ADD - What Is It?
ADHD, or what's more commonly referred to as simply ADD, is one
of the most misunderstood and misdiagnosed diseases in the
world. The truth is, most people don't understand ADD and
wouldn't recognize a person with it if they saw one. It is the
hope of this article and the series to follow, to educate you
about ADD, what it is, how it's diagnosed, how it's treated and
several other topics that hopefully will aid in your awareness
and understanding of this disease.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, ADHD or ADD, is a
condition where the person with it is unable to maintain
attention for an extended period of time. Other symptoms are
impulsive behavior and motor restlessness. It is said that about
4.4% of all adults have ADD.
ADD is what is classified as a neurobiological disorder caused
by problems in the dopamine neurotransmitter systems in the
brain. Most cases of ADD are inherited. If a parent or close
blood relative has ADD then there is a 30% chance that a child
will have ADD. In studies of twins it is shown that if one twin
has ADD there is a 50% chance that the other twin will also have
ADD. ADD is not caused by poor nutrition as it was once
believed. It is also not caused by bad parenting, drugs or
allergies. Other medical conditions may cause symptoms similar
to ADD such as severe head trauma, thyroid problems, foetal
alcohol syndrome and lead intoxication, so it is important to do
a thorough analysis in order to determine if the person has ADD
and not one of these other problems.
What happens with ADD is that when a person does not get
adequate neuro-chemicals, or in other words, the brain is not
being properly stimulated, it tries to find ways to increase
their release. Things such as movement, physical activity,
focusing on things that are stimulating or doing anything that
causes stimulation are various ways that people with ADD
stimulate their brains. In a sense this is more a reflex to
their not getting the proper neuro-chemicals and not so much a
conscious act, which is the reason that people with ADD act in
this way and really can't control their actions.
The problems this action causes is that people with ADD, when
confronted with a situation that doesn't stimulate them, such as
school work, then focus their attention on something that does
stimulate them. Obviously when this happens the school work is
not attended to and this results in poor performance in the
classroom. An associate of mine related a story of this to me,
about a child who would get up in the middle of the class, stand
on his desk and start telling jokes. At first it was thought
that he was just trying to be funny and disrupt the class. As it
turned out he actually had ADD and couldn't help himself. This
occurred during a time when people really didn't understand this
disease.
Other problems associated with people who have ADD is that they
have difficulty with personal relationships and staying
employed. Also people with ADD may do things to stimulate
themselves that are actually reckless and dangerous and thus may
further complicate their lives with legal problems.
In the next in this series we'll discuss how to determine if
someone has ADD and if diagnosed what steps can be taken to
treat it.