ADD and ADHD, can someone please explain waht exactly it is?

Question

People always seem to crack jokes about it but I want to know what it really means.

Answer 1

ADHD is ADD with hyperactivity added to it. ADHD purely defined is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

The best way I know how to describe it is this way. Say you have twenty televisions in your head which represent what you are focused on. Now everyone has these twenty televisions. If they didn't a person couldn't multitask. However, whereas a normal person has them all tuned to similar things such as turning an oven on, filleting a fish, fixing the salad; an ADHD person might have his/ her television tuned to filleting the fish, what happened yesterday across the street, the oven temperature, etc.

Now if you learn how to hone it instead of drug it into submission it can be a really good ally. It is a problem with children (which many more are actually diagnosed with the condition than should be because the doctors in the United States are lazy by nature) because they don't necessarily know which television to give primary attention to. They don't have enough experience with it yet.

Answer 2

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, often called ADD or ADHD, is a diagnostic label that we give to children and adults who have significant problems in four main areas of their lives:
Inattention, Impulsivity, Hyperactivity, and Boredom
ADD/ADHD

(ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER/ ATTENTION DEFICIT- HYPERACTIVE DISORDER)

ADD is a term frequently used to describe the academic and behavior problems of children/adolescents who have difficulty focusing and maintaining attention. Children/Adolescents who, in addition, have difficulty with control of motor activity are referred to as ADHD.

Often the lively, energetic, young boy is labeled ADHD by the teacher or school. What these educational experts can forget is that young children (more frequently boys) are introduced to the structure and demands of the classroom situation well before their minds or bodies may be ready. A consultation with a Psychologist (which may or may not include psychological testing) who is trained to recognize the symptoms of AD/ADHD is a good idea before deciding on medication, especially at an early age.

ADD and ADHD are believed to be chronic disorders of childhood of extremely early origin (although usually not discernible until a later time) and probably include neurological and/or other physiological brain differences from the non-ADD child. However, as experts in the field of infant and early childhood development are aware, as with any disorder, deficit or difference from the norm that occurs at a very early age, there is, at present, an inability to sort out and isolate the physiological (i.e. neurological/biochemical), emotional, social and behavioral components of that disorder.

Simply put: Even though ADD/ADHD may be caused by a genetic miswiring (or different wiring) of the brain, it will, at the same time, cause the child to feel differently, think differently, behave differently and interact differently - all based on how they perceive the external world of people (parents, teachers, siblings, friends) and events, and how they make sense of what they perceive.

Answer 3

It really is a shame that some people have nothing better to do than to crack jokes about diseases they don't know about. I applaud you for caring enough to learn about it and pray that you don't follow the other kids examples...
It can be a very scary illness... fire starting can sometimes be a symptom.

Answer 4

attention dephasit disorder

and

attention dephasit hyperactive disorder

something like that : )

one means you can't pay attention
and the other one means you can't pay attention and you're really hyper.

oh by the way i'm from Romania too!

Answer 5

i have add, what they said.