Attention Deficit Disorder - Term Paper Example

This leads to a lack of attention and it affects activities of an individual in everyday life (Grosenbach 2000 & Whiteman et al 1995). Thus it is a fact that ADD is a real and treatable psychological disorder; not just an excuse for people to misbehave. ADD derives its roots from the early eighteenth century when it was diagnosed by George Still. The name however was not designated for the disorder in 1902 by Still. George Still found 20 children with problems of attention deficiency and postulated a theory which stated that the children may be suffering from some genetic disorder which accounted for their unusual behavior.

At that time the disorder was named as the Defect of Moral Thought by George Still. These symptoms were then analyzed again in 1922 and they were named as “Post Encephalitic Behavior Disorder”. In 1937 Charles Bradley used stimulants to treat children who were supposed to be suffering from this disorder and it was because of this work that in 1956 Ritalin as a drug was introduced to treat the hyperactivity disorder. In early 1960 the disorder was named as “Minimal Brain Dysfunction” and still stimulants were used to treat the disorder.

In the latter stages of 1960 the disorder became known as “Hyperkinetic Disorder of Childhood”. . ADD is diagnosed on the basis of psychiatric assessment and a detailed in depth discussion with the parents or teachers, and on the basis of a questionnaire taken by the child if he or she is old enough. The data collected is compared with a standard list of signs and symptoms, termed as "Diagnostic And Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV" (DSM 4) for North America and with "International Statistical Classification of diseases and related health problems (ICD 10)" for European Nations, where ADD is given the name of "hyperkinetic disorder" (Berger et al 2008).

The affected individuals lack the ability to stay focused and are inattentive. They are hyperactive and are easily distracted. These symptoms can be present individually or as a combination of both of the above. ADD is the most common psychiatric disorder diagnosed in children affecting them at the frequency of 3-5%, though 4-7% of the affected children continue to suffer in the adulthood as well. Boys are affected 2-4 times more frequently than girls are. These symptoms are considered a part of normal developmental behavior of a child at a young age, but when these symptoms do not resolve with increasing age or if the severity of the symptoms worsens, and then this leads to the diagnosis of ADHD (Southhall 2007; Berger et al 2008).

According to the National Resource Center on ADHD, 5-8 percent of children of the school going age are affected with this condition and 2-4 percent of adults develop this disorder. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has also indicated that 8 million children in the United States between the ages of 3 to 17 years have been diagnosed by this