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Introduction-Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
Do you have trouble concentrating in meetings? Do you find yourself forgetting what you just read? Do you constantly fight a losing battle at "getting organised"? Do you become "depressed" too often?
If you answered "yes" to the preceding questions, you are - in all likelihood - perfectly normal! One writer in the Ladies Home Journal went so far as to caution women that just because they have a husband who "channel- surfs" with the television remote control does not automatically make their mate a candidate for having a concentration problem (Stitch, 1993)! Indeed, all adults vary (both between individuals and within one individual at different times) in their ability to concentrate on matters and to organise their work and their life (Weiss and Hechtman, 1993). However, for some individuals, situations such as these may be important indications that they have Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
The most widely used method of assessing whether or not an individual has ADHD is the so-called DSM-IV criteria. These criteria are drawn from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (hence the label DSM-IV). While this framework has been criticised for being somewhat intractable and open to interpretation (Levinson, 1992), it is the most broadly recognised diagnostic tool in the mental health field. The DSM-IV criteria for ADHD are given in Table 1.
- The DSM-IV criteria for ADHD specifically state that the associated behaviours must be long-standing in nature (greater than six months), be present in the individual both at work (or school) and at home, and originate before the age of seven (American Psychiatric Association, 1994). If an individual satisfies at least six of the "A1" criteria relating to inattention and at least six of the "A2" criteria relating to hyperactivity and impulsivity, then the individual would have the condition officially known as "Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Combined Type" (American Psychiatric Association, 1994, p.85). If an individual meets one set of criteria, but not the other, then he or she would still receive an ADHD diagnosis. However, the individual would be said to have a case of ADHD that was either "predominantly inattentive" or "predominantly hyperactive-impulsive" (American Psychiatric Association, 1994, p.85).
ADHD in Children
Children who have ADHD are typically diagnosed between...