Karl Alex Karl Rebecca Agosta English-1102 8 April 2014

The Identity of ADD

Everyone has or knows someone who is guilty for saying they cant focus do to ADD, when in reality they dont actually have ADD. ADD or Attention Deficient Disorder is exactly how its sounds attention deficient, meaning people diagnosed with this have truly serious problems with paying attention. We have all heard people throw out the phrase I am so ADD at some point whether its in school or while learning something new. Now certainly everyone has trouble with paying attention now and again but what really sets people on whether or not they have a disorder. I decided to look more into ADD not so much on the medical side but also the social side. I branched off two questions; do these people differ in other aspects of life? Does it make them different? Some of the first things I wanted to look into were if people diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder changed, whether it is noticeable by them or others. While researching this I realized that there wasnt any actual studies conducted on this so I looked for answers from the people I interviewed. I tried to get two sides through my interviews, one being someone who has personally dealt with ADD through life George

Karl Karl, and medical professionals viewpoint Stacey Karl. The first question asked was if people with ADD noticed a change within themselves. George answered If they receive medication they can perceive the difference on how they focus and feel when they are on medication and when not. This is especially true if the medication is correctly dosed vs. being over medicated. Now personally being someone who suffers from ADD, I definitely agree with this. The feeling of being on and off the medication is very different and noticeable. I believe that people with ADD notice a change in themselves. While some behaviors are more apparent to family members and friends, people with ADD notice when they have difficulty focusing and/or concentrating, as well as when they are unable to sit still. (Stacey). I never really noticed a change in myself at first, mainly because I was diagnosed at a young and didnt have a real understanding of what it was. As I grew older and started to understand what ADD was I began to realize that I did have troubles in focusing in school or during sports. Now I wouldnt necessarily say that I changed rather that I just started to realize these characteristics about myself. So my answer to this is question is that people do notice a change within themselves but its not like they wake up one day and say they are different. Its a gradual change, so its not so much seen as a change but as a realization. The next question I asked was if people changed by just knowing that they had Attention Deficient Disorder. Now this is not regarding on how ADD actually affects them but on the sole fact of knowing they have it. When asked this Stacey said, I think that some people change in the way they perform tasks. For example, a student with ADD/ADHD may change his or her study habits by studying in shorter increments with multiple breaks. This can be true of other tasks, such as cleaning, building a model

Karl airplane, or reading a book. However, as a person, I do not think that they change just because they know. They change their behavior as they learn more about the condition. I can say that I believe I changed after knowing I had ADD and understanding what was. I believe I changed more of how I went about doing tasks rather than my personality changing. But I could see how someone could perceive it as a personality changes due to what we change in order to complete tasks. Depends on the person. If they take into consideration that this is an issue much like diabetes and that there is an imbalance in their chemistry, they can then pay attention to the internal workings and focus and can self medicate by drinking some coffee. They can also choose to override some of their feelings as being the ADD and not let it decide what they do (George) I definitely agree with this, when he says that you can choose not to let it decide what you do. While ADD is very much of a chemical imbalance in the body, a lot of how it affects a person is there own doing. It is very possible to have ADD and choose to be medicated for it, but still treat it or work with it. One of the main problems for people with ADD is that they personally diminish their ability to focus. So basically they psych themselves out rather than trying to work around it. I for one am guilty of doing this that was my mindset until college. All to often ADD is used as a scapegoat by people who are paying attention and this worst part is that its usually people who dont actually have ADD. So this causes people to misinterpret what ADD actually is and who would truly has it. So I decided to ask who would be defined as having ADD. Stacey responded to this question saying There is a criteria that is used to diagnose ADD. It involves looking at symptoms of inattention that have persisted for at least six months. Symptoms include not listening

Karl when spoken to directly, difficulty organizing tasks, and forgetful in daily activities. To be diagnosed by the DSM-IV-TR criteria, a patient must have six or more symptoms. However, there are likely many patients who have no sought medical attention and are living with undiagnosed ADD. Now more than ever students are being diagnosed at young ages. This is due to an increased knowledge of ADD not only in doctors but in teachers and parents as well. The childrens symptoms are being noticed in and out of school, which is very important in diagnosing ADD. A recent article written by Marie Ellis shares that A new study reveals that the number of children in 2011-12 diagnosed with ADHD is 2 million higher in the US, compared with 2003-04. Additionally, 1 million more American children are taking medication for the disorder than previously. It was shown in this study that at least half of the children were diagnosed by the age of six. A common belief is that ADHD is over treated due to the dramatic increase in diagnosis. "A pattern of under treatment of ADHD, not of overtreatment, as commonly thought." Says Dr. John T. Walkup. Identity is who we are, how others perceive us and how we perceive ourselves. Many different things such as our hobbies, likes and dislikes, even our gender and nationality, can define identity. Now identity can change we try to alter it ourselves, but can it be changed through mean we cannot control. I looked in to this with the question if ADD could change or even destroy an identity. George started of by saying Identity doesnt change but their self awareness or thinking pattern can be changed by the medication if it is overdosed for their condition. Now I agree and disagree with this because personally I was two different people with my medication. While on my medication I was referred as a zombie or lifeless. Then while not on my medication

Karl people saw me as a completely different person by the way I was acting. With that being said I dont believe my identity changed since I still had the same goals and values. But there was an obvious change in my personality although it was only for a short period of time while the medication was in my system. Also the change wasnt due to having ADD it was the medication used for treatment. So an argument could be made that it was ADD that caused the change since thats the sole reason I was on the medication, but I would consider it more as a side effect rather than a change. I do not think that an identity changes. I think that the symptoms can change if treated but the person does not change. Their values, beliefs, likes, dislikes, strengths, and weaknesses will not change if they are treated. The only thing likely to change is that they are better able to focus and productivity may increase. (Stacey). Now the finally question is whether or not ADD is part of an Identity, which many would say yes since it is something that makes up a person. George answered One should accept themselves as having ADD as a special gift and look at what it gives them. A person with ADD can process tons of information but just not to the depth a school system may want. Teaching them how to focus enough to get a job done or a task done is the question. Too much medication will take them well outside of their identity and they actually gain a medication identity. As he states ADD is something that people need to accept if they have it. It has different effects, which due alter how people need to go about doing tasks, which does some affect on who they are. But ADD doesnt necessarily have to make a difference in who are even with it effects on daily life. ADD is not a part of someone's identity. It is something that they must work through and learn how to cope with but it does not define them as a person. ADD is like every other disease

Karl state. A person's identity is based on who they are and what they do. They are not defined by their diabetes, hypertension, or depression (Stacey). A great example is diabetes, while people with diabetes may need to alter what they eat and theyre activity levels, that wont change who they are. Just because someone is diagnosed with ADD doesnt mean they will go from good to evil or stop loving a certain type of music. While ADD has its obvious effects on people, the effects on their identities is based on how they going about adjusting to it. It can be a large problem and cause someone to alter who they are because they dont know what else to do. But it can also be worked with and turned to advantage. You can exploit its strengths and weakness in order to push forward through life. There will be challenges as there are with everything else in life. ADD can either change your identity or enhance it. The single decision is whether or not you see something as stop sign that will hold you back or see it as a speed bump that will slow your progress but not stop it.

Karl

Works Cited Ellis, Marie. "ADHD Diagnosis Increasing in The US, CDC Says." Medical News Today. MediLexicon International, 25 Nov. 2013. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. Karl, George T. "ADD Questions." E-mail interview. 17 Mar. 2014. Karl, Stacey A. "ADD Questions." E-mail interview. 17 Mar. 2014.