Mind the Gap Blog
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The Innovative Training Network MiND (mastering skills in the training Network for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder-ADHD- and Autism Spectrum Disorders-ASD-) is part of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions and aims to educate a new generation of researchers in the field of neurodevelopmental disorders. Find latest news on ADHD and comorbidities.
Mind the Gap Blog
2y ago
Psychiatric disorders such as attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism, major depression or bipolar disorder, often overlap and occur together. For example, individuals with ADHD on average experience twice as many depressive symptoms as the general population without ADHD [1,2]. In addition to the distress and impairment that is brought on by a single psychiatric condition, having multiple conditions can hugely increase the severity of symptoms and hinder treatment. To better understand why these disorders overlap, we investigated the genetic risk factors that are shared amon ..read more
Mind the Gap Blog
2y ago
After 5.5 years, the CoCA project has come to an end. In this large-scale European research project, an interdisciplinary group of researchers investigated comorbid conditions of ADHD. They particularly focussed on depression, anxiety, substance use disorder and obesity, as these conditions frequently co-occur with ADHD in adulthood.
What has this extensive study brought us? Experts dr. Catharina Hartman (University Medical Center Groningen, The Netherlands) and prof. dr. Andreas Reif (University Hospital Frankfurt, Germany) were invited by Jonathan Marx for an interview on the online radio pr ..read more
Mind the Gap Blog
3y ago
Aid for ADHD individuals personal needs, right when it is needed
You might know the tenet of “just in time” from economics. It means bringing goods to a recipient at the right time, exactly when it is needed. But what if we could apply this also to treatments or interventions for mental health problems? Can we provide small interventions at exactly the time when a person needs it? And can this provide us with more insights into what triggers ADHD symptoms?
Just in time economics is possible and required because of dynamic processes in economical markets. Dynamic processes are also present in m ..read more
Mind the Gap Blog
3y ago
A group of researchers from Spain, The Netherlands, Germany, Estonia, Denmark and USA have joined efforts to gain insight into the genetics of ADHD and its comorbidities. This ambitious objective was addressed by the Work Package 2 of a big project called CoCA: “Comorbid Conditions of Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)”, funded by the European Union for the period 2016-2021.
In psychiatry, the co-occurrence of different conditions in the same individual (or comorbidity) is the rule rather than the exception. This is particularly true for ADHD, where conditions like major depressiv ..read more
Mind the Gap Blog
3y ago
Bad sleep is… well, bad for you
Ever seen that meme with Homer Simpson lying awake in bed until 4 am and then falling asleep 8 minutes before the alarm rings? If it felt relatable, then you definitely know how relevant sleep problems can be! That situation shows problems with falling asleep (insomnia) as well as very late sleep timing (read more about this in my previous blog about circadian delay). Both are linked to an infinite number of health problems, especially mental illness. In fact, a typical teenager on TV can demonstrate how bad sleep affects you. Remember how moody, bad-temper ..read more
Mind the Gap Blog
3y ago
New research shows that mindfulness as a treatment for ADHD, also brings forth insight, acceptation and improved relationships.
This post is also available in Dutch.
Mindfulness is being investigated as a new treatment for children with ADHD. The question that rises often is whether the inattentive and/or hyperactive/impulsive behavior decrease after the training. However, the training can also have other effects on children and their parents, and these can differ greatly.
Attention can be trained
ADHD is a diagnosis characterized by symptoms of an attention deficit and/or hyperactivity ..read more
Mind the Gap Blog
3y ago
Psychiatric disorders, such as ADHD, are defined by categorical diagnostic borders: you either have it or you don’t. Research has shown that these borders do not accurately reflect what is happening on a biological level. In fact, these are complex traits that can be defined as quantitative characteristics that are present in people in different degrees. When you have or experience these traits in a very high degree, you may classify as having a psychiatric disorder. We also know that both genetic and environmental factors contribute to how much an individual is liable to ‘develop’ a psychiatr ..read more
Mind the Gap Blog
3y ago
It is often said that people with ADHD are more creative than others. But is that true? What does science tell us?
To find an answer to this question, I collaborated with two experts in the field of creativity, Dr. Baas and Prof. Kroesbergen, and PhD-student Marije Stolte. Together, we reviewed scientifically published research on the topic of ADHD and creativity. We summarized behavioral studies looking at creativity performance data in groups of people with and without ADHD. We also reviewed studies looking at the effect of psychostimulant medication on creative performance as people with A ..read more
AI Technologies May Help to Improve Early Identification of Youth with ADHD At Risk of Substance Use
Mind the Gap Blog
3y ago
Substance use disorder (SUD) – also known as drug addiction – is one of the most problematic co-occurring conditions with ADHD. Children with ADHD are twice as likely to develop SUD later in life, compared to those without ADHD [1, 2]. Identifying children and adolescents who are at risk, even before they ever use substances, can be an important step in preventing SUD. But how do you know who is at risk? Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies are promising tools to identify risk factors and predict the likelihood of an individual developing SUD later in life.
Image by rebcenter-moscow ..read more
Mind the Gap Blog
3y ago
Photo by Jacqueline Munguía
What do you think of when I say “rewards”? Perhaps you think of the points you collect every time you shop or the badges you get when playing a videogame. Well, then you’re right! A reward can be anything. A good grade, going on a trip with friends, a smile, and even that dessert you crave in the middle of the night. Rewards are any stimuli with the potential to make us seek and consume them, and if we like, we will probably want to get them again [1].
Actually, you crave that dessert because you ate it once, and you liked it so much that your brain learned th ..read more