Spotlight on ADHD
Around 3% of the population have such problems with concentration or loss of control that they are classified as having a disability - ADHD. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, to give it its full name, roughly means problems with attentiveness and overactivity.
The symptoms include difficulty with controlling impulses and remaining attentive. The result is a lack of self-control that makes social interaction, learning and decision-making harder.
The research into ADHD at Karolinska Institutet has a common theme of finding out how people with ADHD can avoid problems at school, at work and with alcohol and substance abuse. One approach - inspired by recent brain research - involves getting children who are at risk to train their working memory as early as pre-school, while another project is working on breaking the negative downward spiral among alcohol and substance abusers and criminals who have ADHD.
Read all about this and much more in our special feature on ADHD.
