Abstract
M.A. (Psychology)
Psychotic Disorders, adult Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (aADHD) and Substance Use Disorder (SUD). Although the different groups were compared the primary aim was to learn more about the cognitive functioning of aADHD. Although there is greater emphasis on aADHD as it may be included in the new diagnostic systems, a clear clinical picture still eludes us.
Participants were recruited from different sources, by means of purposive sampling. As a general rule all potential participants with a history of a head injury or any other neurological disorders were excluded. Due to the fact that participants had to comply with strict including criteria, certain screening tests were used. The group were screened by the research team by means of clinical interviews as well as the ASRS and the MCMI. In order to control for the type of substances as well as their history of substance abuse the Mini Plus Questionnaire was used. Furthermore the psychosis group only consisted of individuals with positive Schizophrenia and Schizoaffective Disorders. The research instrument that was used was the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB), of which a number of subtests of the CANTAB were used to assess the cognitive ability of the groups. The included subtests were the Motor Control Task, the Rapid Visual Information Processing, the Spatial Working Memory and finally the Stop Signal Test.The CANTAB revealed similar impairments the aADHD, SUD and psychotic groups, specifically relating to impairments in attention, memory and impulsivity, however the main difference that has been displayed in this research is the degree of impairment in cognitive functioning, the psychotic group functioned the poorest compared to the ADHD group, showing that the psychotic group may have a greater level of dysfunction in executive functioning, attention and memory. In conclusion the results indicated that the aADHD group had a lower level of cognitive functioning when compared to both the non-clinical and SUD groups, but higher than the psychotic group.