Traditional Scales Diagnosis and Endophenotypes in Attentional Deficits Disorders: Are We on the Right Track?

Abstract

The concept of ADHD has changed widely through the history of mental health classification manuals. In the past three decades, the number of ADHD diagnoses has hugely increased worldwide. One of the reasons to explain this fact could be the lack of precision, differentiation and adjust of the criteria and indicators of this disease. Research has detected as well, some subjectivity bias in the traditional assessment (based in questionnaires and behavioral scales), which is affecting to the precision in the diagnose and to the further adjustment to the treatment. In this regard, these diagnoses are based in symptoms but not in etiology of the disorder. Therefore, different disorders will share the same treatment, regardless etiology. A different approach is based on the study of vulnerable traits associated with impulsivity and attentional deficit. In a quantitative fashion; these traits could be used to define a specific endophenotype. This view would allow us a more precise medical/psychological assessment focus on patient along the life spam, avoiding a diagnostic based on the number of symptoms. Here, we discuss about the differences between traditional diagnosis scales and the possibilities to find endophenotypes in order to address a specific treatment.

Detecting Attention Levels in ADHD Children with a Video Game and the Measurement of Brain Activity with a Single-Channel BCI Headset

“…Our study provides a preliminary framework that could help identify biological markers of possible attentional problems and define specific endophenotypes. The development of endophenotypes might be more adequate for the effective application of pharmacological and behavioural treatments than traditional classifications of mental diseases based on diagnosis scales [ 38 ]. The evidence from this study suggests that the application videogame, in combination with the NSMW, could work as a pre-screening diagnosis tool to detect disorders related to attention.…”

A Videogame as a Tool for Clinical Screening of Possible Vulnerability to Impulsivity and Attention Disturbances in Children

“…In fact, inhibitory control has been suggested to be the main neuropsychological impairment [ 5 ], and subsequent problems could affect working memory in different grades, especially central executive [ 10 , 11 ]. In children, it is related to the inability to restrain a response to signs associated with immediate reinforcement, as these signs become attractive and irresistible stimuli [ 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ]. Furthermore, impulsivity has been described as a symptom in several clinical disorders, from simple dysfunction to the diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or drug-abuse consumption [ 17 , 18 ].…”