![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sierciaAnyone here know anything about how one might go about getting tested for ADD?
I'm very much starting to wonder if I have it - I've never had great powers of concentration, but it's gotten even worse in the past few years, and I'm getting to a point where I get distracted, even when I'm doing things I enjoy. If it were just happening with work-y things, or other must-do's, I would write it off as just not wanting to work. But it's gotten so I wander off in the middle of reading (unless it's a really good book); in the middle of writing; and constantly when I'm doing "work". About the only thing I can consistently do for long stretches is stitch, and even then, I get distracted from that if the tv's not on. I'm having trouble focussing even when there's external pressure on me to finish something (like from my boss), or when *I* really want to finish something, because I want to go do something else.
I've taken a couple of self assessment tests, and they seem to indicate that I may have the tendency toward ADD. Now, I need to know where to go from here. I've got to do something, this is getting to the point where I'm starting to feel non-functional.
I'm very much starting to wonder if I have it - I've never had great powers of concentration, but it's gotten even worse in the past few years, and I'm getting to a point where I get distracted, even when I'm doing things I enjoy. If it were just happening with work-y things, or other must-do's, I would write it off as just not wanting to work. But it's gotten so I wander off in the middle of reading (unless it's a really good book); in the middle of writing; and constantly when I'm doing "work". About the only thing I can consistently do for long stretches is stitch, and even then, I get distracted from that if the tv's not on. I'm having trouble focussing even when there's external pressure on me to finish something (like from my boss), or when *I* really want to finish something, because I want to go do something else.
I've taken a couple of self assessment tests, and they seem to indicate that I may have the tendency toward ADD. Now, I need to know where to go from here. I've got to do something, this is getting to the point where I'm starting to feel non-functional.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
ADD?
Date: 2002-09-10 10:47 am (UTC)Same difference.
Hugs and sympathies.
Re: ADD?
Date: 2002-09-10 01:43 pm (UTC)Examples:
I'm sitting down to write an LJ post. It's after Widget's bedtime, and dinner has been made and eaten. While there might be other housework I could be doing, I really have nothing else that could be dragging at me, distracting me. The only other thing I want to do that evening is sit down and stitch for a while. Instead of sitting down and writing for 20 minutes, I sit down, I launch my LJ friends page, check the WHO list on TIM, double check my e-mail, then open up my LJ client. I'll write a few sentences, then go and look to see if I have any new posts on my friends page, then check TIM again. I'll write a few more sentences, then remember I needed to check the points value for something, so I fire up Weight Watchers to check that. Then check my LJ friends page again, then write 3 more sentences. Maybe say hi to someone on TIM, then remember a work e-mail I had to send. I'll write half of that, then check LJ again, then write a little more in my entry, then maybe finish the e-mail. By the time I'm done, it's taken 1-2 hours, I've accomplished almost nothing (most of the time I only post about half the entries I want to because I waste so much time getting any done). Then I have no time to stitch, and Wiley's cranky because I spent all evening on the computer.
I'm at work, I know I have Task A to finish, and my boss is expecting it by the end of the day. It's an easy task - routine weekly report; boring but should take about 15 minutes if I just do it. I'll do the same thing as above, adding in a few half hearted attempts to clean my desk and clean out my e-mail inbox and wandering to the kitchen every 30 minutes, like something new to munch on will appear like magic (never mind that I'm dieting, and shouldn't eat it even if it did). Then, it'll be 7:00, the task won't be done and I end up either staying late at work to finish it, or going home and doing it after dinner from the home computer, all the while telling myself that I was just "too busy" at work to finish it.
And it's not all around the computer either (although that is definitely my worst spot). If I'm cleaning, it takes me twice as long as it should to do anything - I'll get halfway through one part of the job, start a new part, ad infinitum until it's mostly finished and I've run out of time. Or I'll get distracted away from it completely and start doing something else, and have 4 half finished cleaning projects done when my time is up.
It just doesn't feel normal. I can't concentrate very well on anything, not just the boring things, no matter how strong my incentive is to concentrate on them. I don't know that it's ADD, but it would be interesting to find out for sure.
Re: ADD?
Date: 2002-09-10 01:48 pm (UTC)I know it's time for me to start making lists. For me, that's what helps. If getting tested would make you feel better, you could probably ask your GP for a referral to a psychologist. That's who tested the kids in the special ed department where I used to work.
good luck.