Evaluation of children with ADHD and their psychiatric symptoms

Abstract

" Background: Mental disorders, especially in children, can be manifested in different ways, which is of great importance to them, so the purpose of this evaluation was to evaluate the changes in psychiatric symptoms in children with ADHD. Method: This evaluation was performed as a descriptive-analytic study on 141 children with ADHD who were followed up for 6 months. At the beginning of the study and the third and sixth months after, patients' symptoms were assessed with the CBCL Behavior Checklist and the ADHD rating scale questionnaire, as well as the course of illness and association with other disorders. Finally, the data were entered into SPSS statistical software and analyzed. Results: The mean age of the children was 5.89±0.81 years and the prevalence of males was 68.8%. Among the two treatment groups, only the mean score below the ADHD-RS questionnaire score in the non-Ritalin group at the end of the third and sixth months was significantly lower than the Ritalin group. During the study in both treatment groups, the overall ADHD-RS questionnaire and both subscales of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) had a significant decrease from baseline to the end of the sixth month. In relation to the CBCL behavioral checklist, the mean score of the total checklist except for anxiety/depression in the non-Ritalin group and the somatic complaints subscale in the Ritalin group decreased significantly from baseline to the end of the sixth month. Conclusion: Based on the results observed in this evaluation, Ritalin had a significant effect on the symptoms of patients with ADHD, although these symptoms improved in both groups, however, further studies are needed"