(ADHD) “An Inspired Solution” by Tanya M. Lukasik

Posted on April 30th, 2009 in Mental Notes

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, (ADHD), is one of the most common mental disorders that develop in children. Symptoms include difficulty staying focused and paying attention, difficulty controlling behavior, and hyperactivity (over-activity). Children with ADHD have impaired functioning in multiple settings, including home, school, and in relationships with peers. Treatments can relieve many of the disorder’s symptoms, but there is no cure. If left completely untreated, the disorder can have long-term adverse effects into adolescence and adulthood (NIMH, 2008).

An Inspired Solution

By Tanya M. Lukasik
Psychology and Public Health
Johns Hopkins University, Class of 2010

“Sally is dored and tried. she neebs to go hoem,” read the poorly formed, disconnected letters, scribbled into my brother’s black and white composition journal, his writing almost illegible, several letters written in reverse, sentences barely fitting within the lined spaces of the paper. Unbefitting smiley faces, indiscernible stick figures, and disorderly tic-tac-toe boards lie scattered across the page. Increasingly frustrated with both his overwhelming homework assignment and a perpetually present inability to concentrate, he catapulted the pencil, his unsuspecting antagonist, the inanimate object of his unfounded displacement, across his ever untidy room. Approximately forty-five minutes had elapsed, by normal standards an inordinate amount of time for a simplistic task to hold a child captive, enchained; however, to my brother, it was the equivalent of an eternity and demanded an immediate escape. Without warning or forethought, he sprung from the restraints of his chair, at last released from the manacles controlling his mind and scurried down the stairs sporting a crooked Burger King crown. My mother, agonizingly familiar with his antics, quickly escorted him back to his chamber, in a frivolously futile attempt to ignore the emergent eruption of piercing screams and earnest cries of distress.

These tantrums persisted for months, which turned into years; the incomplete assignments, frequent disruptions, and relentless arguments became a ritual reenacted nightly by my mother and brother. Although my parents had diligently raised concerns early on to elementary school educators, the ideological argument of the time emphasized the supposed short-lived nature of these enigmatic behavioral symptoms, delaying the inevitable and undeniable diagnosis. Years passed before a psychiatrist finally presented the missing piece to this complex, mystifying puzzle: My brother was not deliberately disobedient or intentionally inattentive; he suffered from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), compounded by a severe learning disability.

After witnessing my younger brother’s struggles with these debilitating disorders, I was inspired to enter the field of psychiatric medicine, motivated by both an inner obligation to understand my affected sibling and a desire to emphasize the necessity of prioritizing the identification and treatment of mental illness. I envision a scientific journey beginning with a specialization in pediatric psychiatry and culminating in the creation of a medical/academic institution that would focus on the timely evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment of psychiatric disorders in children and adolescents.

An inspired solution.

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