Addressing Ethical Implications in the Treatment of ADHD - Assignment Example

Though it is mostly common in childhood, ADHD can continue through adolescence to adulthood. However, according to Dziegielewski (2010), poor children are reported to be the more likely persons to meet the criteria for ADHD as compared to wealthy children and they are less likely to receive medical treatment. In addition to that, girls are less vulnerable to ADHD as compared to boys. In this case, Junior, a teenage Hispanic boy, is diagnosed with ADHD. Junior had been inattentive for quite some time but he only underwent diagnosis when he joined middle school.

After visiting a doctor, the doctor prescribed Junior with a dosage of Dextroamphetamine. This helped Junior improve in his way of handling tasks as well as a good performance in school. However, this did not last long because Junior took overdoses and sometimes under dosages because the insurance did not cover it at times. In addition to that, Junior was not truthful at times since he switched the medicine with other pills. As a result Junior lost a lot of weight and felt often exhausted. At times, his nose bleed and other times he lacked sleep at night, and eventually started having hallucinations.

According to Farrar (2011), the main behaviors of a child with ADHD include lack of attention, impulsivity and hyperactivity. Some of these characteristics had been noted in Junior. Though it is expected for children to be inattentive, hyperactive and impulsive; children with ADHD displays severity in these behaviors. To declare that a child has ADHD, symptoms should be observed for more than six months to a level that these observations are greater than those of other children with similar age.

Symptoms that display inactivity include: easy distraction, forgetfulness, having difficulty when focusing on play or when organizing tasks, missing important details, changing frequently from one action to another, being bored with a task after a short period of time, difficulty learning something new, appearing not to listen while spoken to, struggling to follow instructions, daydreaming, confusion, being too slow, difficulty in quick processing of information as others, among others. Moreover, for children who display hyper activeness, different symptoms are observed.

According to Farrar (2011) these symptoms include: fidgeting, talking continuously for a long time, dashing around and play with everything they find, difficulty settling down for dinner, classes at school and story time, have trouble doing quiet tasks and activities and finally such children are constantly in motion. As for impulsive children, they display impatience by interrupting conversations; they have trouble waiting for their turn during games, and show their emotions without self-control.

There are steps that should be followed in the treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Although, according to Dziegielewski (2010), it is not easy to treat ADHD because it is difficult to clearly diagnose. This is because it appears to be more than just one condition with similar phenotypes and it cannot be addressed in isolation. In addition to that, it is difficult to diagnose children who are younger than five years of age since at this time; their behavior is not as predictable as that of older children.

Diagnosis should be done by a psychologist, a psychiatrist, pediatrician, neurologist or family doctor. Therefore, it is clear that ADHD is a chronic disorder that should be treated in a holistic approach that includes lifestyle and medication. Short-term and long-term treatment goals need to be specified relative to specific target symptoms, and academic and social goals need to be