Your behaviour impacts on your family relationships, your performance at work and at school, and your social life. Repeated difficulties and failures in these arenas can lead to lower self esteem and even clinical depression. If untreated, ADD can shape your personality in ways that you don't even realise. You may become shy or avoidant, angry or blameful, pessimistic or passive. And it's not your fault.
ADD is a neurophysiologic genetic disorder that tends to run in families.
It is not due to weak will, a character defect, bad parenting, or poor discipline. It's a physical dysfunction that is treatable with medicines and other interventions. But medication is only part of the picture. Most top experts recommend treatment combining medication and psychotherapy that trains you to pay attention, control your impulses, and behave appropriately. If you've had untreated ADD for a long time, you may also need psychotherapy to help bring about change in interpersonal, professional, and social relationships that have been adversely affected as a consequence of the disorder.