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Speaker 1: You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack team podcast

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Speaker 1: from News Talks. A'd be.

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Speaker 2: Seventeen to eleven on News Talks, he'd be ADHD. Attention

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Speaker 2: deficit hyperactivity disorder has had a whole lot of attention lately,

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Speaker 2: the likes of Tory Farno, the Mayor of Wellington, Chloe

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Speaker 2: Swarbrick going public with their diagnoses, Darcy Walldergrave of course

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Speaker 2: talking about ADHD and the difficulties around getting a diagnosis

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Speaker 2: and ongoing treatment, especially for adults. They reckon that in

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Speaker 2: New Zealand between five and eight percent of children and

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Speaker 2: adolescents are affected by ADHD, and for seventy percent of

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Speaker 2: those that persists into adulthood. But I've got to be honest,

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Speaker 2: I'm one of these people who and this probably doesn't

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Speaker 2: reflect very well on me. It just part of me

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Speaker 2: feels like sometimes I think, oh, it's ADHD, the kind

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Speaker 2: of you know, the diagnosis of the day, which I

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Speaker 2: know is not very generous of me sometimes. So we

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Speaker 2: thought we'd talked to doctor Bryan Betty just to clear

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Speaker 2: up some misconceptions. He's with us now, morning Brian.

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Speaker 1: Oh, morning Jack.

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Speaker 2: Yes, So let's just start off with what is ADHD.

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Speaker 1: Look, as you're outlined. Look, it's a very complex condition

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Speaker 1: that affects people in a lot of different ways. However

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Speaker 1: you can make some comments about it. So it's what

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Speaker 1: we call a neurodevelopmental disorder, and it affects It can

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Speaker 1: affect people of any age, but especially children. Now what

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Speaker 1: it does, It affects what we call executive functions, so

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Speaker 1: that ability to maintain intention, control, impulses, and often memories affected.

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Speaker 1: And so people find often find it very hard to concentrate,

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Speaker 1: follow instructions and stay organized. Now that the problem, the

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Speaker 1: rise is there, and we've got to be really really

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Speaker 1: clear about this. This is a processing issue. It is

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Speaker 1: not laziness. It's not like a discipline. It's rather just

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Speaker 1: this issue with brain processing that has developed. So we've

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Speaker 1: got to be very very careful about our labeling of

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Speaker 1: this and what exactly it is because it is very

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Speaker 1: very real.

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Speaker 2: And what are the different types and symptoms.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, So look, it falls into two main clusters. So

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Speaker 1: one is mainly inattentive, so that's that struggling with attention

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Speaker 1: and focus, staying on task, following instructions. The other one

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Speaker 1: is what we call hyperactiveal and impulsive that may feel restless,

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Speaker 1: very fidgety, act without thinking about consequences. So so just

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Speaker 1: just really for that impulsive behavior, or you may have

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Speaker 1: a combination of two, so it becomes becomes across both spectrums.

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Speaker 1: So what people may see or start to think about

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Speaker 1: it and may see people are forgetful, maybe time management

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Speaker 1: is poor, difficulty organizing daily activities, or just making careless mistakes,

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Speaker 1: and so those are often the sort of symptoms that

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Speaker 1: people start to pick up on.

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Speaker 2: See, like you hear that and I think, man, find

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Speaker 2: me a seven year old boy who doesn't have ad

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Speaker 2: you know, like, oh honestly though, I think about you know,

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Speaker 2: our boy, and I think about you know, his friends,

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Speaker 2: I think about what I was like as a kid,

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Speaker 2: and I'm like, oh yeah to tick Yeah.

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Speaker 1: So so look, you've made a really good point there

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Speaker 1: that that kids, yeah, show all those those behaviors at times.

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Speaker 1: It's when those behaviors really start to interfere with functioning

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Speaker 1: like learning at school or doing things over a period

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Speaker 1: of time, or start to interfere with functioning as an adult,

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Speaker 1: like keeping jobs or or or just just doing doing

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Speaker 1: things that we'd expect. So, yeah, it's the degree to

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Speaker 1: which it affects people as things. So you're quite right,

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Speaker 1: those things can be normal in children's development. It's that extension.

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Speaker 2: So what actually causes it.

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Speaker 1: Well, look, it's it's unclear, but it's probably a combination

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Speaker 1: of genetic issues and in combination with environment. So what

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Speaker 1: we do tend to see it can run in families,

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Speaker 1: and there is some evidence to say, look, there may

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Speaker 1: be some difference in brain structure and chemical transmitters in

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Speaker 1: the brain, so there's some some some stuff that indicates that. However,

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Speaker 1: environmental factors can play a part. Now, smoking and pregnancy,

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Speaker 1: alcohol and pregnancy, and premature birth, those three things have

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Speaker 1: been associated with ADHD, which is why often the messaging

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Speaker 1: about smoking and pregnancy and alcohol and pregnancy is such

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Speaker 1: an issue, and that is put out there so ambisation

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Speaker 1: with those things.

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Speaker 2: Like I said, we're hearing a lot about you know,

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Speaker 2: adults being diagnosed with ADHD and that sort of maybe

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Speaker 2: answering a lot of questions for them that they've had

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Speaker 2: about some of their responses to things over the years.

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Speaker 2: But what are the consequences of ADHD not being treated?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, So what we tend to see in children

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Speaker 1: is having difficulties with behavior at school or learning at

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Speaker 1: school over time. So parents will often come to me

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Speaker 1: and say they're concerned about the fact their child is

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Speaker 1: the behavioral issues. The teachers have raised that the difficulty

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Speaker 1: maybe controlling learning is not what's expected, so you start

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Speaker 1: to trigger and wonder whether this could be going on. However,

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Speaker 1: the one of the big issues is not diagnosed into

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Speaker 1: adulthoods and what we do know about ADHD, it's associated

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Speaker 1: with a much higher risk of ending up in jail,

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Speaker 1: motor vehicle accidents, and alcohol and drug abuse. Yeah, but

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Speaker 1: we've got to be careful about this because on the contrary,

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Speaker 1: there are some positives, so people with ADHD can be

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Speaker 1: considered often more creative, high energy, good sense is humans

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Speaker 1: in enterprise and so there's a bit of the ng

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Speaker 1: and yang thing that can go on with that. But

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Speaker 1: definitely a social impact and undiagnosed ADHD is probably a concern.

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Speaker 2: And what can you do about it?

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Speaker 1: Well, look, we've tapped into this. It's often the difficulty

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Speaker 1: is actually diagnosis. So what we do know and it's

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Speaker 1: quite a difficult diagnosed soften. You need access to a

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Speaker 1: psychologist or a specialist psychiatrist. It takes time to make

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Speaker 1: the diagnosis and access in New Zealand is quite restricted,

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Speaker 1: so often it does go hidden. Look, one of the

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Speaker 1: things I'd say, if you're concerned about it, or you're

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Speaker 1: starting to trigger or think about it, please go and

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Speaker 1: see your GP and just have a conversation about it.

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Speaker 1: That's probably the first thing i'd say, to look at

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Speaker 1: what options potentially could be there to look at. This

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Speaker 1: is an issue certainly in terms of treatment. Lifestyle changes

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Speaker 1: are really important, so things like addressing alcoholic drugs for instance,

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Speaker 1: strategies to improve time management, support of friends and family,

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Speaker 1: exercise and time management, all those things are really really important. However,

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Speaker 1: what we do know is medication has a big, big

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Speaker 1: role to play and it can be transformed it with

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Speaker 1: a lot of people in terms of resolving symptoms, and

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Speaker 1: it can really really help with concentration and impulsivity, so

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Speaker 1: really really important.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so that's really interesting. So you know, I'm just

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Speaker 2: trying to be honest, and I know that this doesn't

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Speaker 2: necessarily reflect very well on me, but sometimes I do wonder,

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Speaker 2: you know, I have wondered with ADHD if maybe we're

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Speaker 2: over medicalizing, you know, the condition or the symptoms, especially

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Speaker 2: especially in an age where we will have smartphones, right,

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Speaker 2: so we're all kind of com instantly having things vying

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Speaker 2: for our attention, and you know, we're having our psychology

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Speaker 2: used against us and that kind of thing. Is that

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Speaker 2: a risk? You know? Is that an ungenerous Is that

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Speaker 2: simply just an ungenerous perspective.

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Speaker 1: Or no, No, look, I think that's a very real,

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Speaker 1: real perspective. And you see this across a range of

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Speaker 1: things where we're social media and in the media in

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Speaker 1: particular as well, and sort of drive perceptions that, oh,

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Speaker 1: I have a problem, I've got a medical problem when

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Speaker 1: what you're looking at as normal behaviors. We talked about

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Speaker 1: with developmental children. We've got to be very careful about

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Speaker 1: this to make the differentiation of what's normal and what's not,

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Speaker 1: which is why with ADHD we've got we we do

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Speaker 1: need specialists who specialize in this area to really make

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Speaker 1: the diagnosis because it is quite complex to sift through

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Speaker 1: that and say, yes, that is where this sits, or no,

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Speaker 1: it's not. It's part of a normal behavior spectrum. So yeah,

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Speaker 1: complex in terms of what you're saying, Jack, and not

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Speaker 1: unreasonable than what you're saying. Yeah, right, Yeah, just careful

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Speaker 1: about it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Yeah, it's just a case of being careful and

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Speaker 2: actually getting expert diagnoses as well as nice. Hey, thank

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Speaker 2: you so much. We really appreciate it, Brian. Let's talk

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Speaker 2: to Brian Beatty.

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Speaker 1: For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame. Listen live

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Speaker 1: to News Talks ed b from nine am Saturday, or

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