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What Is Inattentive ADHD? ADD Symptoms, Causes, Treatment

Inattentive ADHD (often called ADD) manifests as forgetfulness, disengagement, or distractibility, and can be mistaken for anxiety or a mood disorder in adults. In children, it may resemble a learning disorder. Here, we take an in-depth look at inattentive vs. hyperactive symptoms of ADHD.

4 Comments: What Is Inattentive ADHD? ADD Symptoms, Causes, Treatment

  1. “For individuals who can’t — or choose not to — take ADHD medications, there are other treatment options available.” Please tell us what these are! I was disappointed to see that the “in depth guide” you offer is just a reprint of this article!

  2. Like the article, your comment is at least as interesting. I would like to reassure you that I agree with you on the redundancy of the title and the relevance of continuing to use the acronym/term ADD. However, I have the impression that the focus seems to primarily be on the “inattention” that is relatively easy to observe in subjects whose hyperactivity is physically observable. In doing so, subjects with predominantly cerebral/mental/psychological hyperactivity pass under the radar and are at best ignored and at worst misdiagnosed. Is it possible to find the right balance between these two forms of hyperactivities? The answer to this complex question could perhaps reduce the confusion that shakes patients and caregivers…! I’m not sure that the argument I’m making here is logical enough to change your mind, but I hope it could some sort of food for thoughts…!

  3. Interesting article. May I please respectfully throw out there that this new name for Attention Deficit Disorder without hyperactivity is probably adding to the number of people who won’t be diagnosed. The old name (ADD) made sense because it was a description of what it actually is; that is, ADHD without the hyperactive component. For decades I missed the self improvement and self forgiveness that could have come from understanding the Attention Deficit aspect of my personality because Im not particularly hyperactive. Then I found out there is a type without the hyperactive component, I starting tapping into the tools and techniques, and things have gotten so much better. This new name uses the letter “H” again which will once again make alot of people bypass it in looking for help because they will think “I’m not hyperactive so this can’t be me.” Plus to be honest it makes no sense to me – all attention deficit disorders are “inattentive”. That’s the attention deficit part. So its a redundant title. Thus, I have continued to use the term ADD because it makes sense to me, the new term does not. I’m open minded enough to change my stance if someone has a logical argument for it, but I haven’t heard one yet.

    1. Thank you Smam60 for writing this. They could have been my words. I too have been very upset about the determination about all types of ADD being categorized as ADHD!!! That is so WRONG! I have suffered the effects of Inattentive ADD for my 70 years of life and didn’t even learn about why I am the way I am until I was in my 40’s.

      I hated school. Because of my undiagnosed therefore untreated Inattentive ADD and severe environmental allergies, My childhood was not a happy one. In junior high (now called middle school)I was always on the outside, looking in watching the other girls interact. I didn’t know how to do that. I remember asking myself, “What do they know that I don’t know?”

      It has been such an uphill battle. It seems that most people have heard about ADHD because it’s the hyperactivity that puts those individuals into the spotlight. But you take someone like me, a female, who has been suffering in the shadows and no one knows anything about Inattentive ADD. NOT EVEN DOCTORS!! Like Smam60 I will not refer to the ADD I have as ADHD. I doesn’t make sense. It’s contradictory.

      According to Dr. Daniel Amen there are 7 types of Attention Deficit Disorder – ADD. Whoever decided to put the “H” in for every type of ADD is doing a HUGE disservice to so many, many people. You’re making it even harder for us to get the help we need. I feel that whatever progress we have made is now going backwards.

      I could go on and on, but it is 3 AM here in the Boston area on a Sunday night (actually now Mon. morning). Like many ADDers I do my best work at night.

      I hope that someone who has the authority will read our messages and correct the injustice. Haven’t those of us who have Inattentive ADD already suffered enough?

      Blessings to all.

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