Childhood abuse and neglect increase the risk of self-injury, eating disorders, and suicide in young women with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Compared with peers diagnosed with ADHD who had not reported maltreatment, the young women who experienced maltreatment had lower overall self-worth, researchers reported, as well as an increased propensity for anxiety, depression, eating disorders, self-harm, and suicide.
While the data here is representative of a very specific population, and very detailed, the key here is that we cannot leave these people with a broad based approach to treating ADHD, every patient deserves the best we have in terms of care and empathy.
Researchers published their findings in the online Development and Psychopathology. From that study:
["While ADHD is clearly a heritable and biologically based disorder, and can be treated with medications, it is very important for clinicians and treatment providers to pay close attention to the trauma experiences of individuals, particularly women, with ADHD," said study lead author Maya Guendelman, a PhD student in psychology at the University of California, Berkeley.
We examined whether maltreatment experienced in childhood and/or adolescence prospectively predicts young adult functioning in a diverse and well-characterized sample of females with childhood-diagnosed attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (N = 140).
Participants were part of a longitudinal study and carefully evaluated in childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood (Mage = 9.6, 14.3, and 19.7 years, respectively), with high retention rates across time.
A thorough review of multisource data reliably established maltreatment status for each participant (Mκ = 0.78). Thirty-two (22.9%) participants experienced at least one maltreatment type (physical abuse, sexual abuse, or neglect).
Criterion variables included a broad array of young adult measures of functioning gleaned from multiple-source, multiple-informant instruments. With stringent statistical control of demographic, prenatal, and family status characteristics as well as baseline levels of the criterion variable in question, maltreated participants were significantly more impaired than nonmaltreated participants with respect to self-harm (suicide attempts), internalizing symptomatology (anxiety and depression), eating disorder symptomatology, and well-being (lower overall self-worth). Effect sizes were medium.
Comprising the first longitudinal evidence linking maltreatment with key young adult life impairments among a carefully diagnosed and followed sample of females with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, these findings underscore the clinical importance of trauma experiences within this population.]
This population is clearly in need, the focus should be on how do we properly ensure that this group gets the help it needs in a timely manner with the right amount of discernment. We are are responsible for those in need, let’s help.
