Probably as many as four million children and four to five million adults in the United States suffer from Attention- Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Although ADHD was described by physicians many years ago, its frequency only recently has been recognized. Exact figures are not available, but it seems likely that between 3 to 10 percent of school-age children and 4 to 5 percent of adults have ADHD. ADHD is frequently accompanied by learning disorders in reading, spelling, or arithmetic, and it may be accompanied by other behavior disorders. ADHD is more common in boys than in girls. Child psychiatrists used to believe that the symptoms of ADHD diminished and disappeared as children grew older, but recent studies have found that ADHD frequently persists into adolescence and adult life.
ADHD is the most recent term given by psychiatrists to a childhood disorder that has had a variety of names in the past. This disorder was first termed "hyperactivity," then "Attention-Deficit Disorder" (ADD), and then, to differentiate between children who had ADD but did not exhibit hyperactivity, either (plain) ADD or ADD-H. The new "official" term, Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has been chosen by psychiatric experts, and its symptoms have been published by the American Psychiatric Association in its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV). The definitions in this manual are widely acknowledged and are used among doctors, in research, and administratively for purposes of insurance. The earlier term, ADD, survives in the name of a major parent and patient support group, C.H.A.D.D. (The Journal, 2004).
Along with an increasing awareness of the problem of ADHD, a better understanding of its causes and treatment has developed. Although the behavioral problems that make up ADHD and the academic problems associated with learning disorders often occur together in the same person, it is useful to view each disorder separately....................
