ebook_ADHD2019

112 Rohde, Buitelaar, Gerlach & Faraone authors, mainly from areas like social psychology, also argue that ADHD is not a valid disorder. 3 This situation brings a lot of confusion, uncertainty and fear for families facing a diagnosis of ADHD for the first time. In a close look on these articles, the core arguments made tend to be: a) Everybody has a touch of inattention and/or hyperactivity; b) there is no biological marker for the disorder. The first issue will be tackled here and the second will be addressed in the next section. Data from neuroimaging and genetic studies, as presented in previous chapters and in the literature, 4 clearly indicate that ADHD is dimensional and not a cate- gorical condition. A categorical condition is one which is, either present or absent. Examples are an infection by bacteria where either we have the infection or not. Pregnancy is also a categorical medical condition as there is either a pregnancy or not. There is nothing in between. Inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity are distributed in the population on a continuum (see video), similar to other medical variables like blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose levels. To define a condition on a dimension, a cutoff point is established whereby the chance for impairment increases above the cutoff. Per- sons with ADHD are at the end of this continuum in a zone where the intensity of symptoms is associated with impairment in their lives, such as a proneness for accidents, unexpected pregnancy or sexually transmitted disorders in adolescence, and higher academic failure among others. 5 Everybody has a level of blood pressure, but this does not make hypertension, which is defined as a blood pressure above a certain threshold clearly associated with impairment, an unreal disorder! In the mental health arena, there are several other examples of dimensional disorders like depression and social anxiety and generalized anxiety. Again, the fact that most people tend to have some level of performance anxiety does not make those with extreme levels of constant perfor- mance anxiety unleashed by small triggers and associated with other symptoms like insomnia, muscle tension and emotional suffering not deserving of an assess- ment, diagnosis and care. Link in this https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=rqQBvsGtTb0