ADHD: Risk Or Protective Factors

Over the years, many things have changed based off our technological advances. Leading us to have a better understanding of us as a species and have a more in-depth understanding of the more complex organisms we have such as the brain. This leads us to either shape our understanding of things we once thought or to reconstruct what was once thought as one thing to a new concept overall. A prime example of this changing concept of this is the DSM-5 and how it has been evolving over the course of the years. With these advancements, it is clear to see how this new technology has helped supported the fact that certain disorders are genetically influenced, how some individuals have more risk or protective factors in their life that affects the path

Since there does seem to be a family history on the father’s side that reports attentional issues runs through his side of the family including cousins as well. Leading to the indication that this condition may have a stronger genetically link in comparison to others who may have been at risk. Reviewing Kates intro, it is shown how she does not enjoy school much this is due primarily to the aspects that ADHD can influence such as inattentiveness, hyperactivity, and impulsivity which has secondary aspects to them that influence how the individual will function in different environments. Some possibilities that contribute to higher risk factors is that the inattentiveness would affect her ability to focus or fully understand large instructions which would affect her overall academics, which can also be contributed to the hyperactivity aspect which would also make it hard to focus on things long enough to absorb them fully. Which together would affect her social life and ultimately her self-esteem which lower her overall quality of life despite being on a low dosage medication. However, these factors are not the only contributors that have the potential to influence her trajectory. She does have her father who has attentional issues who may be able to give a few pointers on how to cope with distractions or other

However, Kate is not an only child, her younger brother is also at risk as stated before, since attentional issues seem to be a recurring thing for the father’s family, which can lead to a stronger risk factor due to the possible genetic link. Her brother Peter may share some of the experience his sister is going through, but do with the nature of multifinaility which means an experience can have different outcomes depending on the individual and other influences. Due to this fact and how it seems to be linked into the family well it is possible Peter’s progression will not reach to point at which his older sisters at severity wise, solely on the idea that he has seen how stressful and inconvenient it can be if not looked at soon. Allowing him to be more open about asking questions about it with his sister or family to gain some coping skills or use some the strategies with his sister as either a commonalty or a way to reconnect with his big sister which could benefit them both in self-esteem and other emotional needs of having someone to talk to. This also depends on the parents who have a great influence on how the children will react to their diagnosis and the importance of knowledge about it such as the fact it should be looked at dimensionally, such as different components all have some sort of influence on the others and that some components may overlap