctors can either prescribe you stimulants or nonstimulants. It can have a lot of benefits but at the same time some side effects, even if you take medication you still have to make a lot of effort mentally to try to control ADHD.