Adult Advanced ADHD Medications & Treatment in Cardiff, Wales

Adult ADHD Treatment in Wales

As the name suggests, this is when there are difficulties and abnormalities of attention along with hyperactivity and/or impulsivity.

Simply put, people with this condition have problems with attention: ranging from deficient attention that can take the form of not being able to concentrate and pay attention to tasks for long to becoming hyper-focused on certain tasks that are of interest to them. These traits need to be recognized, and after that, the expert at the Wales Psychiatry Centre provides the best adult ADHD treatment in Wales.

In addition to this, there are problems with hyperactivity and/or impulsivity: in the form of being full of energy, feeling active with a sense of compulsion to be doing something all the time, difficulties in relaxation with the mind being ‘on the go’ constantly. In addition to the internal restlessness and a feeling of agitation, people may have behaviors of fidgetiness, inability to sit still with a constant need to move. These symptoms need to be treated, and they include ADHD Medications & Treatment in Wales done by a skilled psychiatrist.

Impulsivity can present predominantly as blurting out whatever comes to mind without thinking it through, making impulsive decisions, impulsive buying, impatient attitude and interactions with the world such as not being able to wait for one’s turn in queues, being impatient in traffic jams, road rage and many more. The ‘stop button’ in the brain that allows most of us to pause, think and then act seems to be faulty leading to all the difficulties of not being able to control the impulses. These are some of the signs for which patients come to our centre to receive an advanced ADHD Treatment In Wales.

Advanced ADHD Treatment In Cardiff, Wales

An interesting aspect often seen with Adult ADHD is Emotional Dysregulation, which presents as the individual finding that their emotions are too extreme, rapidly changing, and not in control- often referred to in common language to be ‘mood swings’. This is also called Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria in some places because anything that is not in keeping with an individual's expectations is perceived as a rejection or a personal criticism and thus the cycle of exaggerated emotions starts. Emotional Dysregulation can be part of other disorders or be a personality trait in its own right but there is growing consensus that it should be considered as a core feature of ADHD. Thus, addressing emotional dysregulation can be an initial step towards advanced ADHD treatment in Wales. With all these complexities that come with ADHD, it becomes very important to understand it along with its contexts as part of the assessment to be able to tease it apart. And, it needs a specialist to do so, a specialist who understands the disorder and the problems that people face with mental health.

Whilst many people may have such difficulties which may be part of their personality and in that case, it is not called a disorder. It becomes a disorder only when the symptoms are present in more than 2 domains of life and affect the functioning of the individual. For example, one may be having these difficulties at home but not at work or other places - in that case, we wouldn’t call it a disorder. But, if an individual has the symptoms at home, at work, in their social life, affecting their relationships and more, that is when we start thinking of it being a ‘disorder’.

I have heard of EEG being used in ADHD. What is that?

The use of EEG (ElectroEncephalogram, in other words, electric activity of the brain) in ADHD dates back many years. There are certain brain frequencies that are known to be more prevalent in ADHD with some ratios of those frequencies to be up or down than someone without ADHD. The use of EEG can therefore be useful in helping with personalizing the management of ADHD for the individual. Recent research has helped in bringing us to a point where using softwares, a Q-EEG (Quantitative EEG) can be produced that helps in identifying the different ratios of the brain frequencies and the relative power bands of those frequencies.

These then can be useful in treatment with Neurofeedback where the individual is trained by the feedback of those frequencies to alter them and improve the symptoms. In simple terms, it can be seen as training the brain to alter the frequencies to improve symptoms.

How long does it take for the Diagnostic assessment?

The initial screening appointment generally lasts for up to 1 hour. A full diagnostic assessment subsequently can take up to 3 hrs to complete.

What happens after the assessment?

It depends on whether someone is looking only for a diagnosis or is interested in diagnosis and treatment. If it is just for diagnosis, the diagnostic assessment will be concluded with information on treatment modalities.

What treatments are available for ADHD?

Dr. Sakhuja believes that the ADHD treatment is multimodal and includes a combination of medications, sleep optimization, self-help resources and groups, psychological interventions, nutritional support, and Neurofeedback.

Can my GP prescribe the medications for ADHD?

The short answer is that it depends upon the GP. The treatment is generally initiated by the specialist and after stabilization, some GPs are happy to enter into a GP Shared Care (GPSC) arrangement where the prescribing is taken over by the GP with an agreement of monitoring and reviews of the medication by the specialist with appropriate recommendations.