Several types of clinical experiences have motivated me to write this article to provide specific, practical guidance to mental health clinicians about addressing what I think is an important issue but isn’t typically discussed openly and proactively in clinical settings. I am referring to the increased risk of ADHD in a child if one or both parents have ADHD.
1. From time to time, some of my patients with ADHD will say that they think their child has ADHD, even in cases where the child is very young (less than 5 years old).
2. On the other hand, other patients will describe problems and behaviors in their child that should suggest the possibility that the child may have ADHD, but these patients don’t seem to have thought about this possibility on their own.
3. In my own clinical experience, mental health clinicians avoid discussing the risk of ADHD in children that the patient may have in the future. Maybe this is because they rightly don’t want to give the impression that the child will definitely have ADHD or that they are trying to discourage the patient from having children.
We agree on the importance of “psychoeducation” about the illness, its treatment, and so on. Shouldn’t some basic information about the estimated risk of ADHD in children of persons with ADHD be discussed as well?
– To some patients, it may be a relief to know that it is not a certainty that their child will have ADHD.
– For others, it may help them to prepare for this possibility as best as they can, for example, by making sure their own ADHD is reasonably well managed before they have a child, recognizing the difference between normal development and possible signs of ADHD, and so on.
So, setting aside our personal prejudices about this topic, let’s look briefly at “just the facts” about the risk of ADHD in children that the patient may have in the future.
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