Attentional difficulties occur in many different physical and mental illnesses. When seeing a client who experiences difficulties with attention, I am careful to rule out other possibilities such as thyroid problems (I refer to a physician for a medical exam), depression, anxiety, learning problems or even problems with being bullied at school.
Having worked extensively with children and teens, and having obtained additional training with Dr. Bruce Pennington and Dr. Marge Riddle at the Neuropsychology Clinic at the University of Denver (DU), I am very familiar with diagnosing Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). ADHD includes several subtypes, one of which is often labelled Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), according to older nomenclature (the different terms are sometimes confusing to the clients). Although I used to administer extensive batteries of tests to diagnose learning deficits and ADHD, I now usually refer for such comprehensive assessments to other providers. Even though I focus on treating anxiety and OCD, I find that ADHD is often part of the picture. Therefore, it is often very helpful for me to have the background in interpreting the results of various neuropsychological tests.
I often recommend a helpful website: www.drThomasEBrown.com.