Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, is a mental heath disorder that can affect a person's success in life, especially if it remains undiagnosed or untreated. ADHD can create obstacles for functioning in academic and job settings. Tourette's syndrome is a mental health disorder that causes a child to display both motor and verbal tics. According to the MayoClinic.com, a person who has Tourette's syndrome will often be afflicted with ADHD.
Basics
ADHD generally appears in childhood and affects a person's ability to interact appropriately with others, listen, follow directions and remain still. Tourette's syndrome usually occurs around the age of seven and more often in males than females, notes the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, or AACAP.
Symtoms of ADHD
ADHD is a wide ranging mental health disorder and can appear very differently between one person and another, depending on the type of ADHD, such as inattention, hyperactive-impulsive or combined. The symptoms of ADHD include inability to listen, constant movement, lack of attention to detail, constantly losing important items, lack of organization skills, being easily distracted, interrupting others and restlessness, notes TeensHealth.org.
Symptoms of Tourette's
According to the AACAP, symptoms of Tourette's syndrome include motor tics, such as blinking, touching, squatting, head movements and arm movements, and at least one verbal tic such as coughs, throat clearing, yelling obscenities, grunting, snorting and barking. The individual cannot control these tics, and they can occur repeatedly without serving any purpose, notes the AACAP.
Considerations
Symptoms of Tourette's syndrome and ADHD may decrease as a person grows into adulthood. While the manifestation of Tourette's syndrome changes in severity as a child develops, it generally reduces in severity upon adulthood, reports the AACAP. The ADHD symptoms that tend to remain present into adulthood are those of inattention, lack of organization and lack of attention to detail.
While both Tourette's syndrome and ADHD may lessen as people become adults, some adults still experience and struggle with the full manifestations of the disorders.
Treatment
Psychotherapy is an important treatment option for a person with Tourette's syndrome and ADHD, notes the MayoClinic.com. Behavioral therapies and skills training will help these people learn new ways of acting, managing their symptoms and reducing stress that might intensify the symptoms of each disorder.
Medications are generally used in the treatment of ADHD and Tourette's syndrome. The MayoClinic.com reports that stimulants such as Ritalin will help increase attention and reduce hyperactivity, while Botox, dopamine blockers and high blood pressure medications that inhibit adrenalin have been affective at reducing the tics associated with Tourette's syndrome.
