What’s the difference between ADD/ADHD and just plain ol’ inattentiveness and/or short attention span?
I “suffer” from many of the symptoms mentioned here in this MPSIMS thread: I have difficulty focusing on topics which I do not find interesting, have a very short attention span (and memory to go along with it), am somewhat hyperactive, etc. However, I found that my attention span with respect to learning was, in large part, affected by my so-called “learning style”, not any real disorder. I am a very visual person - if I can see it, I can learn it. Lectures go in one ear and out the other - I wind up glazing over very quickly, get fidgity, etc. But if there are pictures involved, I have no trouble paying attention, regardless of the topic.
Note that I’m not saying that ADD/ADHD isn’t real. I’m asking for enlightenment as to what they are, or are not. Is having a short attention span (we’ll call it SAS), for example, really a disorder (or a symptom of one), or is there a distinction between SAS and ADD/ADHD? And what is the difference between ADD and ADHD?
IANAD, so I will leave the really techincal stuff to the more qualified, but I’m sure it has to do with at least these two basic things:
Brain chemistry. The meds used to treat people with ADD and ADHD only work on them, and would make a person with normal brain chemistry more hyper. That’s why people get in trouble for selling things like ritlan as speed.
Degree of severity/interference with life. I too was hyper and had a short attention span for unintresting things as a kid: that’s normal. Even adults find their minds wandering when being bored comatose during meetings, but they can force themselves to pay enough attention to whatever it is. People with ADD have trouble focusing even when absolutely necessary, and often can’t buckle down to get things done by deadlines. People with ADHD don’t find sitting still without fidgiting difficult even when they are engaged, and some times it’s damn near impossible for them to stay still.
IANAD, but here’s the way I have heard it. ADD is simply a short attention span. ADHD is a short attenion span with behavioral problems.
IMHO, I don’t think either ADD or ADHD are actual medical disabilities that require medication. I think doctors and parents these days are way too obliged to dole out the pills any time a kid gets bored and says “Fuck this!”. Kids don’t get the exercise they need either. They sit in class all day, then vedge out on the couch when they get home. Their metabolisms are fucked and their behavior and attention span suffer as a result.
I keep telling myself that the kids just need a swift kick in the ass, but I’m sure too much of that might aggrivate the problem.
That’s not necessarily true. I was diagnosed as ADD when I was about 15. I quit taking my medication regularily when I was about 16 and would then only use it on test days or to stay awake if I had a big test to study for(almost a designer drug). Sometimes I would take it in higher doses which caused my leg to bounce rapidly and mild sweating. After high-school I started using crystal meth which had the roughly the same effect, the only difference being added alertness and grinding of my teeth and occasional rapid speech, especially right after consumption. All of which could be attributed to consumption of higher doses.
The point I am trying to make is that speed doesn’t necessarily make “normal” people hyper or ADD/ADHD people calm. It’s a big racket.
If you had a kid with ADD/ADHD, you might feel differently.
My eleven year old daughter was diagnosed with ADD and now takes Concerta. She has gone from being a very unruly, rude, cruel, and difficult child to a charming young lady. She is much easier to live with. Concerta also improved the safety in our home. We could not trust her around our five year old son. Being much larger, she would sometimes try to seriously hurt him when no one was looking. She did this because, when a thought occurs to her, she cannot think of any reason not to carry out the action.
She began ADD therapy when she was ten. It has made a world of difference. On the medication, she is still alert and still has the same personality. The medicine helps the real girl come out instead of being squashed under all the other crap she was carrying around.
My wife and I used to think that simply sterner or more severe discipline was the answer. Sadly, we were mistaken. It just wasn’t working at all. As our daughter got older, the amount of trouble she was able to get into increased along with the danger of that trouble. We were invisioning things like stolen cars, drug use, and premature sexual activity as a teenager. That is when we realized that we (she) needed help. We are now better off and we feel safer in our home.
While ritalin probably is being overprescribed these days, there still is a genuine medical problem out there. Some people simply can’t function in society without them.
wishbone, you’re allowed to have your opinion, but I’m worried that you’re generalizing based on your own experiences with ADD and its medications.
The difference between short attention span and ADD/ADHD, as I see it, is that there’s a chemical imbalance in those with ADD/ADHD that impairs one’s ability to focus on certain tasks. Thus it’s not a psychological disorder, really, but rather a chemical disorder with psychological symptoms.
That having been said, it’s hard to tell whether a kid is ADD/ADHD or just has a short attention span–therefore there’s a lot of misdiagnosis. Ritalin has gotten a bad rap in the media for several reasons, and many people are inclined to write it off as just a glorified caffiene pill, but many ADD/ADHD sufferers couldn’t function normally without it.
Darwin’s Finch, if I sound pissy, it’s not directed at you. When I write stuff like this I imagine the thoughts that I know lots of people have–it’s not a disorder, the kid’s just lazy, he needs focus, poor parenting, etc. Hell, I might have ADD b/c I’m left handed. (If I had time I’d cite. Cecil himself said that left-handed people are more susceptible to learning disorders, among other things.)
Well, I see there are two camps out there: it (ADD/ADHD) is real, or it is not. Those who feel it is real note that when a child is put on medication, the child’s behavior mellows out drastically.
So, I’m still confused.
Say you were to give a child whom you thought might have ADD/ADHD something like Valium. You would almost certainly see a mellowing out in behavior. But would it allow the child to concentrate better? I guess what I’m asking here is how much of the prescribed drug’s effect can be attributed to corrections in brain-chemical imbalances, and how much might be simply an effect similar to mild sedation (at least as far as temperment changes are concerned)?
This also confuses me:
The first sentence sounds like there was, in fact, a rather dramatic personality shift - something I would expect for any number of medications, not just those prescribed for ADD/ADHD.
Again, I’m not trying to pick fights or anything; I’m just trying to get the straight dope on the subject.
It ain’t a mellowing out. It’s an improved focus. If it’s working, you’ll know, because your kid will come home from school one day and say, “I can CONCENTRATE!” That’s how much difference it makes.
There are two main classes of medication used to treat ADD/ADHD - stimulants, like Ritalin and Adderall (which I take); and antidepressants, like Norpramin and Wellbutrin. Some people do best on stimulants, some do best on antidepressants. But (despite what’s being posted) don’t think that it’s not a targeted treatment. Despite what some people/studies/smart people may say, these medications WORK. Not for everyone, but for plenty of sufferers, and the results are life-changing.
Also, the difference between ADD and ADHD is, well, the H. (sorry. :D) I have ADD without hyperactivity. ADHD is diagnosed more, mostly because kids with ADHD are easier to diagnose–they’re bouncing off the walls. (And not like most kids do. Dangerously hyperactive.) The medications don’t mellow them out–they help them focus. ADD sufferers and ADHD sufferers are treated pretty much the same way with the same medications.
Hope I helped again. And thank you for asking these questions, because more people need to. (see my new pit thread.)
A friend’s daughter has ADHD, and I’ve seen the symptoms in action. Any normal kid, for instance, will much prefer playing video games to doing homework. An AD(H)D child, however, is also prone to lose interest in the video game after a minute or two, to go play with the dog, for a minute or two, after which he or she will proceed to play with a different toy, for a similar span of time. Overdiagnosed it may be, but ADD is real.
To get back to the OP…(other than ADD/ADHD is a real issue as I have the damn thing. wishbone, if you think it’s fun, please walk a month in my shoes and see how hard life is sometimes.)
Anyhow, the difference between ADD and ADHD is that ADD is a calmer form of ADHD. If I remember correctly, you see it mostly in girls/women than you do in boys. It could be the nature of our personalities.
I’ve never been the hyper sort that fits into ADHD but I have been known to, when I was a little girl, kind of drift off in classes far worse than any other child but ADD was not well known then. I am above average intelligence yet I got horrible grades. Creativity would spark something in me though, it was engaging and difficult to tear me away from certain tasks or activities, aka hyperfocusing.
ADD/ADHD hit the same chemicals but I don’t recall why they are different. A friend of mine has the few books that I have on ADD/ADHD and I don’t feel like looking it up on the net right now.
I beg to differ. An ex-gf of mine had adhd, and you could tell when she was on her medication and when she wasn’t. Her daughter was also adhd, and you could tell whether or not she missed her medication also.
The ex-gf has trouble keeping jobs because of her disorder, she deals with it the best she can, but I know her life is not an easy one.
wishbone, before you make any more statements about this condition, know some facts, because opinions are like assholes, everybody has one and they all stink.
Well, before giving out the pills, presumably the MD makes a diagnosis. This diagnosis is actually based on a set of criteria.
The criteria for AHDH, according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, is that the person may show several signs of being consistently inattentive. They may have a pattern of being hyperactive and impulsive. Or they may show all three types of behavior.
The specifics for determining these three types of behavior also appear in the manual. Since everyone manifests these behaviors to a greater or lesser extent, the DSM also have specific guidelines for when ADHD is indicated.
1-the behavior appeards before age 7, and continues for more than 6 months
2-It must be more frequent/severe than in other children of the same age
3-the behavior must create a real handicap in 2 or more areas of the person’s life-these areas are things like school,work,home,and social settings.
There are disorders than can mimic ADHD, but the disorder does exist.
While medication is one of the better known ways of treating ADHD, counseling and other options are also used. If you want to know more about it, I recommend the National Institute of Mental Health’s website- they have a good explanation of diagnosis, treatment, symptoms, etc.
How any intelligent person can actually say that ADD or ADHD are not medical conditions is beyond me. This is pretty much in the flat earth catagory of ignoring scientific evidence. They know what chemicals are lacking to cause ADD/ADHD. There has been so much freaking research done that this has been proven beyond any doubt. We are trying to fight ignorance here.
the differance in ADD and ADHD is simply hyperactivity, not “Behavioral problems”. Its really simple. If you are given ritalin, and the problem goes away, then you have ADD/ADHD. Ritalin is speed, for everyone but someone with the disorder. If you give a child without it Ritalin, they will bounce off the walls. Period. If this were just bad paranting, this would not be the case. I know plenty of people, and worked with plenty of kids on the psych ward that were very athletic, active, etc…and they had ADD. after getting thier meds right, they were ok. when we got a new patient in, we would watch them as soon as they were given thier meds, it ws part of my job. If they got more hyper, the doctor started looking elsewhere for a problem. If they calmed down, we knew the doc was on the right track.
Add is a lifelong condition, you are born with it, it involves a lot of differant features, not just the attention span/hyperactivity thing.
I was berated and harrased all of my years in school because of jerks who thought they could make my brain work like a “normal” person. They didn’t know that much about it back then, so they have an excuse. We dont now, and people who try to say that ADD is just imaginary really piss me off.
In the interest of fighting ignorance, which chemicals are these? Do Ritalin, et al., simply supply these chemicals, or do they act in a different manner?
From Attention Deficit Disorder: A Different Perception, by Thom Hartmann:
I highly recomend this book. It takes the perspective that a person with ADD is more of a hunter type person, where a quote normall person is more of a farmer type. It talks about how to use the advantageous aspects of ADD, and what proffesions are best for someone with ADD etc…
Both things should react on you the same way, though, and from your description they did. The possiblity exists that * you * were misdiagnosed if the drugs made you worse instead of better.
