Adhd Common in Children and Adults

Are you often distracted by extraneous noises or activities? Does it ever feel like you can't seem to get anything done or keep organized? Does daydreaming pull you away from the task at hand? These questions and many others plague people daily who have attention disorders. There are two types of attention disorders, Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD); both are defined as syndromes of disordered learning and disruptive behavior that is not caused by any serious underlying physical or mental disorder and has several subtypes characterized primarily by inattentiveness or by hyperactivity and impulsive behavior or by the expression of both. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorders are the most present in children and adolescents ages 9 to 17 years old; this has affected 4.1 percent of youths. Many factors contribute to being a person afflicted with an attention disorder; causes of the disorder, testing for the disorder, and treatments for the disorder.

To start off with, it may be helpful to conceptualize attention disorders in three aspects: sustained, divided, and alternating. However, medical science first documented children showing signs of inattentiveness, impulsivity, and hyperactivity since 1902. Since then, this disorder has been given numerous names, including minimal brain dysfunction, hyperkinetic reaction of childhood, and attention deficit disorder with or without hyperactivity. Now the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, fourth edition (DSM-IV), a classification system, renamed the disorder as attention deficit disorder/attention deficit hyperactive disorder, or ADD/ADHD. This name reflects the important characteristics of the disorder such as, inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity.

ADD or ADHD affects many areas of the brain which include the frontal lobes, inhibitory mechanisms of the cerebral cortex, the limbic system, and the reticular activating system. The frontal lobes function is to help us pay attention to tasks, focus concentration, make good decisions, plan ahead, and remember what we have learned. The inhibitory mechanisms of the cerebral cortex keep us from being hyperactive; this helps to inhibit our behavior. The limbic system is the base of our emotions and functions to give us normal emotional changes, normal lacks of energy, normal sleep routines, and normal levels of coping with stress. Problems with those areas would result in a dysfunctional limbic system. The reticular activating system is the attention center of the brain and center for motivation. A complex collection of neurons serve as a point of convergence as signals from the external world to the interior environment. This system is capable of generating dynamic effects on the activity of the frontal lobes, cerebral cortex, and motor activity centers of the brain.

For many people suffering with attention disorders is either because it is inherited or acquired. Research in genetics has shown that ADD and ADHD are genetically related, an imbalance in chemicals that regulate the efficiency with which the brain controls behavior. Also, ADD and ADHD may be acquired through various conditions that may cause damage to the brain. During pregnancy and child birth these may include the use of drugs during a pregnancy, toxemia, and prematurity. After birth these include meningitis, encephalitis, and seizures from fever.

No two people share the same symptoms of attention disorders. There are three categories of attention disorders; inattention ADD, hyperactive/impulsive ADHD, and combined ADD and ADHD. Some of the symptoms of inattention ADD include making careless mistakes at school, work, or other activities, becomes easily distracted by irrelevant sights, sounds, and extraneous stimuli, and rarely follows instructions completely or carefully. Symptoms of hyperactive/impulsive ADHD include fidgeting with hands or feet, squirms in their seat, runs, climbs, or leaves seat where remained seating is required, and has difficulty awaiting turn or for a turn. Symptoms of combined ADD and ADHD include both showing symptoms of ADD and ADHD.

Studies show that people afflicted with ADD and/or ADHD are creative, a number of famous actors, writers, and artist have suffered from the disorder. Even Albert Einstein was said to have suffered with ADD. The reason people with this disorder are so creative is because they are too focused on their thoughts and love to explore their imagination. Some adults look back and realize they may have had an attention disorder that they may or may not have overcome. Some of these adults still suffer from these symptoms today and are not able to adapt or compensate on their own. They did not receive help from teachers, parents, or medical professionals. Because of the symptoms left untreated they may have dropped out of school and also became today's social drop outs. Although, some adults have became very successful, including the host of ABC Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Ty Pennington.

Ty Pennington was diagnosed with attention problems in grade school. His mother, who worked at the school that Ty attended and was a child psychologist, was asked to study the poorly behaved students, Ty was among those students. He was treated with Benadryl® and behavioral modification techniques, these techniques did not work and the medication was making him drowsy. Ty was diagnosed with ADHD in high school and was not taking any medication. While in college he began taking ADHD medication and was able to excel at school, play soccer well, and gain self-confidence. One of the medications used to treat ADHD is Adderall®, Ty Pennington says, "his life have improved with taking this medication, in being able to eat and sleep regularly without the side effects of being 'speed up.'"

Next, when being diagnosed with ADD or ADHD, the child or adult should have an adequate physical exam, performed by the pediatrician or family practice doctor. Also, a psychologist or mental health profession performs evaluations for ADD or ADHD. When seeking out counseling the parent or adult with these symptoms should look for a therapist with a background of treating attention disorders. A child with ADHD comes to consideration in early grade school years because of the behavior-management problems they cause in a classroom setting. Since ADD and ADHD are genetic a psychiatric history of the parents is important to being able to help diagnosis the child. Along with the parent history a developmental history must be taken. Some questions for this include; how did the mother do during pregnancy, where there any problems during the pregnancy, when did the child learn to walk or crawl, and did the child have very many ear infections. A detailed family history is also required, because 80 percent of the