Conditions That May Mimic ADD, And Vice Versa

 Conditions That May Mimic ADD, And Vice Versa

from page 19 of Thom Hartmann's Complete Guide to ADHD

 

 

Several conditions may mimic certain characteristics of ADD, causing an inaccurate diagnosis. These include:

 

Anxiety disorders.

ADD may cause anxiety when people find themselves in school, life, or work situations with which they cannot cope. ADD differs from anxiety disorders in that latter disorder is usually episodic, whereas ADD is continual and lifelong. If anxiety comes and goes, it's not probably not ADD.

 

Depression.

ADD may also cause depression, and sometimes depression causes a high level of distraction that's diagnosed as ADD. Depression, however, is also episodic. When depressed patients are given Ritalin or other stimulant drugs, which seem to help with ADD patients, depressed patients will experience a short-term "high" followed by an even more severe rebound-depression.

 

Manic-Depressive Illness.

Manic-depression, or bipolar disorder, is not often diagnosed as ADD because the classic symptoms of manic-depressive illness are so severe. One day a person is renting a ballroom in a hotel to entertain all friends; the next day he's suicidal. Yet ADD is often misdiagnosed as manic-depressive illness. A visit to any adult ADD support group usually produces several first-person stories of ADD adults who were given lithium or some other inappropriate drug because their ADD was misdiagnosed as manic-depressive illness.

 

Seasonal Affective Disorder.

This recently discovered condition appears to be related to a deficiency of sunlight exposure during the winter months and is most prevalent in northern latitudes. Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) symptoms include depression, lethargy, and a lack of concentration during the winter months. It's historically cyclical, predictable, and is currently treated by shining a certain spectrum and brightness of light on a person for a few minutes or hours at a particular time each day, tricking the body into thinking that the longer days of spring and summer have arrived. Season affective disorder is sometimes misdiagnosed as ADD, and vice versa, but seasonality is its hallmark trait.

 

Two additional conditions,

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS)

and

Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD)

should also be noted here, because there is nothing in the DSM-IV to exclude a diagnosis of ADD in these children.

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