Retrospective Reports of Childhood Trauma in Adults with ADHD

Although studies have documented higher prevalence of abuse in children with ADHD, no studies have investigated childhood reports of abuse in individuals identified withADHDin adulthood. Method: FortyADHDwomen, 17ADHD males, 17 female controls, and 40 male controls complete the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire and other measures of psychosocial functioning. Results: Emotional abuse and neglect are more common among men and women with ADHD as compared to controls. Sexual abuse and physical neglect are more commonly reported by females with ADHD. Although childhood abuse is significantly correlated with depression and anxiety in adulthood, having ADHD is a better predictor of poorer psychosocial functioning in adulthood. Conclusion: Clinicians are alerted that patients with ADHD symptoms have a high probability of childhood abuse

Effects of Micronutrients on Anxiety and Stress in Children

• Objective: Examined effects of micronutrients on children with clinically elevated stress and anxiety 23 to 36 months after experiencing a natural disaster (major earthquake). • Methods: A single-case design allocated 14 children (7 males, 7 females; aged 8-11 years; 10 with formal anxiety-disorder diagnoses) randomly to one, two or three week baselines. Participants then took eight capsules/day of a micronutrient formula (EMPowerplus) during an eight-week open-label trial. Assessment instruments were the Children’s Global Assessment Scale (CGAS), the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED), the Pediatric Emotional Distress Scale (PEDS), and the Revised Children’s Manifest Anxiety Scale (RCMAS). • Results: Symptom severity declined slightly in baseline for some children and declined much more during intervention for all children. Effect sizes at end of treatment were -1.40 (RCMAS), -1.92 (SCARED), +1.96 (CGAS) and -2.13 (PEDS). Modified Brinley plots revealed decreases in anxiety and improvements in overall functioning for 10 out of 11 completing participants. Side effects were mild and transient. • Conclusions: The study provided evidence that dietary supplementation by micronutrients reduces children’s post-disaster anxiety to a clinically significant degree. Future placebo-controlled randomised-controlled trials and treatment-comparison research is recommended to determine if this is true of anxiety in general

Modeling the Subsurface Structure of Sunspots

While sunspots are easily observed at the solar surface, determining their subsurface structure is not trivial. There are two main hypotheses for the subsurface structure of sunspots: the monolithic model and the cluster model. Local helioseismology is the only means by which we can investigate subphotospheric structure. However, as current linear inversion techniques do not yet allow helioseismology to probe the internal structure with sufficient confidence to distinguish between the monolith and cluster models, the development of physically realistic sunspot models are a priority for helioseismologists. This is because they are not only important indicators of the variety of physical effects that may influence helioseismic inferences in active regions, but they also enable detailed assessments of the validity of helioseismic interpretations through numerical forward modeling. In this paper, we provide a critical review of the existing sunspot models and an overview of numerical methods employed to model wave propagation through model sunspots. We then carry out an helioseismic analysis of the sunspot in Active Region 9787 and address the serious inconsistencies uncovered by \citeauthor{gizonetal2009}~(\citeyear{gizonetal2009,gizonetal2009a}). We find that this sunspot is most probably associated with a shallow, positive wave-speed perturbation (unlike the traditional two-layer model) and that travel-time measurements are consistent with a horizontal outflow in the surrounding moat.Comment: 73 pages, 19 figures, accepted by Solar Physic

Impact of ADHD on the neurocognitive functioning of adolescents with bipolar disorder

Background: Pediatric Bipolar Disorder (BD) has been associated with a number of neurocognitive deficits not dissimilar to ADHD. This study compared neuropsychological profiles of 4 groups of adolescents (14–17 years): 41 Normal Controls (NC), 30 ADHD, 12 BD and 12 combined (BD+ADHD). Methods: Participants were identified according to a standardized protocol (WASHU-KSADS mood section, K-SADS-PL and Conners Scales) and completed tests of processing speed, memory, executive functioning, set shifting, and inhibition. ADHD adolescents on stimulant medication did not take it on the day. Results: After controlling for covariates, the ADHD-only and combined groups were most impaired, including processing and naming speed, working memory, and response inhibition. The ADHD-only group showed specific impairment in naming objects, numbers and letters than the NC and showed greater deficits than the BD-only group on tests of naming speed. The combined group showed greatest deficits in verbal memory and inhibitory control. Other than working memory, there were no differences between the BD-only and NC groups. Removal of BD-NOS did not impact on the results. Conclusions: This study failed to find broad neurocognitive deficits in BD-only adolescents. Only those with comorbid ADHD showed cognitive deficits, highlighting the impact ADHD may have on neurocognitive functioning of BD

Gender differences in neuropsychological functioning of New Zealand adolescents with and without Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Only recently have studies included a female Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) sample when investigating neurocognitive functioning of individuals with ADHD. As such, the generalisability of findings of impaired executive functioning is limited to ADHD males. This study compared four groups aged 13-17 years: 30 male controls, 35 female controls, 24 males with ADHD, and 25 females with ADHD. Participants were assessed using the K-SADS-PL and Conners' Rating Scales, and completed tests of rapid naming, processing speed, memory, inhibition, set-shifting, and interference. Results showed that the males with ADHD and the females with ADHD performed similarly with only one notable difference: males with ADHD showed some evidence of more impaired inhibition than females with ADHD. In contrast, after controlling for reading ability, comorbidity, and IQ, both males and females with ADHD showed some impairment in working memory, naming speeds, processing abilities, and inhibitory deficits as compared with controls. This study supports the growing literature documenting impaired neurocognitive functioning in both males and females with ADHD

Psychosocial functioning of adolescents with and without paediatric Bipolar Disorder

Background: While there has been a growing interest in the presentation of Bipolar Disorder (BD) in children and adolescents, few studies have investigated the psychosocial functioning of these individuals and its relationship to trauma and suicidal ideation. Methods: 63 adolescents aged 13–17 participated: 39 controls and 24 with Bipolar Disorder (BD). Group allocation and histories of trauma and suicidal ideation were obtained using the K-SADS-PL and WASH-U-KSADS. Adolescents completed questionnaires covering negative life events, self-esteem, hopelessness, regulation of anger, locus of control and coping. Results: More traumatic events and negative life experiences were reported by the BD group with over 50% of the BD sample indicating a history of trauma compared with 10% of the controls. The BD group reported lower self-esteem, more hopelessness, more negative life events, a more external locus of control and greater difficulties regulating emotion in anger-provoking situations. They were also found to have poorer coping strategies than the controls. Histories of trauma did not differentiate those with and without psychosocial problems. Further, hopelessness was found to be the best predictor of those BD adolescents reporting suicidal ideation. Comorbidity could not account for the differences found. Limitations: The sample was small and therefore disallowed comparisons among subtypes of BD. Cross-sectional design limited the ability to investigate causal relationships. Conclusions: This is the first study to document the widespread psychosocial difficulties facing youth with BD, highlighting these issues as important ones to explore during assessment and treatment, particularly in management of affective storms and suicidal risk

Neuropsychological Profiles of Adolescents with ADHD: Effects of Reading Difficulties and Gender

Background: Executive function, particularly behavioral inhibition has been implicated as a core deficit specific to Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) whereas rapid naming has been implicated as a core deficit specific to reading disabilities (RD). Females may be less impaired in executive function although adolescent females with ADHD have yet to be studied. Methods: Neuropsychological profiles of four adolescent groups aged 13-16 with equal female representation were investigated: 35 ADHD, 12 RD, 24 ADHD+RD, and 37 normal controls. A semi-structured interview (K-SADS-PL), the Conners Rating Scales and the Ontario Child Health Study Scales were used to diagnose ADHD. RD was defined as a standard score below 90 on at least one of the following: Reading or Spelling of the WRAT3 or Word Attack or Word Identification of the WRMT-R. The WISC-III, Rapid Automatized Naming, Stroop and Stop tasks were used as measures of cognitive and executive function. Results: The two ADHD groups (ADHD, ADHD+RD) showed deficits in processing speed, naming of objects, poor behavioral inhibition and greater variability in reaction times whereas the two RD groups (RD, RD+ADHD) showed verbal working memory deficits and slower verbal retrieval speed. Only the comorbid group was slower with naming of numbers and colors and had slower reaction times. Regression analyses indicated that incongruent color naming (Stroop) and variability in go reaction time were the best predictors of hyperactive/impulsive ADHD symptoms whereas variability in go reaction time and processing speed were the best predictors of inattentive ADHD symptoms. Speed of letter naming and verbal working memory accounted for the most variability in composite achievement scores. No gender differences were found on any of the cognitive tests. Conclusions: This study challenges the importance of behavioral inhibition deficits in ADHD and that naming deficits are specific to RD. Further investigation into cognitive deficits in these groups is required

Validity of the Brown ADD Scales: An Investigation in a Predominantly Inattentive ADHD Adolescent Sample with and without Reading Disabilities

The Brown ADD Scale for Adolescents is used widely clinically yet no published studies have investigated divergent and concurrent validity, specificity and sensitivity to inattentive ADHD symptomatology. Ninety-eight participants (13 to 16 years) were classified as ADHD/I and/or reading disabled (RD) using K-SADS, Conners Rating Scales (CRS-R) and Ontario Child Health Study Scales (OCHSS), WRAT3 and WRMT-R, resulting in 29 ADHD/I; 12 RD, 16 ADHD/I with RD; and 41 controls. The RD group was included to evaluate specificity. The Brown was administered but not used in classification. The ADHD groups scored higher on the Brown subscales compared with the other two groups. The recommended cutoffs resulted in high rates of false negatives but few false positives; suggesting good specificity but poor sensitivity. There were moderate correlations among the Brown, CRS-R and OCHSS. The Brown can be useful in screening out ADHD; however, its low sensitivity precludes its usefulness in diagnosing ADHD

An investigation into the psychosocial functioning of creative children: The impact of ADHD symptomatology

This study examined the relationship among creativity, ADHD symptomatology, temperament, and psychosocial functioning by comparing four groups of children aged 10-12 years: (1) 29 ADHD children without creativity, (2) 16 highly creative children displaying ADHD symptomatology, (3) 18 highly creative children without ADHD symptomatology, and (4) 30 normal controls. Children completed the TTCT, Child Depression Inventory, Revised Child Manifest Anxiety Scale, and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Parents completed the Junior Temperament and Character Inventory, Family Environment Scale, and the parent version of the Kastan Children's Attributional Style Questionnaire. Parents completed the Conner's Rating Scales and Child Behavior Checklist, and teachers completed the Child Behaviour Checklist. Results showed that the presence of ADHD symptomatology in creative children was related to their temperamental characteristics, and parent reports of children's levels of anxiety and depression. However, family environment and mother's attributions did not appear to be related to the presence of ADHD symptomatology in creative children. These findings have implications for the development and management of creative children