What is Pseudo ADHD?

You couldn't find the car keys yesterday? You were late for a doctor's appointment? You forgot to pay the telephone bill and the phone was cut off? You can't concentrate on the house work because you think you're husband is having an affair? No this is not ADHD. Everyone has "ADD moments" from time to time especially when they have had a significant shock like an unexpected death in the family, your wife announced that she is leaving you, or your worst enemy (best friend) got the promotion you were expecting or you are just tired from running around all day every day.

Today's hyper connected life style is especially likely to lead to poor concentration, memory overload, and a short attention span constantly in need of an infusion of new information from email, instant messaging, or an SMS even during meetings with the boss or in a conference. Edward Hallowell, a psychiatry instructor at Harvard, and John Ratey, an associate professor at Harvard with experience of attention deficit disorder, call the condition "pseudo Attention Deficit Disorder".

The symptoms of real ADHD such as disorganization, emotional reactivity, under achievement, low self-esteem, impaired relationships or depression take many forms but for a diagnosis of ADHD they must have had a negative impact on several areas of your life for most of your life.

If ADHD symptoms trouble you, you are advised to start by seeing a doctor who is familiar with ADHD and its look alikes. ADHD can be confused with a number of other conditions such as emotional and adjustment problems, behavioral problems, depression, bipolar, anxiety obsessive-compulsive disorder, tic disorders, abuse, other medical problems, or learning disorders.

To learn more about ADHD: