Psych Congress Insights: ADHD Treatment During the Holidays With Dr Rakesh Jain

Rakesh Jain, MD, MPH, Psych Congress steering committee member and clinical professor, Department of Psychiatry, Texas Tech University School of Medicine, Austin, Texas, discusses optimum treatment for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) during the holiday season, and how to manage disruptions in routine.

Read the transcript:

Hello, Psych Congress Family members. This is Rakesh Jain, a proud member of the Psych Congress Steering Committee. I hope you're doing well. I wanted to have a conversation with you about ADHD and holidays.

Holiday seasons tend to be a lot of fun for kids or adolescents or adults. Families enjoy them, of course. The truth is, they're also very stressful times for many of us. If ADHD is present in the family, it can be a time of significant disruption. Even though school is often let out during those times, our children, adolescents, with ADHD often are more irritable.

Their daily schedules are disrupted. Their inattentiveness can lead to lots of fights with parents and siblings, etc. It can be a very challenging time. Therefore, it is a good idea to alert our patients and their family members that holidays are not a time to take a holiday from [the] optimum treatment of ADHD.

They need to be reminded of continuing to use the non-pharmacological techniques they've been previously using but also to be very compliant and adherent to their medications, should they be on them.

This is a particularly important time to do so because long-term family disruptions can occur between not just families but sometimes extended families with grandparents with uncles and aunts. In order to avoid this unfortunate, unfortunate challenge in the family, the treatment of ADHD should not take a backseat during times of holidays.

I just wanted to share that message with you. I hope you have a wonderful holiday season yourself. This is Rakesh Jain wishing you the best, and we will continue staying in touch with you. Goodbye for now.