"ADD Syndrome"

Many people are confused about whether a child or adult has an attention-deficit disorder. The diagnostic criteria of the healthcare industry do little to clarify the conditions called ADD or ADHD. We prefer to think of the symptoms above as comprising part of an "ADD syndrome".

A "syndrome" is a cluster of symptoms that tend to appear together. If you suffer from the syndrome called a "cold", you likely have a headache, fatigue, nasal congestion and perhaps a sore throat.  People suffering from an ADD syndrome tend to have impairments not only in attention, but in memory, emotional control, behavior, cognitive flexibility and sleep. 

Attention

Attention can be defined as the cognitive process of concentrating or focusing on one aspect of the environment while ignoring other distractions. When your friend speaks to you in a crowded restaurant and you ignore all the other conversations, your attention is on your friend’s voice. When a child plays an intense video game as his mother asks him to wash up for supper, the computer likely has his attention.

Attention to the environment is a basic capacity for survival. Failure to pay attention or having impaired attention can result in poor school performance, poor work performance, strain on marriage, family and social relationships, and ultimately death through “accidents” due to inattention. Research reveals that talking on a mobile phone (even hands-free) while driving a car impairs the driver’s attention to the same degree as if the driver were under the influence of alcohol.

Our ability to maintain attention depends on biological, environmental, social, psychological and behavioral factors. Though each of these conditions can exert their individual influence on attention, the interaction of these factors more typically creates a profound effect on our ability to maintain and shift attention as needed.

For many, focusing attention comes naturally and easily. They can focus on the important matters and shift attention as needed as new factors arise. For some, however, focusing and maintaining attention is a struggle that results in distraction and sometimes severe problems in living effectively. Published research reveals that persons who suffer from attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are 3 times more likely to repeat a grade in school, 8 times more likely to have a teen pregnancy, 6 times more accident prone, and 10 times more likely to be incarcerated than those without this condition.

Everyone pays better attention to the things they’re most interested in than to something they find boring. When faced with a boring task, however, most people can force themselves to concentrate on the task. If someone is unable to effectively focus their attention on a necessary but boring task, they may be suffering an attention-deficit, or an ADD syndrome.

Because of the many factors that can interfere with our ability to maintain and shift attention as needed, a comprehensive evaluation may be needed when someone experiences attention problems. A good evaluation should rule out simple and common causes of inattention as well as measure one’s capacity for attention.