National ADHD Day – 14 September 2024

by Web Admin | Sep 14, 2024 | Community and Engagement, Division for Research and Methodology (DRM), Mental Health Advocacy, Mental Health Calendar

A Lifetime with ADHD: Beyond the Diagnosis to Understanding the Ongoing Impact

by the Division for Research and Methodology

To commemorate National ADHD Day (14 September), the PsySSA Division for Research and Methodology sought to summarise the different manifestations of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and its’ implications on behaviour across the lifespan.

What is ADHD: Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a chronic neurodevelopmental condition characterised by persistent patterns of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity that interfere with general functioning or development. An ADHD diagnosis is based on criteria outlined in the DSM-5-TR, which includes symptoms being present for at least six months and causing significant impairment.

While ADHD is commonly identified by primary symptoms of inattention, distractibility, and poor executive functioning, the American Psychological Association (APA) differentiates between three specific types of ADHD. Recently, specialists have also recognised additional common comorbidities that accompany an ADHD diagnoses, and recommend three more subtypes. Each type presents with different brain function issues, which cause different symptoms, and require specialised treatment protocols. Our infographic summarises these types and their presenting symptomology.

The impact of ADHD: Insights into the South African prevalence rates are limited, but estimated to be between 2-16% in children (Boshomane, Pillay, & Meyer, 2020; Botha & Schoeman, 2023). Adult estimates are somewhat lower, at 2.5-4.2% prevalence (Schoeman & Leibenberg, 2017), although it has been noted that 60 – 70% of children diagnosed with ADHD continue to have symptoms in adulthood (Belanger et al., 2018).

Possible causes for this larger estimated range in children include overdiagnosis in younger populations (and underdiagnosis in older groups), varying methodologies and assessment practices employed to make diagnoses, and limited expertise from practitioners (Schellack & Meyer, 2016). Given the life-changing impact of an ADHD diagnosis on an individual and their families, it should not be a diagnosis that is made in haste. Rather, practitioners should be careful in ensuring that they’re obtaining as holistic a view of their client as possible, before assigning the “ADHD label”.

Having untreated ADHD affects nearly every aspect of a person’s life and has been associated with school underachievement, family conflict, drug abuse, legal difficulties and poor work performance. Additionally, even though ADHD does not cause other psychological problems, it is common that other disorders (such as mood, anxiety, substance abuse, and learning disorders) occur alongside it, making diagnosis and treatment more challenging. Stimulant medications, such as Ritalin or Adderall, are often prescribed to manage ADHD symptoms in both children and adults. However, before medicating a client, it is important to identify their specific ADHD presentation type, as stimulants can make some forms of ADHD worse, as indicated above as well. Sometimes medicinal reactions can be extreme, causing hallucinations, violent outbursts, volatile temperaments, psychosis and suicidal behaviour. Alternatively, engaging in some form of sport or art form (for example, music) has been shown to improve or reduce the frequency of ADHD symptoms.

PLEASE do not use this article as a diagnostic resource; it is meant for informative purposes only. The South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG) has a toll-free ADHD helpline (0800 55 44 33), please reach out to them if you are concerned that you or a loved one may have undiagnosed or misdiagnosed ADHD.

PsySSA Presents South African Tour: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) For Anxiety and Depression

by Web Admin | Sep 6, 2024 | Community Engagement, Events and Announcements, Psychology Events

PsySSA is proud to present a series of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) workshops taking place throughout South Africa! Get ready for an immersive experience of ACT where you’ll learn tools that will transform the lives of your clients.

Cape Town: 25 - 26 October 2024

Pretoria: 31 October - 1 November 2024

Durban: 28 - 29 October 2024

Johannesburg: 2 - 3 November 2024

About the Presenter

Werner Teichert

Werner Teichert is an internationhal speaker and clinical psychologist based in Sydney, Australia. He was trained in ACT under Russ Harris, Robyn Waiser, Steve Hayes and Kirk Strosahl. Werner has trained over 2500 healthcare professionals across South Africa, Namibia, Australia and the UK.

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8th Annual ASSAf Humanities Lecture 2024 – Are we failing our youth? by Prof. Saths Cooper

by Web Admin | Aug 28, 2024 | Community Engagement, Events and Announcements, Psychology Events

Are we failing our youth?

by Prof. Saths Cooper

In a period of youth turmoil across the globe, it is apposite to consider the condition of youth in our country and continent. In the early 1980s, the question was asked, “Are we creating a lost generation?”

Over four decades later, it seems that we have created lost generations with a rising sense of helplessness and hopelessness, intolerable levels of disaffection, joblessness, violence, dependency, and the inability to engage meaningfully in disrupting prevailing narratives and emerging with a qualitatively different and inclusive trajectory for the future.

Was Shakespeare correct in stating, “The fault… is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings”? Can we cohere in the quest to find meaning for youth and enable them to fully assume their rightful roles in society? These and other critical issues affecting all of us will be traversed in this lecture, to enable us to work together in our various roles and disciplines towards a quest for our common humanity and future.

Date: 10 September 2024
Time: 15:00 – 17:00
Format: Virtual

About the Presenter

Prof. Saths Cooper

Prof. Saths Cooper is the current president of the Pan-African Psychology Union and the past president of the International Union of Psychological Science and the Psychological Society of South Africa. Prof Cooper is also a Fellow of the Psychological Societies of South Africa, India, Ireland, Britain and Nigeria. He is a founding governing Board Member of the International Science Council and a Foundation Fellow serving on its Committee for Freedom and Responsibility in Science. Prof Cooper was a close colleague of the Black Consciousness Movement founder, the late Bantu Stephen (Steve) Biko. At the age of 22, Cooper was banned, placed under house arrest, and thereafter jailed for nine years, five of which he spent in the same cell block as the late South African President Mandela. He was Accused No. 1 in the seminal South African Students’ Organisation/Black Peoples Convention (SASO/BPC) trial, a leader of the struggle against apartheid oppression and exploitation from the late 1960s. He obtained his PhD from Boston University as a Fulbright Scholar. Prof Cooper has taught at the University of Witwatersrand, Boston University and the University of the Western Cape. He also served as the last Vice Chancellor of the University of Durban Westville. Prof Cooper chairs the Robben Island Museum and the 1970s Group of Activists.

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Women’s Day – 9 August 2024

by Web Admin | Aug 8, 2024 | Community and Engagement, Mental Health Calendar

As we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Psychological Society of South Africa during our 30th year of democracy as a country we recognize the efforts of a now fast-growing network of psychological researchers and practitioners who are contributing to discourses on decolonization alongside a critical engagement and foregrounding of African and African-centered forms of psychology. This growing body of scholarship and practice recognizes that contextually grounded questions of liberation, well-being and healing can only be addressed through this lens, and from here. At the same time, there is recognition that South African and African forms of psychology have much we can offer the world. Taking a contextually rooted approach enables the asking and answering of psychological questions that have never before been asked nor answered.

In celebration of this Women’s Day and in commemoration and gratitude to the thousands of women who fought against oppressive apartheid legislation and contributed to the freedoms we enjoy today – we take this moment to consider the questions that should be asked and answered – for, and from here. Enhancing the freedoms of women and all gender non-conforming persons means we should be rethinking the questions we ask about women’s equality, access to education, to health and to the economy. We should be thinking anew about questions around gender categorization, gender identification and the gendered language. We should be asking about the meanings of the historical and other forms of ongoing trauma around what it means to be and navigate the world as a woman in South Africa and on our continent; what does it mean to be free and to live a good life. What does it mean to be well, and live lives of freedom and dignity as South African, African women in light of the global stereotypes about African womanhood and girlhood?

As we think about these and the many other questions that should be asked and answered we remember, with pride, the leading role that South Africa plays on the global stage with regard to questions of human rights, global solidarity and justice, especially for the people of Palestine and we reiterate our commitment to well-being, peace, equality, dignity and justice for all.

A brief introduction to BrainWorking Recursive Therapy Seminar

by Web Admin | Aug 5, 2024 | Community and Engagement, Events and Announcements, Psychology Events

A brief introduction to BrainWorking® Recursive Therapy (BWRT®)

The Department of Psychology at Wits University through its Umthombo Lecture series will be hosting the following seminar.

Presenter: Dr Rafiq Lockhat

Date: Tuesday, 6th of August 2024

Time: 13h00 to 14h00 SAST

No registration needed. For enquiries, please contact Aline.FerreiraCorreia@wits.ac.za.

Join us on Zoom:

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Mandela Day – 18 July 2024

by Web Admin | Jul 18, 2024 | Community and Engagement, Mental Health Advocacy, Mental Health Calendar

What would Nelson Mandela say in 2024?

Written by Prof. Anthony Pillay

As we commemorate Nelson Mandela Day and celebrate his life, we cannot help wondering what he would say about the state of the nation that he and others fought so hard to free; or what he would say about global affairs. We are reminded of his quest for justice, human rights and equality, his love of children, and his outspokenness on injustice worldwide. As a global statesman he made it his duty to argue for the rights of all, and the oppression of none. We can, therefore, assume that he would be disappointed at the continuing inequity, poverty, violence and corruption that engulf our country three decades after his inauguration as South Africa’s first democratically elected President. The maladministration, increasing unemployment, poverty and the multiple social ills that befall our communities would be troubling to him, as they should be to all of us.

There is also reason to believe that our former President would be incredibly saddened by the levels of oppression, violence and atrocity being meted out against marginalised groups across the globe. With war and violence spreading through numerous countries, these are disturbing times, and we long for a Mandela to rescue us – but Psychology has taught us and those we serve, that we have to learn self-reliance. We need to put up our hands, take responsibility, and do the job, as difficult as it may be. As we were advised by our former leader, “It always seems impossible until it’s done”.

Following our freedom as a nation, President Mandela made a point of reminding us that “…our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians”. With the current war on Gaza in its 10th month, and more than 35 000 Palestinians killed, he would have been really troubled at the continuing violence and oppression. That women and children accounted for more than half of those killings would have been deeply disturbing. Wars elsewhere in the world are also wreaking havoc on civilians, with death, destruction and displacement of communities proliferating on a daily basis. The recent missile attack on Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital would have struck a nerve for our former President given his devotion to the well-being of children, which was embodied in his sentiment that “The true character of a society is revealed in how it treats its children”. On his home continent, the plight of civilians in several countries with armed conflict will, no doubt, have been a worry. The conflicts in Sudan, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Burkina Faso, Mali, and elsewhere, would distress the great man, as it should the rest of us.

All things considered, it is likely that Mandela would lament the state of our country, the poverty, inequality and governance, as well as the wars, oppression and killing of innocent civilians, including women and children, and the many social ills prevailing elsewhere in the world. However, among his parting words, he said to us, “It is in your hands” – so we need to step up and continue the struggle work that he and many others did. This time, we have to conquer the enemies of corruption, inequality, poverty, greed, and oppression, among other national and global evils.

The Psychological Society of South Africa (PsySSA) joins the global community in celebrating Nelson Mandela International Day and honouring the life of our great leader.

For all that you did for us, and for all that you taught us, we salute you, Mr President!