Dr. Adrienne D. Mitchell is a licensed clinical psychologist and a certified school psychologist. She works in the DC Public School System and has a private practice in which she provides psychological assessment, individual, group, and family psychotherapy.  She supports various charities such as Cure Autism Now.

What Do All Those Letters Mean?

Your favorite author is going to be at a local bookstore nearby. Scheduled appointments are cleared from your calendar and you are free to indulge. Excitement can’t describe your emotions. Meeting this author has been a long awaited opportunity. She has been on a tour promoting her new book and standing in line for 30 minutes was nothing to hear this woman speak. At the start of the presentation, you cling to her every word like a child being read his favorite story by his mom. As she speaks, you begin to wonder about whom she is and how she became so wise and knowledgeable. Her brightly colored blouse and the red dress pin on her lapel catch your eye. You too have a red dress pin and this commonality sends your mind on an even more distant journey.  Curious, fantasies about how she acquired her pin enter your mind.  Why is heart disease important to her? Did she lose a loved one to heart disease?  Does she suffer from heart disease? Physically, you are present at the bookstore, but you become distracted and your mind took a side street.

Staying focused and attending has always been a challenge for you. You often find it difficult to carry out tasks.  One minute you start something and the next, you’re off to something else. Perhaps you are preparing to clean the kitchen and you start to run the dish water. The phone rings in your office and you run to get it. While sitting there on the phone, you decide to make good use of your time and write out the monthly bills. Minutes later, you hear the sound of water cascading to the floor.  You completely forgot about the dish water and now your kitchen looks like the Potomac, except it’s not brown. Your frustration level is indescribable. Anger surfaces, but quickly subsides, because things like this happen to you all the time.

This experience is chalked up as forgetfulness.  However, you play closer attention to your own behavior once you become bombarded with calls from the teachers at your child’s new school. Each teacher has the same complaints about your child’s behavior—he is not paying attention in class. He can’t stay focused on task for longer than a few minutes and he’s easily distracted. The teachers go on to report that he leaves his seat without permission. He has problems waiting his turn, and yells out answers in class. His desk is messy and he’s disorganized.  They are telling you that your child gets frustrated over the smallest things and that he has difficulty maintaining friendships. Fidgeting constantly, or making noise-- tapping on this or that, he just can’t seem to be still in class. The teacher thinks that he’s a great kid, but he is difficult to manage in the classroom.

You know this is true because when you go grocery shopping, you spend a great deal of time, chasing him around the store, trying to keep his hands off things. He’s always been a handful at home, climbing on furniture, and running around the house, but you didn’t think that he was doing the same things at school. He has been sent to the principal’s office for his behavior three times within the last month. What is going on?

The scenarios above are about individuals with Attention- Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder.  The Center for Disease Control defines ADHD as a neurobehavioral disorder characterized by pervasive inattention and /or hyperactivity-impulsivity that result in impairments in functioning across settings. Individuals with ADHD may have difficulty paying attention and concentrating on tasks in school, work and in the home setting. They are likely more active or impulsive than others their same age. They are busy bodies, always moving/ fidgeting, and often making hasty decisions. ADHD symptoms have a significant impact on one’s behavior, interpersonal relationships, and the ability to learn and work.

ADHD has three different subtypes that determine symptomology:

• Inattentive type
• Hyperactive/Impulsive type
• Combined  type- Inattentive and Hyperactive/Impulsive

American Psychiatric Association’s, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual include the following symptoms as criteria for a diagnosis of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder:

Inattentive Type

• often fails to pay close attention to details or makes careless mistakes in schoolwork, work, etc.
• often has difficulty sustaining attention to tasks or other activities
• often does not seem to listen when spoken to directly
• often has problems following through on instructions and fails to complete tasks such as schoolwork, chores or assignments in the workplace
• often has problem organizing tasks and activities
• often avoids, dislikes or is reluctant to engage in tasks that require sustained mental effort (schoolwork or homework)
• often loses or misplaces items
• often forgetful in daily activities
• often easily distracted by extraneous stimuli

Hyperactive/Impulsive Type

• often fidgets with hands or feet or squirms in seat
• often leaves seat in classroom or in other situations in which remaining seated is expected
• often runs about or climbs excessively in inappropriate situations
• often has difficulty playing or engaging in leisure activities quietly
• is often “on the go” or often acts as if “driven by a motor”
• often talks excessively
• often blurts out answers before questions have been completed
• often has difficulty awaiting turn
• often interrupts or intrudes on others

If you identify these symptoms in your child and he/she is having difficulty in school, or if any of the above describe your behavior, please consult with a psychologist for a comprehensive evaluation. There is support available.
Have the courage look within. There may just be a better you waiting to be free from emotional shackles.
Until next week,

Dr. Mitchell

Feel free to contact Dr. Mitchell with questions, comments and suggestions for article topics at Doctor Mitchell@verizon.net. For questions about psychotherapy please call 202.486.8352.

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