Although these behaviors can easily be visualized with respect to school and work, some hyperactive impulsive or inattention behaviors must be present in a least one other setting such as home. You've probably noticed that many of these behaviors are pretty common. Most of us have engaged in these at one time or another. The person with ADD, however, engages in more of these behaviors more often than other people, and it tends to make many tasks (particularly those required by our academic institutions) quite difficult.

Another thing to remember: Although ADD is often undiagnosed until adulthood, it is not a disorder that suddenly appears like a cold or like some forms of depression. ADD is a condition which is present very early in life. Sometimes signs of the disorder are even visible during infancy.

Because ADD interferes with many areas of a person's life, untreated ADD may result in a number of other symptoms and disorders such as: low self-esteem, depression, boredom, school frustration, fear of learning, impaired peer relations, family discord, substance abuse, and even violence and stealing.

There is a bit of controversy surrounding the label ADD. Some people even say that ADD does not exist. Largely, this controversy can be attributed to the difficulties related to diagnosing ADD. As mentioned earlier, the individual behaviors connected with ADD are, by themselves, "normal." The specific symptoms of ADD are often hard to distinguish from other conditions which also affect attention and activity level such as learning disabilities, mania, depression, and bipolar disorder (previously called manic-depression), and learning disabilities. Most people with ADD also have the ability to focus very intensely on something that interests them. This sometimes causes naive diagnosticians to rule out ADD. Often, ADD is first noticed in grade school children who seem "bright" but their performance on academic tasks is rather inconsistent, sometimes A's and sometimes F's. Very bright children with ADD may not come to the attention of educators and parents until adolescence or adulthood because they are often able to compensate for their difficulties and perform more consistently. However, the problems with distractibility, impulsivity, and hyperactivity are still present and causing the person significant frustration not to mention interfering with relationships with both peers and authority figures. Because ADD was not recognized by the public school system as a handicapping condition necessitating appropriate educational interventions until 1992, many people with ADD have reached adulthood without being diagnosed and without receiving benefit of helpful interventions. Therefore, it is not unusual to find students in college discovering for the first time that they have ADD.

ADD symptoms tend to make it difficult for individuals who have it to sit still in a classroom, to start a project and work linearly on it until it is completed, to listen quietly while others talk, to wait until it is their turn, etc. These are all behaviors expected in school, and in certain jobs or by certain job tasks. Because the person with ADD does not conform easily to these expectations, educators, employers, and doctors tend to focus on what's wrong with the person. Unfortunately, this tends to overlook the talents and abilities of people who have ADD. For example, their high energy level and impulsiveness often allow them to take more risks in business ventures (and risky business ventures have the potential to pay off big). They also tend to be very intuitive, thus, their business risks tend to have positive outcomes. People with ADD often have tremendous enthusiasm for what they are doing, and this can inspire co-workers and group members, as well as sell products and proposals. They are often extremely empathetic and compassionate as well as charming. Furthermore, people with ADD are also highly creative, but their achievements may be underemphasized because they may be less conventional than expected.

Therefore, it seems incorrect to look at ADD as entirely problematic. At least the "problem" is clearly not localized within the person, but rather it appears to represent a mismatch between attentional style and environmental demands. Some suggest a more appropriate name is "attention variability." How can this mismatch be handled? Are there other ways to learn in addition to sitting and listening? Psychiatrist Thom Hartmann has been paraphrased in Time magazine with respect to evolutionary advantages of distractibility. He argues that impulsive responding to peripheral stimuli (like hearing a twig snap when you are walking through the woods, or seeing a moving figure out of the corner of your eye) was vitally important in early hunting societies. He sees individuals with ADD as "hunters' residing in a primarily "farmer" society. Yet important roles for "hunters" do exist in this society in such careers as police officers, emergency room personnel, race car drivers, as well as entrepreneurs.

The following description of ADD was posted on the Internet by Edward M. Hallowell, M.D. who has the disorder. Dr. Hallowell, a well known psychiatrist, specializes in the identification and treatment of attention deficit disorder and is the co-author of the popular Driven to Distraction.