What is Attention Deficit Disorder Anyway?
by Linda Anderson, A.C.T., MCC

-- a quick primer for those of you who aren't quite sure.

ADD is a biological, neurologically based and sometimes genetically based condition affecting 5% of all children. Researchers now believe that there are many adults with this condition who were never diagnosed and may never have outgrown the condition from childhood.

Learning disabilities are often associated with ADD. Hyperactivity *at times* is associated with ADD and is referred to as ADHD.

The American Psychiatric Association indicates specific criteria for diagnosing an adult with ADD. The most basic criteria is that the symptoms noted existed before the age of seven and were chronic and pervasive. The following is a list of characteristics commonly associated with Attention Deficit Disorder. Not every person diagnosed with ADD has all of these characteristics:

• Difficulty getting organized
• Chronic procrastination
• Many projects going simultaneously
• Impulsive action and speech
• Need for high stimulation
• Easily distracted, trouble focusing
• Easily bored
• Poor short term memory
• Difficulty following proper procedures
• Impatient, easily frustrated
• Worry needlessly, endlessly
• Restless - mentally, physically or both
• Addictive behavior
• Sleep disturbances
• Low self esteem
• Some other possible characteristics are:
• Job related problems
• Difficulty with co-workers
• Problems with authority
• Inability to take criticism
• Mood swings, depression
• Being a loner.

The other side of these more familiar negative characteristics of ADD are its positive aspects. Individuals with ADD are often highly intelligent, creative and intuitive. They can be full of energy, enthusiastic, always ready to try something new. They can have a youthful outlook whatever their age, a great resilience to disappointment, a willingness - even an eagerness - to explore new concepts and technologies, and are tolerant of others' lifestyles and points of view. If they get stuck, they may explore new strategies and develop innovative, creative solutions to problems. The can vent their anger and not hold a grudge, look past the surface to the core of people, situations and issues, and engage wholeheartedly in their efforts because they do what they want to do rather than what they "should" do. They are frequently artistic - musicians, actors, painters, dancers.

Among well-known people, it's been said that Ben Franklin, Ernest Hemingway, Henry Ford, Mozart, and Thomas Edison had ADD. Highly successful people who had/have learning disabilities include Albert Einstein, Edgar Allan Poe, George Bernard Shaw, Salvador Dali, William Butler Yeats, John D. Rockefeller, Cher, Bruce Jenner, Tom Cruise, Hans Christian Anderson and Winston Churchill.