Until a few years ago, the medical establishment believed A.D.D. (the full name of the condition is attention-deficit and hyperactivity disorder or A.D.H.D. and not all who have it exhibit the hyperactivity symptoms so it is often referred to as A.D.D.) was a pediatric disorder that kids grow out of. The irony is that because it's hereditary, many adults began to recognize its symptoms in themselves only after it was diagnosed in one or more of their children. There is genetic evidence that if your child has it, there is 40% chance that a parent has it. If a parent has it, there's a 50% chance that a child will have it.
Only 15 percent of those eight million parents with adult A.D.D. actually know they have A.D.D. but all are looking for a label for their lifelong restlessness, spaciness, jumping from one subject to the next, easily distracted from completing tasks and meeting deadlines that adversely affect their world of work. Some of these are "sleeper A.D.D. people" who have gotten really good at using their creativity and intelligence to cover the disorder. However, when evaluated for A.D.D., they see the cost of the incredible effort they have put forth to get to this point in their life and the influence of the disorder in the decisions they have made.
Only when they and/or the people they work with become desperate, do people with adult A.D.D. seek treatment and coaching help to better manage their personal and professional lives.
Forty-six percent of adults with A.D.D. indicate a strong tendency toward having a hard time paying attention at work, compared to 20 percent of adults without A.D.D. A Roper poll of adults who identified themselves as having A.D.D. found that they held 5.4 jobs over the past 10 years, compared with 3.4 jobs for adults without the disorder. The same poll found that only 52 percent of adults with A.D.D. are currently employed, compared with 72 percent of unaffected adults.
If you or people you know suspect A.D.D. could be a concern, please visit my website What is A.D.D.? at www.WhatisADD.info for more information.