Attention Deficit Disorder in College Students College years can be one of the best times in life. They are filled with the discovery of freedom and independence. However, they can also be some of the most challenging times a person will face. It is a time when the majority of the population discovers that they have a disability, Attention Deficit Disorder, or ADD. ADD is discovered in college mainly due to the problems with time management, initiating, keeping or shifting focus, completing homework, and setting priorities (Quinn 1). College students who discover ADD must first be educated as to what ADD is, how it is caused and what type of treatments there are, in order to achieve all that they can in their college career. Many children who continue to show visible difficulties with attention, impulse control, and excessive activity in the home and school environments are labeled with attention deficit disorder, or ADD (Bigler and Nussbaum 1). ADD is a neurological condition that affects learning and behavior. It affects approximately 5 - 10% of the population. It develops in childhood, and usually is not grown out of (Quinn 2). ADD is characterized by persistent and excessive problems in which a child is unable to focus and pay attention, or conversely displays hyperactive and impulsive behavior (Nicholl and Stordy 4). It has only been recently that ADD has been recognized as a distinct disorder (Bigler and Nussbaum 2). The term ADD was not first used to describe the disorder. George Frederic Still, one of the pioneers of ADD, described children with "lawlessness," and lacked "inhibitory volition." The terms "minimal brain dysfunction," "brain-injured child syndrome", and "hyperactive child syndrome," are... ... middle of paper ... ...ldren. 15 Feb. 2001 Lerner, Janet. Learning Disabilities: Theories, Diagnosis, and Teaching Strategies. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000. McCormick, Anne, and Patricia Quinn, eds. Re-Thinking AD/HD: A Guide For Fostering Success In Students With AD/HD At The College Level. Bethesda: Advantage Books, 1998. Nicholl, Malcolm, and Jacqueline Stordy. The LCP Solution. New York: Random House, 2000. "Methylphenidate (Ritalin)" PSYCweb, 18 Feb. 2001 . Quinn, Patricia. Add And The College Student. Washington: Magination, 1993. Striefel, Sebastion. AAPB.com, "Client's Guide to Neurotherapy/EEG Biofeeback Fro Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorders." 19 Feb. 2001 Torpey, Joshua. "What's in a Pill?" 16 Feb. 2001 Wender, Paul. ADHD: Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity In Children And Adults. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
At least one in four families in the U.S. is affected by mental illnesses. Unfortunately there is no cure for this range of illnesses, which have been around for thousands of years. Of the American adult population, 5.4 percent have a serious mental illness. These health conditions are characterized by alterations in thinking, mood, behavior, or some combination of these. They are also associated with distress and sometimes impaired functioning. In 1990 the total cost of mental health services in the U.S. was $148 billion. According to a new report by the Mental Health Foundation, one in five children suffer from a mental health problem. Attention deficit hyperactive disorder is a mental illness that is diagnosed mainly in young children and doesn’t always disappear in adulthood.” All we know is that this genetic, inherited condition [ADHD] is not due to brain damage at all but rather a variation in how the brain functions.” Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) includes symptoms and characteristics that can be placed in one of three categories: inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity. These characteristics commonly leave a person with ADHD with lack of attention span, easily distracted, fidgety, struggling to stay seated, having trouble engaging in calm activities, impatient, and talking excessively or out of turn. A new study by researchers says that hyperactive children have behavioral differences due to under active parts of their brain, a biological malfunction, rather than due to way they were brought up. This was revealed by a magnetic scanning device that allowed researchers to look at the brains of children diagnosed with ADHD. These studies and statistics reinforce the claim that mental illnesses are not invented simply to justify drugging of children and a disease that needs be educated to the public for better understanding. Rather, ADHD is an illness that affects many people throughout their lives. This topic is often misunderstood by the public. The media and medical community need to educate the positive side of this controversy and not just show the opposing view, which often times misrepresented by the media.
In the early eighties, children were being diagnosed with a mental illness that consistently brings them out of focus. The mental illness was later named, ADD or ADHD, and not known as an illness but as a disorder. Soon enough ADD was no longer used for diagnoses and became considered an outdated term among doctors. Therefore, instead of ADD and ADHD being two different types of disorders they are now both claimed as attention deficit hyperactive disorder. Although these two types of deficits have inattention difficulties as the primary symptom, they both can not be combined due to ADD having its own preferences on what makes the child or adult inattentive in day to day situations.
Attention deficit disorder, with or without hyperactivity, is frequently misunderstood, but it affects college students' academic and social success, as well as their emotional development. Attention deficit disorders are the second most common disability among college students, and it is classified as a psychiatric disorder, rather than a learning disability, in the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association, DSM-IV. Characterized by attention difficulties, specifically short attention spans, as well as impulsivity, distractibility, and restlessness, attention deficit disorders can adversely affect the performance capabilities of college students. Individuals report "drifting" during classroom lectures or social conversations, as well as difficulties focusing in noisy environments.
Gale Encyclopedia of Neurological Disorders. 2005. The 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the 'Second Encyclopedia.com. The World of War II. 17 May. 2012 http://www.encyclopedia.com Zieman, Gayle and Dewan, Naakeesh A. “Attention Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in Adults”. Relay Clinical Education -.
“What is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD, ADD)?” National Institute of Mental Health. National Institutes of Health. Web. 6 March 2014.
As a student in the school system, there are many mental conditions that could affect how they perform on a daily basis. One of the most prevalent is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). This is defined as “a disorder characterized by a persistent pattern of inattention and/or hyperactivity (Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine). There is much research that is currently being done on this subject as it does impact many students in the K-12 system. As of 2011, it was estimated that around 11% of students had been diagnosed with ADHD. While seems like a small amount of students, it equates to about 6.4 million (Data & Statistics). A huge amount of children in school are having trouble focusing in
While the DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition (DSM-IV) of the American Psychiatric Association) put forth a list of behaviors which predominantly fall in the category of ADD and/or ADHD, many researchers still maintain that there is no set way to diagnosis or develop a treatment program to these disorders which will be guaranteed to work. At the same time there is another set of researchers who maintain that these disorders actually do not exist at all. However, in the real world, parents and educators still continue to struggle with the task of coping with children who are hyperactive and who have very low attention span and whose behavior often interferes with schooling and family life. [Armstrong, 1997]
ADHD is a disorder that has been on the rise for several years now. The disorder is one that can cause many impairments to a child’s attention span, making it difficult to concentrate and to keep on task, especially on schoolwork. (Graham, 2007) The statistics have been growing ...
This paper will attempt to describe Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The different causative factors, as well as the diagnosis of this disorder will also be described. Finally, the different treatments that are available for ADHD will be discussed.
Now after explaining what is ADD/ADHD we are ready to cover the controversy surrounding it. As this topic is vast and you may find a lot of different reasons to discredit this disorder and psychiatry in generally I would try to focus on the main and most prevalent discussions. Covering the criticism around the way of diagnosis, history, policies in the US and UK, the media and finally as a conclusion end this essay with my final humble opinion on the matter and hopefully have helped you to reach a decision.
Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is very commonly known. Today, ADHD is one of the most common mental disorders among children. The NIMH (The national institute of mental health) predicts that it affecting 3 to 5 percent of all children(AACAP), with an approximate amount of 30% to 65% of these children experiencing persistence of symptoms into adolescence and adulthood (AACAP).There are three types of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; Predominantly Hyperactive-Impulsive Type, Predominantly Inattentive Type, and Combination Type(ehow.com). The symptoms of ADHD can be classified into three main categories; hyperactivity, inattention, and impulsivity. These behaviors can interfere with ADHD sufferers’ ability to focus deliberately on organizing and completing a specific task that they may not enjoy. A case of this kind of behavior is recognized in a report written by the National Institute of Mental Health where one of the subjects under study was unable to pass schooling examinations due to her inattentive behavior (clinicaltrials.gov) These kinds of behaviors can damage the person's relationships with others in addition to disrupting their daily life, consuming energy, and diminishing self-esteem, depending on severity of their symptoms (adhd.com). In this paper, the multiple factors of how ADHD affects, and is handled, of those who undergo this disorder, are shown.
As a Northeastern student with a documented case of ADHD who had not worked closely with the DRC, which has been providing services since 1978, I was interested in investigating what services the center provided and how they worked while also taking a look at some of the services provided by our cross-town rivals Boston University for students with learning disabilities such as mine.
Attention Deficit Disorder is a long and some what mysterious sounding name that tries to describe something you probably already call Hyperactivity. But, attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) is much more that Hyperactivity.
National Institute of Mental Health (1999). Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Retrieved April 2, 2003 from www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/adhd.cfm#adhd3
The purpose of this research was to describe and understand Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and the most effective treatment options that are available today. ADHD is a mental health disorder that affects 3-9% of the population in ways that, if left untreated, can wreak havoc on the mind of the sufferer. It makes concentration difficult, large tasks seem insurmountable, and causes impulsive and hyperactive tendencies. Fortunately, research and experiments have led to new and effective treatments to help those who suffer from this disorder (Dupaul 8). This research examined journal articles and internet sources on the topic to help unlock the complexities of the disorder through scientific research. It also was a way to separate the myths of the disorder from the truths, while discovering the causes, diagnosis methods, and best treatment alternatives to battle this prevalent disorder.