Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Rehabilitation: A Model for ADHD Treatment

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a condition that affects approximately 4.4% of adults in the U.S. (Kessler et al., 2006) and is most commonly treated with psychopharmacological interventions. More recently, non-pharmacological interventions have been developed for ADHD. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) has emerged as an efficacious treatment for ADHD and typically consists of training compensatory strategies and the use of external aids. The aims of this thesis were to examine the similarities between ADHD and mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI) as well as review treatment options for mTBI and discuss their possible usefulness in treating ADHD. Based on the literature reviewed, there were striking similarities of deficits between ADHD and mTBI, specifically in the executive functioning of both. It is hypothesized that treatment for mTBI could also be beneficial for ADHD. Currently, some of the techniques used to treat ADHD and mTBI overlap. However in, cognitive rehabilitation (CR) for TBI, there is more emphasis on remediation of deficits compared to treatment of ADHD. Also, cognitive tasks for mTBI are more often completed in a real-life setting or as close to a real-life setting as possible. At this time, the literature regarding cognitive rehabilitation specific to mTBI is somewhat limited because it continues to be a growing field of literature. However, CR in general may be a beneficial treatment for the executive functioning deficits that also commonly affect ADHD.