Mindfulness in Children with Attention Deficit/HyperactivityDisorder

The current study aims to investigate the effects of mindfulness on attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD). Attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder is a kind of neurodevelopmental disorder which affects different aspects of life. Children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder have problem with working memory, response inhibition, attention and social skills. This action allows the child to review his or her behavior and alter accordingly.

Systematic review was used for the data analysis in the present study. The methodology was also based on the collection, classification and summarization of the findings of research articles related to mindfulness, attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder and between 2010-2020, derived from the foreign databases including Eric, Ebsco, Google Scholar, Scopus, Science Direct, and PubMed using the keywords Mindfulness, Children, Attention Deficit/ Hyperactivity and other related words. In the initial search, 98 articles were selected and then 12 articles were selected which were entitled Mindfulness in Children with Attention Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder. Among them, 80 articles were deleted due to inconsistency with the subject, 5 articles due to age and 1 article due to duplication in several databases, and finally 12 articles were selected.

The results showed that this treatment is appropriate in reducing the symptoms of AD/HD. Mindfulness also improves the executive functions, attention, emotions, metacognition and self-regulation of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Based on the studies, it can be concluded that mindfulness is one of the complementary therapies for attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder and will be able to improve areas where children with attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder are deficient.