“I thought it would naturally get better as he grew up. I even assumed he just wasn’t that interested in studying,” said Kim, a 39-year-old mother from Sejong raising her 10-year-old elementary school son, as she expressed her regrets and opened up about her inner thoughts. “But now they say his behavior indicates ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). And with symptoms of vocal and motor tic disorders appearing together, I realize I’ve been too inattentive to him all this time.”
The number of pediatric patients seeking treatment for ADHD and tic disorders at tic disorder clinics or traditional Korean medicine (Hanui) centers is increasing every year. Recently, reports show that among patients visiting tic disorder clinics, the proportion of adults over 20 with adult tic disorders and adult ADHD has exceeded about 15%, indicating that tic disorders and ADHD are no longer issues exclusive to young children.
Children diagnosed with both tic disorders and ADHD are at high risk of developing secondary psychological and emotional symptoms, such as anxiety and depression, making early detection, active treatment, and prevention urgently necessary. When tic disorders and ADHD co-occur, it’s essential to determine whether learning difficulties stem simply from tic symptoms or from ADHD-related issues in higher-order attention and executive functions in the brain.
Tic disorder symptoms include motor tics like eye blinking, facial grimacing, eye rolling, head shaking or jerking, and shoulder shrugging, as well as vocal tics such as grunting, sniffing, throat clearing, shouting, or making animal sounds. These motor and vocal tics can appear individually or simultaneously.
Tic disorders are linked to functional brain abnormalities and genetic factors, and they often worsen due to external or social stressors, as well as physical fatigue. Beyond that, they are frequently accompanied by symptoms like pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety disorders, insomnia, and enuresis, with a particularly high comorbidity rate with ADHD, underscoring their close interrelation.
Therefore, it’s crucial to seek out experienced specialists in tic disorder recovery and pursue tailored treatments addressing both symptoms and underlying causes.
ADHD refers to a condition involving weak attention that makes sustaining activities difficult, leading to distractible movements and frequent displays of uncontrolled impulsivity. Affected individuals often cannot sit still, struggle to focus calmly on one task, interject unrelated comments in conversations, and exhibit impatience, unable to wait calmly.
Such ADHD behaviors mean that children’s distractibility and hyperactivity prevent conversations from progressing beyond a certain point, often hindering effective communication. Moreover, children with ADHD have a high likelihood of forgetting parts of conversations midway and unconsciously filling in the gaps with negative or harmful interpretations. A key issue here is that they tend to voice unfiltered thoughts without consideration for others, which can hurt people and lead to frequent misunderstandings.
Children with tic disorders or ADHD often have very low self-esteem and tend to view the world negatively. They frequently fail to develop proper social skills in interactions with peers. Strained peer relationships and weak social abilities create deficits in group settings, which in turn lead to neglect of academic pursuits. Without adequate interaction in peer groups, children become emotionally withdrawn, experiencing depression, helplessness, and anxiety, which can further impair attention and concentration.
Child and adolescent psychiatrists unanimously emphasize that early diagnosis and treatment are paramount for achieving full recovery from ADHD and tic disorders. Children with ADHD struggle to complete tasks independently, and their weak attention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity make school life challenging, with most facing difficulties in relationships with friends and others.
This not only lowers academic performance but can also manifest in more severe issues like conduct disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, adolescent delinquency, and depression, reinforcing the need for proactive diagnosis and treatment of tic disorders and ADHD.
Treatment approaches to enhance attention and reduce hyperactivity and impulsivity involve normalizing brain imbalances to restore brain function and boost concentration. These include herbal medicines and acupuncture to correct bodily imbalances, along with brain training prescriptions to regulate sensitivity and restore balance, thereby lowering recurrence rates. Additionally, rather than reacting negatively to symptoms or pointing them out excessively, providing ample understanding, family encouragement, and support to foster psychological stability will yield even better results.
Kim Kuk Ju, HEALTH IN NEWS TEAM
press@hinews.co.kr
