Adult ADHD : Treatment is Available

First, here is a quick primer on Attention Deficit Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. There are actually three types of ADD acknowledged in the DSM IV-R, the official diagnostic nomenclature developed by the American Psychiatric Association. These are: 1) ADD, characterized primarily by inattentiveness and distractibility, 2) ADHD, most noticeable due to the feature of hyperactivity, and 3) a combined type where a person has symptoms of both of the first two varieties.

For many years, these disorders were thought to be the exclusive province of childhood. But, in recent years, the psychiatric community has come to understand that the condition is not always 'outgrown', treated or not, and that as a consequence, there are indeed adults that continue to suffer with grown up versions of the symptoms that impacted their lives as children.

Children with these disorders are most usually identified in the early grades of school when they are expected to sit still and focus on specific, assigned tasks for periods of time. The schools then call the phenomenon to the attention of the parents, often recommending an ADHD evaluation for the child. If a child actually has the condition, the most consistently successful intervention is medication, for although listed in the Psychiatric nomenclature, it is actually a medical condition.

Adults who continue to have trouble focusing, behaving non-impulsively, attending or sitting still can't count on the teacher to spot it. For adults, the most usual stage on which the symptoms appear and are of its consequences on the job - at work. People lose jobs when they can't stay focused on their work and, just as many children who have this condition and are undiagnosed and untreated, begin to feel that they are deficient - that something is wrong with them. They often begin to collect other symptoms arising from the untreated attention problem. Low self-esteem, lack of confidence, depression and getting into trouble because it is difficult for these people to think before they act are not uncommon.