Once you understand what exactly this syndrome is, you will start to see it everywhere. People whom you considered to be disorganized or manic or excessive or creative but completely 'unpredictable', people you know are capable of achieving much more if only they could organize themselves and 'tidy up their minds', people who display erratic instability in their studies and professional lives, people who manage to reach the top but still feel crazy or disorganized, all of these may actually be individuals who have Attention Deficit Disorder, or ADD.

You may even recognize some of the symptoms in your own behavior. Many of the symptoms of ADD are so common among all of us that, for the term ADD to gain specific meaning rather than just being a scientifically sounding 'label' for the complex lives we lead, we need to very carefully define the syndrome. The best way to understand what exactly ADD is -and what it is not- is to observe how it affects the lives of the individuals who have it.