Psychology

ADDADHD (or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) is a mental impairment condition commonly characterized by inattentiveness, hyperactivity and constant impulsive behavior in an individual. Though this condition is mostly common in children, between 30 to 70 percent of these victims experience the symptoms all their lifetime (Wender, 2000). Nevertheless, ADDADHD can be managed through the use of medications such as methylphenidate and Strattera. This essay is written as a discussion on the symptoms of ADDADHD and its treatment with methylphenidate and Strattera. A comparison on the positive and negative effects of the two medications is also given.

Victims of ADDADHD are characterized by three symptoms namely inattentiveness, hyperactivity and impulsiveness. ADHD patients recurrently fail to be attentive on details to instructions or during a conversation. This makes them subject to careless mistakes in almost all their daily activities. Such victims are easily distracted from their activities by irrelevant things which cross them. Still on attentiveness, victims of ADD are quite forgetful, prone of loosing things and have problems in successfully organizing their activities (Wender, 2000).

Hyperactivity in ADDADHD in children includes signs like attempting to engage in many tasks at once thus making them to be constantly shifting positions. Adults on the other side are mainly characterized by inner feelings of restlessness, frustration, excitement, and tendency to take risks (Wender, 2000). These victims, just like children tend to multi-task and engage in excessive talking. They also have low self-esteem marked with feelings of underachievement in their involvements.

Impulsivity involves overreacting to situation without a reasonable thought. ADDADHD patients are prone of interrupting others to express their views in a conversation. They lack self-control, many times reacting and talking recklessly without consideration of the consequences of their acts. Due to these reasons, these victims have difficulties in sustaining social relationships in the community.
Methylphenidate is a stimulant medication for treating ADDADHD, which stimulates the victims brain to improve attention and inhibit brain activity. Methylphenidate medication is designed to affect the dopamine (or brain transporters) system of the brain. High levels of activity in individual are caused by low dopamine level. Therefore, methylphenidate serves to increase dopamine level to counter brain activity thus enhancing attention while inhibiting hyperactivity. However, methylphenidate has negative effects such as loss of appetite and insomnia particularly for beginners. Other side effects are increased heart beat rates and blood pressure and are therefore not recommended for use by victims with cardiac disorders (Rose, 2005).

On the other side, Strattera is a non-stimulant medication which serves to inhibit the functioning of pre-synaptic norepinehrine transporters. Norepinehrine in the brain functions in reducing activity.

Therefore, by increasing norepinehrine in the brain, Strattera leads to increased attentiveness and mitigation of hyperactivity as well as impulsivity in ADHD victims. The use of Strattera has negative effects such as gastrointestinal distress, making it advisable to take it with food. It can also lead to dizziness and weight loss especially in the initial stages (Rose, 2005). Nevertheless, Strattera is a new drug with many ongoing researches to identify its long term effects side effects.

 Methylphenidate and Strattera have the similarity in that they reduce brain activity by affecting brain transporters, thus increasing attention and mitigating hyperactivity and impulsive behaviors in ADHD patients. However, the two medications are different in the way they affect the brain. Methylphenidate serves to stimulate dopamine brain transporters while Strattera inhibit pre-synaptic norepinehrine transporters for reducing brain activity.