Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), as the name suggests, is a health problem that is characterized by reduced attention span and minimal concentration abilities in persons. The symptoms of ADD are visible in the early stages of childhood. In rare cases, injuries to the head or severe concussions could cause the disorder. Several studies have been conducted to find out causes for the disorder. A few possible ones are pregnancy problems, smoking, and premature birth. Whatever the cause, the effects sometimes linger on until adulthood.

It is important that ADD is identified and treated in the early stages. Otherwise, the severity could increase and lead to several related problems such as depression, stress, and failure in all activities. If treated, the persons can lead a better life.

A child with ADD experiences difficulty in concentrating on articles, listening attentively, making friends, being social, understanding directions, and so on. These signs often are coupled with learning disability, anxiety, and inferiority complex characteristics. This further augments the problem for the child as well as parents. Another form of ADD is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. In this, the patient is extremely active, easily distracted, angered at the least instance, and difficult to handle physically. This is in contrast to an ADD patient who prefers to be left alone and is mostly silent.

As the child enters adolescence, factors such as peer pressure, drugs, identity crisis, and sexual changes pose further challenges. It is often seen that the disorder progresses into adulthood. At this stage, adults have difficulty coping with social commitments, work, family responsibilities, career growth, and decreasing levels of savings.

It is natural for families with ADD/ADHD affected children or adults to have high levels of frustration. Issues such as marital discord, saturation of funds, and tendency to adopt bad habits are prevalent in such homes. Moreover, costs of medical care for ADD/ADHD are on the higher side and emerge as a heavy burden for poor families. Also, the insurance industry is not supportive of this disorder in its health policies.

However, proper diagnostic techniques and tests for ADD are still unavailable. The currently adopted methods are interviews with the patient and family, study of family history, health history, and behavioral patterns.