This item is for discussion of mental health issues (i.e treatments,
rehabilitation, etc.).

I know that this issue can be a very emotional one for some, so please keep
this discussion constructive, and please refrain from personal attacks on
others.  Thank you.

42 responses total.

Does anyone know much about Attention Deficit Disorder?  
- What is it?
- What are it's symptoms?
- How is it diagnosed?
- Where would one go to get tested for it?

There a lot of reasons for someone to have a hard time paying attention.  Is
there some definitive way to tell if it is ADD?
Thanks,

I will respond in e-mail to your first four questions, later in the week,
Mark.  The answer to your last statement and question is:  Right, and No.

My thre children have it....A nurologist said it is likehaving a TV tuned to
all the stations at one time...two of my children have difficulty
concentrating on one thing and get distracted easily..however both of them
have a fantastic ability to work with computers..or nintendo type games.
a good book for adults is "Driven to Distraction" by Dr. Hallowell.
symptoms are long and varied
they were diagnosed using an acters form..a chart that  asks questions and
is marked and rated on a seperate graft depending on the score in certain
areas  will tell that ADD is a probiblity...then ritalin is given and if
symptoms improve it is highly likly they had ADD..do I like that it is done
this way?...NO!!!....... does ritalin help? yes..it does for my youngest..I
feel so sorry for her...she does things I know she doesn't want to..the last
lthing she did was spray paint a friends boat with red painted flowers..did
she think about the consequenses before she did it? no!..she  came crying to
me.."Mama I don't know why I did it..i couldn't help it" and yes it was true
she couldn't help it...not an excuse..a truth!..she or for that matter her
brother has more difficulty..thinking through to the end results..it must be
repeated over and over..carefully explaining hte end results

Judging by everything I've read about ADD lately, I think I probably had what
is now generally thought of as ADD when I was a kid.  For all the trouble I
had concentrating and doing what the adults around thought I should be doing,
I really don't think I was hurt by letting whatever it was go untreated in
the long run.  I'm very skeptical of saying that because a kid has trouble
concentrating they need drugs to deal with it.

Almost *all* kids have trouble concentrating. I think its the parents
and others that have the malady (anti attention deficit disorder
sensitivity, or AADDS).

i'm glad to see i'm not the only one who thinks that...add is not the
catch-all that everybody seems to think it is...
not all kids have add...in fact it's very rare.  it's just that childern
haven't learend to hide their boredom as well as adults.  :)

I am dyslexic and didn't know it until I was 20. I can read and write just
fine... in fact I'm considered gifted in that area. I taught myself to read
when I was four. Math is the problem... I seem to switch numbers and formulas.
Since I did well in everything else and girls aren't really supposed to be
good in math anyway (my school's attitude it seems), no one questioned that
something might have been wrong. I just got the "you're not trying hard
enough" lectures, along with the thoughts of my just being stupid. Homework
would put me in tears, because I was trying so hard and still getting it
wrong.

I was never tested for ADD. But I find in lectures that after 15 minutes I
am squirmy and want to leave. I draw in the margins of my notebook. I stare
out the window. Sometimes I fall asleep. I recall in kindergarten how bored
I'd get because we'd learn reading and go over things I'd already read and
knew how to do. 

Usually ADHD kids are the ones who get medication. I've seen kids that are
literally bouncing off the walls until they get Ritalin. Some kids even get
almost violent without it... I know of one boy (mommy forgot to tell the
childcare workers that little Josh was ADHD and had to have medication at 6)
who got totally hyper, ran around 5 floors, got ahold of an iron bar and was
swinging it back and forth. That's more than being unable to concentrate.

I wouldn't call that (math) ADD. I observe the same phenomenon in many
people when one is trying to teach them something that is somewhat
complicated, and they aren't "getting it". I get the same sensation
when someone is talking about stocks and bonds. It is simpler to say
that the subject is just not of interest to one.

I'm dyslexic too, and I got some special tutoring to help with some ofthe
problems I was having because of it. I think that helped, but there's a big
difference between tutoring and medicine.  If a kid is having lots of trouble
concentrating, and has a lot of energy, it would seem that there might be ways
of putting all that energy to a positive educational use.

I didn't say my math disability is ADD. I'm saying I may have ADD in addition
to the math difficulties.

School isn't too conucive to channeling lots of energy. There's PE and recess,
but those aren't daily things.  And I for one hated PE. For the remaining 7
hours, you're expected to sit quietly in an uncomfortable chair.

And people wonder why kids have trouble concentrating through that.  Rather
than drugging the kids, maybe we should change the schools.  Yeah, yeah, I
know... it's much easier to drug the kids.

Statistically, about 1/3rd of all kids on drigs for ADHD are not truly ADHD
kids.  Problem is, the drugs can improve "apparent performance/behavior" even
in non-ADHD kids, and many times the drug is used as a "diagnostic tool"
rather than a treatment modality for a properly diagnosed ADHD sufferer.  They
_seem_ to get better, so there are considered to be ADHD.

Best way to do this is to assess the kid (as objectively as possible...need
to seek out a specialist), alter behavior and/or environment (behavior
modification and yes, change the schools!), and _then_, if optimal results
have not yet been obtained, try medication to see if there is any more
benficial effect that can be obtained.

I agree with scg and rickyb.  Too many times children are medicted so others
can "cope' with them.  Anybody who soesnt seem to fit must have add, bi-polor,
or any of the other mental  and or physicl illnesses.  If a kid is happy, then
let them be.  When i taught headstart, the only behavior problems were with
family dsyfunction  and sexual abuse cases.  hyperactivity or "activenss"  is
simply who some people are.  medication perhaps, should only be a last resort
when the child doesnt feel like they "fit".  If others think that , its their 
problem." ."

Besides being stuck in an uncomfy plastic chair all day, in a stuffy
classroom... think of what else kids have to distract them. Bullies, worry
of being laughed at, and now guns. I recall school dulling my curiosity on
things rather than enticing it. Even in 1st and 2nd grade I realized we wer
edoing a lot of pointless busywork. 

not only that, but who really WANTS to be in class, learning?  even my
favorite classes, i would sit and doodle and stuff in the middle of...it
was just my way of dealing with class...i wouldn't say that i was add, i would
say i just have a low concentration rate.  there are SO many kids out there
that are in the same boat, but doctors are so positive that there is a drug
for everything...

You feel my pain, eeyore.

I wanted to be in class, learning. It was marvelous. But then, I was good
at it.

I agree with Ricky b ot some extent...The best that James did in school was
when the teacher allowed him to leave the classroom when he got too restless
I observed him on e time completely stretched out over two desks..paying
attention but oblivious to how he shold be sitting in class.. then the next
thing I knew he was down next to his tacher on the floor... most everyone
ignored his bedhaivor...good idea too.  Now he is in an alternative school.
He is not retarded..in fact gifted.. and  and alternative school is great for
him...unfortunatly it is also a dumping ground for kids unable to stay in
school.  A counsler and I talked  about putting him in it.. the reason is it
is better for him... something we shold be looking at.. what is better for
the child

It's not that I didn't want to learn. I like learning new things, or new ways
to think about things. But I couldn't focus to learn them like I wanted, and
still can't really. I either get numb with boredom or my mind races.

Ditto #17, rane.

Well that is James...brilliant but bored...:)
Julie and her ADD is esperating.. I went to my bathroom to find perfect black
polka dots on the wall....first thought Julie.. second thought shoe polish...
best thought .. we need to keep this kid creative with lots of paper and not
white walls...
when she first learned to write she signed every surface in the
house..dentying it of course but signing Julie.. iwth her backwards J...
she is also left handed.
Richt now she is insisting on baking sooooo I better go

I'd like to know if anyone knows something on post traumatic stress
disorder.  I am a possible suferer, but my parents are of the opinion that
if it isn't broke don't fix it, so I won't know in a while...I just wanted
to clarify between depression and PTSD.  Thanx!

There must be something online about this, try an altavista search on PTSD,
and let us know what you learn.

Alright, I will do that, and thank you for the option.  I don't think I
would have thought of it...I'll let you know what I find out!
        Thanx again, Koneko

I'm curious to find out if anyone else is at all familiar with Adult ADD?

We know someone who has it and leaves the radio on all the time for constant
distraction so she can think.

I exhibit symptoms of adult ADD although I've never been formally 
diagnosed (I keep forgetting to ask the doctor about it :)

Anyway, I am somewhat familiar with it.

I am diagnosed with acute ADD.  I treat it with coffee and sarcasm. Oh,
yea..and lots of misplaced post-it notes.

Do drugs help?

Vitamins do.  And audits.  And exteriorizing.

Exteriorizing?  I'm sincerely interested in what you've found helps, Tod.

ADD is one of the things I was diagnosed with 6 years ago. And I get
distracted easily and am constantly losing things!  I took Strattera for it
for a couple years--though I'm not on it at the moment. When I moved here and
once I had health insurance, my dr/specialist is starting me all over on my
various meds so I won't be too medicated [as has happened in the past]. The
Straterra seemed to have helped, though perhaps my current meds will take its
place [we're still fine-tuning my dosages].

Do  you have any coping strategies for dealing with the ADD, such as leaving
yourself notes?

For things like appointments and such, I try to write them down in my pocket
calendar but then, sometimes I forget to look at it.  As for writing things
down and/or making lists, I usually don't get around to it for whatever reason
and if I do, I misplace it or don't read or use it.  Though sometimes just
by writing it down to begin with will help me to remember it better, at least
for a little while before forgetting about it.

I highly recommend a book titled "You Mean I'm Not Lazy, Stupid or 
Crazy?!: The Classic Self-Help Book for Adults with Attention Deficit 
Disorder".

I read it for one of my psychology classes and it had a lot of really 
good information.

http://url.rexroof.com/7112

JIm has been trying to make himself notes in a PDA, and he also phones his
answering machine to leave messages to himself, but forgets to listen to it.

Could he send himself e-mail? Also, our answering machine demands attention
by flashing a light. Does his? 

I carry 2 notebooks throughout the day.  one is for work and one is for
non-work...dated..times...STACKS in my desk drawer from previous days, months,
years, etc...
I also have an engineer's #'ed computation book where I keep special notes.
I guess its a bit like rainman or something.  I don't take meds...didn't go
that route.  THe VA diagnosed me and I've pretty much been on my own to handle
it.  Its most apparent when I'm caught in a conversation the 2nd or 3rd time
with a 10 minute pause and have absolutely no clue what we're discussing...or
another thing is if I'm asked to describe something in detail over the phone
like how to hook up a VCR.  I can't hang onto something like that straight
through....

Jim is dyslexic and does not send or read emails.  He can scribble in the PDA
instead of having to hunt and peck to type.  And it comes out legible, even
if not spelled correctly.

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