Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a disorder that makes it difficult for a person to pay attention and control impulsive behaviors. He or she may also be restless and almost constantly active.

Being impulsive means acting without thinking about the consequences. Children with ADHD may be impulsive in many ways, such as saying or doing the first thing that occurs to them. They are also easily distracted by irrelevant things.

ADHD is a chronic condition that affects millions of children and often persists into adulthood. ADHD includes a combination of problems, such as difficulty sustaining attention, hyperactivity and impulsive behavior. ADHD is estimated to affect about 6 to 7 percent of people aged 18 and under when diagnosed via the DSM-IV criteria.

The disorder is often chronic, with one third to one half of those affected retaining the condition into adulthood.

Many risk factors have been associated with ADHD, including prenatal factors (e.g., tobacco use, alcohol use, substance abuse), perinatal factors (e.g., low birth weight, prematurity), and early postnatal factors (e.g., lead exposure, social environment). Also, family history of ADHD and specific genetic conditions (e.g., Fragile X syndrome) can be associated with ADHD.

People with ADHD show an ongoing pattern of three different types of symptoms:
*Difficulty paying attention (inattention)
*Being overactive (hyperactivity)
*Acting without thinking (impulsivity)

Children with ADHD have a short attention span. They find it hard to concentrate and therefore hard to learn new skills, both academic and practical.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

Adolescent depression

Adolescence is characterized by change. The incidence of depressive disorders markedly increases after puberty. At least 5% of adolescents, roughly 1 in 20 teenagers, will experience an episode of Major Depression, making it one of the most common medical illnesses young people face.

It is a common condition that affects physical, emotional, and social development. Biomedical and psychosocial risk factors include a family history of depression, parental conflict, female sex, poor peer relationships, childhood abuse or neglect, stressful life events, negative thinking, and chronic illness.

One negative change is the dramatic increase in the probability of developing clinical depression, a psychological disorder characterised by low mood accompanied by a variable set of other symptoms such as change in appetite, and sleep, loss of concentration, guilt and suicidality that persist for at least 2 weeks and impairs function.

Approximately two thirds of children and adolescents with major depressive disorder also have another mental disorder.

In one study, a school-aged samples around two-thirds of young people with depression show at least one comorbid disorder, and over 10% show two or more; overlaps with disruptive disorders (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder [ADHD], Oppositional Defiant Disorder [ODD], and Conduct Disorder [CD]) are as common as with other emotional diagnoses at this stage.
Adolescent depression

Relationship between depression and obesity

A depressed person may gain or lose weight, eat more or eat less. Obesity is the most common chronic physical illness in modern society, and depression is the most prevalent psychological condition.

Obesity is increasingly prevalent and associated with numerous health complications including hypertension, coronary heart disease, and increased mortality.

Data from the 2005 National Health Interview Survey, a study of over 30,000 American adults, found that depression and body mass index (BMI) correlated at .08. Depression is hypothesized to cause obesity indirectly through such behaviors as emotional eating, eating calorie-dense food, and decreased physical activity

Archives of General Psychiatry - The results of a new metanalysis have shown that obesity and depression are closely linked, and that an increase in one increases the risk for another. In obese people, the risk of developing depression increases by 55%, and in people with depression, the risk of developing obesity increases by 58%.
Relationship between depression and obesity

Etiology of major depression

What causes major depression? *Major depression results from both genetic and environmental factors, *Heritability of liability applies to groups, not individuals.

Complex interactions between biological and psychosocial factors are believed to be involved in the etiology of depression and other mood disorders.

The biopsychosocial model is one of the best approaches to understating the causation of depression. In this model, biological sociological and psychological factors interact to produce depression.

Major depressive disorder is familial, with other prevalence seen in first-degree family members of affected individuals than in the general pollution. This suggests that a major depressive disorder may be genetic, and the most compelling evidence that it comes from studies of twins.

Childhood abuse and neglect are considered risk factors, as is early parental death or separation. Stressful life events are also considered to be risk factors.
Etiology of major depression