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ADHD Disorder Can Lead to a Chaotic Life if Left Untreated

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, commonly referred to as ADHD disorder or ADD (attention deficit disorder), is a neurological disorder which makes a person generally feel as if they are not in control of their mind. Such symptoms of ADHD usually include hyperactivity, mood swings, distractibility and forgetfulness. Depending on the scope of a person's ADHD, these symptoms can range from very severe to mild and wholly unnoticeable. The most common age for a person to be diagnosed with ADHD disorder is while they are in grade school. Most often a teacher will recognize that a child is having a difficult time focusing in class and will recommend that the child and parents meet with a school psychologist or psychiatrist. From those who are diagnosed as children, approximately thirty to seventy percent will retain the disorder as they age to adulthood.

When children are diagnosed with ADHD disorder, the first sign is usually their inattentiveness. Some children also display signs of impulsive behavior and destructiveness, compounding on the problem. It is from the inattentiveness portion of the disorder however that there comes controversy. Many children are obviously very active, as children tend to be, leading them to find the lack of mental stimulation in some classrooms to be utterly boring. Since they are forced to attend school, they have only a few minutes each day during recess and lunch breaks to expel that energy. The rest stays bottled up and during the classroom session may cause a child to exhibit signs of ADHD disorder even if they are just behaving like children. Recent studies however have shown there to be two predominant types of ADHD in children. The first focuses on the impulsive type of disorder. With children of this type, one finds that they are much more accident prone and are willing to do nearly anything on a dare. These children end up injuring themselves much more than normal children. Conversely, there are children who suffer from the Predominantly Inattentive Type of ADHD disorder where they are more spacey and tend to day dream often. Children with this type of ADHD are hypo-active and sluggish, a major contrast from the current beliefs about ADHD.

Many individuals feel that the most of the problems of ADHD disorder are only found in adults. This, however, is completely not true. As medical science advances, more and more cases are found in adults, known as adult attention deficit disorder (AADD). While children who had ADHD disorder may grow up to retain the illness, adults who are diagnosed with ADHD have a whole new set of symptoms. Some symptoms, like the inability to not act on impulse and take risks is still present, but other problems such as organizational and time management skills also arise. Adults who suffer from ADHD race the risk of not being able to structure their own lives. While this is not a problem for children who are looked after by their parents, it is a very serious issue for those looking to get out into the world and manage their own lives.

You can read the authors ADHD series of articles on his Parental Advice website