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Home Page Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
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ADD vs. ADHD - which term is appropriate?There are a growing number of professionals who promote the term ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder) and look down upon those who use the prior term ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) as someone who is "not up to date." There are several reasons for this. The DSM-IV of the American Psychiatry Association only lists the diagnostic criteria for ADHD. It goes so far as to call the conditions of ADD and ADHD one and the same. And that a proper diagnosis would be:
However, there are many struggling children that have attention problems that are NOT hyperactive. These they would diagnose as:
That's equivalent to saying: Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder without the hyperactivity. It makes more sense to us to just say: Attention Deficit Disorder. Part of the reason for this trend in definitions is that psychotropics really work best on the hyperactive or impulsive aspects of ADHD, and don't do much, if anything, for the inattentive variant (Attention Deficit Disorder). But often, less experienced professionals don't dig into the variant, and by simply applying the label of "ADHD", they justify the prescribing of psychotropics rather than probing into the underlying cause(s) of the behavior. Close this window to return to the previous screen |
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