Is it ADD, ADHD or both?

Original Post from Margarita Tartakovsky, MS

Hi everyone!

As I began my research for the AD/HD topic pages, I noticed I had keywords for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and separate ones for attention deficit disorder. In the past I’ve been confused about whether these are interchangeable terms. In my psychology program, we used ADHD, because that’s seen as the more accurate term.

I emailed with Jolyn who also confirmed that ADD is an outdated term and ADHD is indeed more accurate. But I’ve found that Internet sources don’t always make this distinction. And I’m not sure what term people commonly use.

Here’s how Jolyn explained it to me: There are three types of ADHD; predominantly hyperactive-impulsive, predominantly inattentive type and combined type.

I’m wondering...what term does everyone typically use? Do you use these terms interchangeably? It seems there’s some confusion about the topic, so I’d love to hear any feedback.

I think as far as approaching our research, we should acknowledge that ADD is the older term and refer to the disorder as ADHD, which is something Jolyn also suggested (e.g., listing as ADHD - older term ADD). Thoughts?

Thanks!!
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Margarita Tartakovsky, MS

Response from PaulaWKY

It was my understanding that ADD was Attention Deficit Disorder and ADHD is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (a subset of ADD or ADD with hyperactivity). When I was looking at the topic pages these terms seemed to interchange a lot and I thought there was a distinct difference. ADHD is the more recognized term now because that is what we see primarily in children. ADHD in children is all over the news and because of this I think most people just use ADHD instead of ADD as the catch all term.

I would go by what the experts say but the above was my understanding when I worked at a psychiatric hospital. I would be interested to know what everyone else thinks (especially the experts that have researched these pages).

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Paula W.
Community Moderator
ADHD, Autism, Cancer, Parenting & Children’s Health, Diet, Weight Loss and Nutrition Communities

Response from Margarita Tartakovsky, MS

Hi Paula!

Thanks so much for your insight on this. As I was doing research for another ADHD keyword, I came across http://pediatrics.about.com/od/adhd/a/05_add_vs_adhd.htm">this short article that discusses the ADD/ADHD name issue. Basically this doctor says ADD is an outdated term and describes the three types of ADHD, which are more accurate (what Jolyn had explained to me).

How have other researchers who’ve worked on ADD and ADHD pages handled this in their research and executive summaries as far as wording goes?

Best, Margarita
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Margarita Tartakovsky, MS

Response from PaulaWKY

Margarita,

Is there anyway you can repost that link? It is a link to email someone rather than an actual link to an article. Thanks =)

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Paula W.
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Response from Margarita Tartakovsky, MS

Thanks Paula! I tried to update the post but not sure if the link is incorrect again. Here’s the link (I think the “insert link” function is too fancy for me)

http://pediatrics.about.com/od/adhd/a/05_add_vs_adhd.htm

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Margarita Tartakovsky, MS

Response from PaulaWKY


Thanks.. I got it to work by taking out the mail to and plugging it into my browser =)

I understand what the article is saying and I will use whatever the correct terminology is, which the article is saying is ADHD. However I think it weird to use the ADHD term (which has the word hyperactive in it) with other types that aren’t of the hyperactive type (inattentive type). Are they saying that all people with ADHD have some form of hyperactivity but some groups just have it more (and would be considered the hyperactive/impulsive type). If that is the case then I can understand using ADHD as the umbrella term. If not, and some people have this without hyperactivity, then I don’t understand using this blanket term for the inattentive type. Sorry if I’m making a mountain out of a mole hill here, I’m just trying to understand their rationale.
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Paula W.
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Response from Margarita Tartakovsky, MS

Paula,

You make an excellent point: If someone has the attentional subtype, they’re still diagnosed with ADHD, which clearly includes hyperactivity in the label. And you’re definitely not making a mountain out of this topic. Labels are telling; they describe and inform. It’s certainly an interesting topic to talk about, especially because many of us are confused on the appropriate label and use ADD and ADHD interchangeably, which is inaccurate.

I did some research on the Internet and in a psych textbook of mine to find anything on the reason for the name change from ADD to ADHD, but couldn’t find anything.

Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts! I’ll be on the lookout for any literature on this.

Best, Margarita
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Margarita Tartakovsky, MS

Response from Margarita Tartakovsky, MS

As I was doing more research for my ADHD pages, I just came across some interesting information on the various labels (see below). The entire overview can be found here.

“The names and symptoms for ADHD have changed frequently since the turn of the century. What is now referred to as ADHD has been described in the past as Minimal Brain Dysfunction, Hyperkinetic Reaction of Childhood, and Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) With or Without Hyperactivity. The name ADHD was adopted in 1987 by the third revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III-R).”

Unfortunately, nothing about why the name change was made.

Best, Margarita
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Margarita Tartakovsky, MS

Response from Ellen_CM

I suppose I’m confused. Was it added as a diagnosis, or did the diagnosis of ADHD cover all attention deficit disorders now? 1987 is a long time ago. Our doc always said to split the two when talking about it so others would know to which type you were referring, even tho the dis-function is essentially the same. He was one of the top pediatricians in the country at the time and we worked with several other doctors in other specialties that also separated the two, and this was definitely after 1987. Has anyone tried contacting CHADD- one of the country’s largest advocacy and support groups to see what the terminology is that is used by the medical professionals during their conferences etc? I suppose I find it hard to believe that they are still diagnosing children and adults with one thing (ADD), then coding and calling it something else. When you figure that doctors have a mixture of the types in their practices, this would seem to be even more confusing for them… not to mention parents.

As far as key words, if ADD is still being used by many, and the articles are written accordingly, it seems pertinent to put it in and use it here at WEGO as there will be many not willing to ‘self-diagnose’ their child as hyperactive when they are only inattentive.
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Ellen Schnakenberg
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