Hello. I joined specifically so I can ask this question. I was diagnosed with ADD back in 2004 but have mostly left this alone as the psychiatrists focused more on the bipolar symptoms I showed. Now, almost 20 years later, I am revisiting this aspect of my brain in order to find closure with another neurological issue I have.
Anywho, it is like ADD disappeared into some kind of non exhistance and I can barely find much about it. I just want to know if it is still around, what is it called now?
Great question. Well medicine and research changes and reaches new conclusions, and is always updating and refining various conditions to be more precise (with the goal of then making treatment more precise).
And the new thinking as I understand it is that the condition is along a spectrum and basically people with attention issues (like me) basically have many of the same problems, symptoms, mood struggles, disorganization, impulsivity, addiction risk, failure at work, disconnection from relationships, struggle with completing projects, struggle with meeting deadlines, struggles with doing well at work (sometimes just keeping a job--sometimes keeping the job but using every bit of our energy at the job so that we are useless after work), a constant feeling of struggle and failure ---we people with attention issues have all that stuff in common with people with the hyperactive part of the condition.
And some people have both--attention issues and hyperactive issues.
Another way I understand the new label is that us folks with attention issues (formerly ADD) have a hyperactive mind that we struggle to regulate and stay focused and all of that. Oh and the same meds (as I understand it) are used to treat people with attention issues as with people with hyperactivity. And apparently the medical community never meant for that term "ADD" to take off as it did.
Hope that helps.
If you can't control your attention in this modern world (as in shift it from one task to another, while remembering other things you need to do) ... if you have that problem, that's a severe problem. Basically attention folks are in the same boat as other folks with the condition.
for more here:
additudemag.com/slideshows/...
Hi Gettingittogether,
Thanks for sharing your email. This is courageous on your part and so helpful to me who has a 22 year old son who has ADD. I see so many if not all of the characteristics that you mentioned.
We are having a very difficult time getting him to launch and it is practically heart-breaking for me and my wife. We don't know what to do but we keep trying and we pray constantly.
I am in grad school currently and worked on a group project recently with a gal who has ADD. She was working and taking 9 hours of school and was managing all of it. This was so encouraging to me obviously.
I will say this about my son. He has the challenges that you mentioned / described, but he is also one of the nicest people you will ever meet.
I had to respond to your post. Your words certainly resonated with me.
Thanks again and kindest regards to you.
Now, they mostly only use ADHD for both. ADD means Attention Deficit Disorder Without Hyperactivity. ADHD means Attention Deficit Disorder With Hyperactivity.
correct me if I’m wrong, but in the most recent dsm, they got rid of adhd and have it all ADD, with inattentive, hyperactive and complex types.
Following. I thought it was the other way around - ADHD is currently the catch-all term, with Inattentive, Hyperactive, and Combined subtypes.
yes and I also think hyperactivity now more broadly includes hyperactive thinking as well as physical hyperactivity 🤔
This is a very recent podcast on meds and a bit about how they work in the ADHD brain. hubermanlab.com/adderall-st...
The label has changed, but ADHD and ADD are the same, and the terms can be used interchangeably. New diagnoses are most likely to be labeled as ADHD (but if the diagnostician is more old-school, then they may use the term ADD instead).
You can go ahead and just keep using the term ADD. If that is the diagnosis that you were given, or even just what you came to know the disorder as, then you're totally justified in continuing to just say ADD. (You don't need any consensus from us here. We accept you, regardless of which term you use. Some people who never knew the disorder as "ADD" might be confused.)
TLDR:
• ADD is now given the label "ADHD, Predominantly Inattentive presentation"
• Put simply, ADD is now ADHD
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The terminology can get confusing.
Here's where I get nerdy about the changes over the years.
~(I'm an "information junkie", and researched this obsessively when I first got diagnosed 3 years ago. You're welcome to skip this, if you're not interested in all the nitty-gritty.)~
There are now three recognized "Presentations" of ADD/ADHD:
• Predominantly Inattentive presentation (ADHD-PI), which best matches the description of ADD without hyperactivity
• Predominantly Hyperactive-Impulsive presentation (ADHD-H, or ADHD-HI), which wasn't originally described as ADD because Inattentive traits aren't present or aren't severe enough to meet diagnostic criteria
• Combined Presentation (ADHD-C), which meets the diagnostic criteria for both ADHD-PI and ADHD-H
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With updates in the DSM (the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) over time, to include more updated knowledge of ADD and other mental disorders, terminology has been updated.
The DSM-III (the third rendition of the DSM) was published in 1980, and first included ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder). There were two types of ADD described, one with hyperactivity (ADD/H), and one without (ADD/WO or simply ADD).
Then a revised edition of the manual (DSM-IIIR) published in 1987 included both terms ADD and ADHD (replacing ADD/H). Some people wound up with a dual-diagnosis of ADD and ADHD, often written as ADD/ADHD.
pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontlin....
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In 1994, the DSM-IV was released, ADD and ADHD were lumped together, and three "Types" were described:
• ADHD, Inattentive Type
• ADHD, Hyperactive Type
• ADHD, Combined Type
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The DSM-5 was published in 2013, replacing the term "Type" with "Presentation":
• ADHD, Predominantly Inattentive Presentation (ADHD-PI)
• ADHD, Predominantly Hyperactive-Impulsive Presentation (ADHD-H, ADHD-HI)
• ADHD, Combined Presentation (ADHD-C)
The latest rendition of the manual, the DSM-5-TR was published by the American Psychological Association in 2022. (The full current title of it is "The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, Text Revision".)
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{I wonder sometimes if membership of the APA attracts the sort of person who is a logophile... Thanks someone who loves adding new words and terminology to their vocabulary. Um.. I think I am one, too. 😂}
Loving this 😃👍🏻👍🏻🤗
I lost most of my hyperactivity but not all. I still love fast cars, downhill skiing, talking fast and endlessly unfortunately...
Hyperactivity can reduce severity over time.
However, think of this:
• Many people who are diagnosed with Hyperactive-Impulsive ADHD as kids, it's because they can't hold still.
• Many forms of work and other life activities actually require a lot of movement, instead of having to sit in one place for hours at a time.
I've known people with Hyperactive-Impulsive ADHD who liked doing work that required moving around a lot, and variation of activity (instead of repetitive work).
I think that the change in activity might mask or accommodate hyperactive traits.
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I am not very physically hyperactive. I've always been good at sitting still, but I do tap my feet, tap my fingers, and fidget with whatever's handy.
However, my thoughts are usually very busy. ADHD medication has helped make my mind more orderly, but I still seem to have "hyperactive thoughts".
I work in healthcare and recently had to spend some time looking at billing codes for ADHD since my (now former) provider screwed this up leading to a denied claim. Here are the ICD-10 codes for ADHD:
F90.0, Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, predominantly inattentive type
F90.1, Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, predominantly hyperactive type
F90.2, Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, combined type
F90.8, Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, other type
F90.9, Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, unspecified type
There's a lot of great information on this, most particularly:
Noteworthy DSM-5 ADHD diagnostic criteria updates in this area include:
ADHD was moved to the neurodevelopmental disorders chapter to better reflect how brain development correlates with ADHD. Thus, with the introduction of DSM-5, ADHD is no longer classified as a childhood disorder but as a chronic lifelong disorder.
Adult symptom examples have been added to the diagnostic criteria to facilitate diagnosing ADHD across the life span rather than just in childhood.
The age of onset was updated from “symptoms that caused impairment were present before age 7 years” to “several inattentive or hyperactive-impulsive symptoms were present prior to age 12”
DSM-5 classifies ADHD in three presentations:
Predominantly Inattentive Presentation
Predominantly Hyperactive-Impulsive Presentation
Predominately Combined Presentation
In addition to the ADHD presentation, DSM-5 further classifies the ADHD severity of the present symptoms as “mild,” “moderate,” or “severe.”
This is super useful information - with the codes, for one thing, and the change in the DSM5 from Childhood to Neurodevelopmental Disorders. Thank you!
Thanks for that behind the scenes reveal. I knew about the ICD-10, but am not familiar with it.And I hadn't taken notice of the age of onset changes in the DSM-5, from before age 7 to before age 12.
* My own ADHD was well masked by my strong interest in school as a kid. However, my mom had taken note of my Inattentiveness from a young age (particularly when watching TV or engrossed in playing with a toy).
* Also, my First Grade teacher noted my tendency to daydream in class; if I finished an assignment and others were still working, I would look out the window and not notice when the next lesson started.
That still doesn't include people who acquire ADHD-like traits following a head injury, illness, or going through trauma. Then again, I think more research needs to be done on this type of acquired-ADHD. It's certainly different than the standard developmental model of ADHD, which fits the diagnostic criteria.
I suspect the behavior changes that occur after a head injury fall into the traumatic brain injury diagnosis which covers the waterfront on that kind of thing. These can be mild, moderate, or severe and can cause lifelong disability of what kind or another along with the behavior changes. Interestingly, it ism't well-recognized in older adults which is making me search my memory for any head injuries. I did have a fall a couple of years ago where I whanged my head pretty hard, but I've had ADHD symptoms pretty much my whole life. I also have c-PTSD and a pretty extensive trauma symptom, but again I had symptoms in childhood.
My childhood symptoms were dreaminess, only worked on what didn't bore the hell out of me, never ever living up to my potential, etc. Maybe one of the best things about being diagnosed is looking back and seeing that a lot of things weren't my fault. I wasn't lazy - I had ADHD. I wish I'd known that sooner, but I'm glad I know it now.
Not only are we mislabeled as "lazy", if neurotypical people truly understood how much much more effort we have to put in to do the same things as them, they would realize that we are actually hardworking and persistent.
C-PTSD, now that's a whole other dimension of complications. I was married for 20 years, and my wife had lived through some tremendously bad things in her youth. So, I didn't have it myself, but got to see it's effects up close and personal.
LOL, childhood you sounded a lot like me. Some of the best mental rest I have had was when I let my mind wander, which got me into trouble a lot when caught. Don't get me started when we had to go to the library to research topics for our papers (my sis and I). I got distracted by other entries in encyclopedias a lot. Fun times. 😁
My family owned an encyclopedia set, so I didn't have to go any farther than the living room to get distracted. If I picked out a volume to research something, I'd get distracted GUARANTEED!
If I actually got to the article that I was after, then I'd see a cross-reference to another article, and down the rabbit hole I'd go! 🐰
Yes, this phenomenon existed long before Wikipedia! 😂
Indeed! I loved the encyclopedias, the big dictionary, and the card catalog. One of my superpowers is finding hard-to-find stuff on Google and I'm convinced that this is why.
Same here. When I went to the library to work on research papers as a kid, I loved all the reference materials. The different encyclopedias, the old dictionaries with the tabs, the giant atlas...all smelling of dust and knowledge.
As for card catalogs, one day I'd like to buy one as decor for my home!
I hadn't thought about how my reference skills from high school might be why my Google-Fu is so strong. With card catalogs and encyclopedia indexes, we had to figure out three or four ways to phrase the things we were searching for on our own. There were no autofill search suggestions to help us out.
Thank you all for the replies. I guess I'll keep calling it ADD because my memory is trash when it comes to change. Eventually, I make needed changes though.
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