ADHD diagnosis – a help or an obstacle?
Agnieszka Gawęda1, Marta Nowak1, Małgorzata Janas-Kozik1,2

The authors of this paper discuss the importance of the diagnosis of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in an effective treatment as well as social functioning of children diagnosed with ADHD, stressing at the same time the meaning of a processual psychiatric and psychological diagnosis. This publication is an attempt to relate to numerous controversies around the ADHD diagnosis – to what extend it is a reliable identification which explains the problems of young patients and which enables the patient to receive adequate help. Or, whether it may serve as a dispensation from responsibility of the parents who cannot cope with the bringing-up tasks, or “a label” which restricts the understanding of a young patient and limits his or her development as well as further functioning in the world. The authors emphasise the meaning of a comprehensive observation of a child during hospitalisation at a psychiatric ward for children and adolescents, which becomes indispensable when the clinical picture, despite a long diagnostic process within an outpatient clinic, still remains unclear or when, despite all the undertaken steps, the symptoms are increasing. The purpose of the clinical observation is to verify the diagnosis on the basis of a twenty-four-hour observation which in turn may invaluably contribute to the understanding of the meaning and context of a child’s behaviour. The article presents cases of three children: Kuba, Weronika and Maciej who are treated at the Developmental Age Psychiatry and Psychotherapy Ward of the Paediatric Centre in Sosnowiec, Poland. The diagnosis of the children has been gradually evolving from ADHD towards a more complex understanding of their problems – taking into account their family background as well as the individual dynamics of their emotional problems.