Yamalis Diaz, PhD: The Current State of ADHD Care

Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) can be misunderstood, under-diagnosed, and misrepresented.

For many, ADHD represents the thoughts of a hyperactive child in school. And while hyperactivity can be a symptom (that often wanes as the patient ages), inattentiveness is also a major symptom associated with the disease.

For ADHD patients who exhibit more of the inattentive symptoms, they often do not ever seek help and receive an official diagnosis.

And while gaps certainly exist in ADHD care, telemedicine and increased awareness of the disease could pay dividends and make a huge difference for patients with the disease, particularly children.

In this episode of the DocTalk Podcast, Yamalis Diaz, PhD, clinical assistant professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at the NYU School of Medicine, gives an overview on the current state of ADHD care and what needs to change in order to help more patients with ADHD.

Diaz said one area where there can be an increased understanding is how the disease manifests differently in different patients. This is often based on age, but not always.

However, Diaz also said some of these gaps can be closed by the advent of telemedicine, giving many who live in rural and remote locations the ability to seek help from doctors in bigger population areas.