Adult Attention Deficit Disorder

When a psychiatric condition called Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder occurs in an adult, it is referred to as  Adult Attention Deficit disorder or ADD. About 3% of adults are thought to suffer with an Attention Deficit Disorder.

There is no clear understanding as to how exactly it occurs in adults, yet there are epidemiological studies that suggest that half the children who experience attention deficit disorder carry it into adulthood, so that between 2 and 4 in every hundred adults will be afflicted.

The American Psychiatric Association’s 'Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders' does not exclude adult numbers from the total attention deficit disorders recorded - indeed, many adults do get diagnosed for such an illness - but most diagnoses of attention deficit disorder are confined to children.

Although the disorder might not have manifest itself during adolescence, modern medical thinking suggests that all adults experiencing adult attention deficit disorder must have had it during childhood. As one gets older the symptons of Attention Deficit Disorder diminish, and this leads to the thinking that fewer adults do indeed have ADD.

Some ADD sufferers also manage to develop their own ways of dealing with the disorder as they get older. They are more likely to realise they have a problem than would a child, and manage, in their own way, to cope with it. Nevertheless, any person experiencing the disorder should seek professional diagnosis and treatment for the condition.

Adult ADD sufferers can still be unable to organize their lives and to do simple everyday tasks. They can still appear restless and inattentive, but other social problems can be more pressing.