Unfocused group

Sometimes for Jaime Williams, her thoughts are like puffs of smoke drifting out an open window. She tries to concentrate on the task at hand -- maybe something as simple as watching television with her young daughter, Hannah, or trying to sustain a conversation with her boyfriend, Chris.

But inevitably something wrestles her mind away.

"I just can't concentrate for very long," said Williams, 24, of Jackson. "I just stop listening and drift away. Some people think it's a crutch, that I'm just spazzing, but it's more than that."

Williams is one of the millions of Americans who suffer from attention deficit disorder, a neurobiological condition that causes a persistent pattern of inattention or hyperactivity that is much more frequent and severe than in those who don't have it.

It is a condition more commonly associated with children, but experts say it is a growing problem in adults. It is believed that between 3 percent and 7 percent of school-age children have ADD. About 60 percent of those children will carry those symptoms into adulthood. Today, it is estimated that about 4 percent of the U.S. adult population -- or about 8 million -- suffer from ADD.

Perhaps even more alarming is experts believe about 80 percent of those don't know they have ADD and aren't treated.

"A lot of people with ADD either don't know they have it or they don't seek treatment," said Dr. Abel Corral, a psychiatrist with New Vision Counseling in Cape Girardeau. "Sometimes it's confused with some other diagnoses, like bipolar disorder or something else."

Corral said that in children, ADD manifests itself as hyperactivity. But it seems to affect adults in different ways. Corral said that adults with ADD tend to lack focus, are disorganized, restless, they have trouble finishing projects, and often lose things. An adult with ADD may have problems at work, at home and in personal relationships, he said.

"They don't pay close attention to details," Corral said. "They have difficulty concentrating, and they lose interest a lot easier. They don't seem to listen. They answer questions too soon, maybe even before the question is finished. It's a struggle for them. It's very difficult for them to wait their turn."

He said they miss appointments and may take on many assignments at work, but then have trouble completing them.

Research repeatedly shows that ADD runs in families, Corral said. There are also indications that the type of ADD that persists into adulthood is more highly genetic than the type that goes into remission after childhood.For most, Corral said, medication is the answer.

About 13 percent of adults with ADD are treated with medication -- about 50 percent of prescriptions are written by psychiatrists and primary care doctors write about 30 percent of prescriptions, according to www.WebMD.com.

"When they get on the medicine, it slows down their thinking," Corral said. "It increases concentration. They see things more realistically, and it increases their attention span."

But don't suggest to Corral that people with ADD are less intelligent than others.

"These people with ADD tend to be very smart people," he said. "Their mind is just going in so many directions, they don't accomplish as much."

Wrong diagnoses

But not all of the people in the mental health field are sure ADD is such a big problem. Dr. Praghakar Kamath, also a psychiatrist in Cape Girardeau, said that he firmly believes attention deficit disorder is rare and often misdiagnosed.

"It's overdiagnosed, overtreated and overdone," he said. "It's the new monster. We are becoming a pill-popping society."

Kamath calls it a fraud that is perpetuated by the drug companies.

"We have doctors who are on the take from drug companies," he said. "These pills are $5, $6, $7 a tablet. Drug companies make billions. Psychiatrists are making money too. We no longer think for ourselves. We just blindly follow. The whole thing is a big game. But I know I'm in the minority."

He said that many who are diagnosed with ADD are probably suffering from more serious problems than ADD, such as depression, anxiety or stress.

"But those are less socially acceptable conditions," he said. "They are considered a sign of weakness. But putting people on ADD medicine doesn't really address their real problem."

More than that, he said, ADD medicines can lead to stroke, irregular heartbeat and, in some cases, death.

"These people aren't dealing with their real issues," Kamath said.

Don't tell that to people like Williams.

Williams, who is a waitress at Skinny's restaurant in Jackson, was diagnosed with ADD when she was in her teens.

"I had a lot of problems in school," she said. "I had trouble paying attention. It got to the point that all of the textbooks had to be audiotaped for me. I just couldn't focus, sit down and read. They thought I didn't want to do the work."

After she was diagnosed at 17, when she was living in Kentucky, she was put on medicine. When she became an adult, a doctor in Cape Girardeau suggested she go back on the medicine.

"It was getting bad again," she said. "My bosses would ask me, 'Have you had your medicine today?'"

But she doesn't always take her medicine. In fact, she hadn't taken it in three months when she was interviewed last week.

"I'll take it for a little while, and then I stop," she said. "It makes things normal and level, but it's not what I'm used to. I don't like the way it makes me feel -- it sort of spazzes me out. Besides, I'm not used to sitting around and not wanting to get up and do things. ... I guess I should start taking it again."

She admits it has made life difficult at times. Sometimes she's short with her daughter. She obsesses over the cat litter box, changing it several times a day. She can't sit through a movie, getting up instead to check the laundry, clean or do some other chore.

"I try to put up a conscious effort, but sometimes I lose focus and quit trying," she said. "Something else just pops in my mind."

She doesn't imagine the problem ever going away. Indeed, there is no cure.

"It's always been there," she said. "I just don't know life without it."

smoyers@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137