Different approaches and aspects of treatment
There are many approaches in psychology to treating ADHD as well as educating the family and ADHD patient regarding the disorder. These include the psycho-educational input, behavior therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT), family therapy, school-based interventions, social skills training and parent management training.
This wide range of treatments and approaches shows exactly how complex and far-reaching the disorder is, affecting nearly every single aspect in the child's life, as well as ones in the family's life and incorporating behavior at school to peers and educators. This is why a multitude of things should optimally be combined to treat the disorder and reintroduce a sense of stability to the life of the ADHD patient and family.
Children need to be educated and advised on how to control their need to constantly keep moving and staying active, their difficulty in staying still and pay attention to one thing for a period of time, etc. This is done, among other techniques, by training them to do so gradually and at time slowly. Also, some therapy is very well in place to deal with the negative feeling and possible self esteem issues which could arise in children with ADHD.
Another important treatment that pertains mostly to the parents and other family members is the different forms of educating the family about the disorder. They are taught to be more patient and understanding, to encourage the child to perform things differently and more attentively, how to train him to do so and so on.
Moreover, there is sometimes counseling given to the parents, as it has been shown that having an ADHD child causes a strain on the marriage that can eventually end in a divorce. Parents of ADHD children are more likely to divorce than parents of a child without ADHD, especially if the child is under the age of 8 (when he is more dependant on the parents and mainly at home). Family therapy hasn't been proved to be of much use in cases of ADHD, but one must not overlook the effects it has on the family ("Family therapy for", 2005; Wymbs, Pelham, Molina, Gnagy, Wilson & Greenhouse, 2008).
One thing that has been proved to be effective is counseling camps for both ADHD children and their families. These integrate many different tasks and experiences that aim to improve both ADHD children's skills and their closeness and openness with their families, and vice versa. These have been shown to improve the symptoms caused by the disorder.