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American Morning

Paging Dr. Gupta: Adult ADD

Aired July 18, 2003 - 08:40   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: We are "Paging Dr. Gupta" this morning about ADD, also known as attention deficit disorder. It is not just kid stuff. Millions of American adults are said to have it. How do you know if you're one of them?
Sanjay's here to tell us more about this.

Good morning.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

This is a pretty serious disorder. A lot of -- it's funny, being in television, because a lot of people in television have ADD, and I wasn't sure if people in television are attracted to...

O'BRIEN: Are you being sarcastic?

GUPTA: No, I think it's true, and I think it's one of these things. I think it's a factor of our lives. And as our lives get busier and busier, and nowhere is that more evident than television, people start to have more and more symptoms of ADD.

Now they say about eight million adults now are diagnosed with ADD. It used to be primarily a childhood disease, but in the '70s people started to recognize it more in adults. And is it a consequence of our being more recognized, or is there actually more ADD?

Well, this is what one author had to say about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. EDWARD HALLOWELL, PSYCHIATRIST: I would speculate that 55 percent of the population has what I would call pseudo ADD, sort of a severe case of modern life. They're going so fast, they're doing so much, they're so saturated with information overload that they look distracted, impulsive and restless.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: Now there's no test for ADD, and that's part of the problem, as well. There's no conclusive test like there is with cancer or other illnesses. So the question is, what do you do about it? If someone is concerned about it, treatment in the past has focused mainly on coaching.

Take a look at this animation. This is sort of a simple animation of somebody actually getting some coaching. That's a person supposed to be hooked up to that brain there. And what happened is as they stare at the spaceship, if they start to divert their attention, the spaceship starts to move. So you can you get a sense of exactly how long you're able to focus on something.

Interesting sort of test. Interested to see how well you guys do at this, as well.

O'BRIEN: You could train yourself out of ADD, is that what you're saying?

GUPTA: That is the theory.

O'BRIEN: The physiological disease?

GUPTA: Very good point. I mean, physiology means there's a brain chemical change or something like that, as there is with a lot of illnesses, even depression to a certain extent. They have not found that with ADD. That hasn't stopped drugmakers from making a drug for it. In fact, there is an FDA approved drug now, Strattera (ph). It's made by the Eli Lilly organization. Sort of interesting, it's the only FDA-approved drug for ADD for adults.

They put out this interesting questionnaire, this interesting thing to look at sort of on their Web site, asking people to ask themselves about certain questions, such as, do people have a lack of focus? Are they disorganized? Do they have restlessness? Do they have difficulty finishing projects? Do they have difficulty losing things?

O'BRIEN: But you know, I printed out a bunch of these because a lot of different Web sites have this ADD quiz -- I get bored easily, I just can't reach my goals, I get distracted when people are talking. I mean, many of these don't sound like ADD, they sound like everybody we know who is just really busy who has got a cell phone, and a blackberry, and pager, and is on the phone and is multitasking.

GUPTA: Don't forget what we're talking about here, but yes, it's a consequence of human life to a certain extent. I think that's what it is. And I think that you get two schools of thought on this now, Soledad, as a result. And it's a pretty controversial one.

On one hand, people think we're over-medicating all of our social problems. If you have difficulty concentrating, you just throw medication at them. The other school of thought says it's a significant problem. One guy said it's like being near-sighted and never knowing you needed glasses. And finally when you get those glasses one day, the world finally opens up for you, and they think ADD can be that way as well.

O'BRIEN: We only have two seconds left. But what do doctors recommend? Do they say for somebody who feels like they may be just confused or taking on too much, or stretched, you know what, simplify your life first before you go to the drugs, is that what you recommend? GUPTA: Most doctors do recommend simplifying and coaching, such as the thing that we saw there, before going to the medications. But, Soledad, you and I both know that's not the reality. A lot of doctors throw medications quickly at these problems.

O'BRIEN: It's a really interesting study. Sanjay, thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired July 18, 2003 - 08:40   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: We are "Paging Dr. Gupta" this morning about ADD, also known as attention deficit disorder. It is not just kid stuff. Millions of American adults are said to have it. How do you know if you're one of them?
Sanjay's here to tell us more about this.

Good morning.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

This is a pretty serious disorder. A lot of -- it's funny, being in television, because a lot of people in television have ADD, and I wasn't sure if people in television are attracted to...

O'BRIEN: Are you being sarcastic?

GUPTA: No, I think it's true, and I think it's one of these things. I think it's a factor of our lives. And as our lives get busier and busier, and nowhere is that more evident than television, people start to have more and more symptoms of ADD.

Now they say about eight million adults now are diagnosed with ADD. It used to be primarily a childhood disease, but in the '70s people started to recognize it more in adults. And is it a consequence of our being more recognized, or is there actually more ADD?

Well, this is what one author had to say about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. EDWARD HALLOWELL, PSYCHIATRIST: I would speculate that 55 percent of the population has what I would call pseudo ADD, sort of a severe case of modern life. They're going so fast, they're doing so much, they're so saturated with information overload that they look distracted, impulsive and restless.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: Now there's no test for ADD, and that's part of the problem, as well. There's no conclusive test like there is with cancer or other illnesses. So the question is, what do you do about it? If someone is concerned about it, treatment in the past has focused mainly on coaching.

Take a look at this animation. This is sort of a simple animation of somebody actually getting some coaching. That's a person supposed to be hooked up to that brain there. And what happened is as they stare at the spaceship, if they start to divert their attention, the spaceship starts to move. So you can you get a sense of exactly how long you're able to focus on something.

Interesting sort of test. Interested to see how well you guys do at this, as well.

O'BRIEN: You could train yourself out of ADD, is that what you're saying?

GUPTA: That is the theory.

O'BRIEN: The physiological disease?

GUPTA: Very good point. I mean, physiology means there's a brain chemical change or something like that, as there is with a lot of illnesses, even depression to a certain extent. They have not found that with ADD. That hasn't stopped drugmakers from making a drug for it. In fact, there is an FDA approved drug now, Strattera (ph). It's made by the Eli Lilly organization. Sort of interesting, it's the only FDA-approved drug for ADD for adults.

They put out this interesting questionnaire, this interesting thing to look at sort of on their Web site, asking people to ask themselves about certain questions, such as, do people have a lack of focus? Are they disorganized? Do they have restlessness? Do they have difficulty finishing projects? Do they have difficulty losing things?

O'BRIEN: But you know, I printed out a bunch of these because a lot of different Web sites have this ADD quiz -- I get bored easily, I just can't reach my goals, I get distracted when people are talking. I mean, many of these don't sound like ADD, they sound like everybody we know who is just really busy who has got a cell phone, and a blackberry, and pager, and is on the phone and is multitasking.

GUPTA: Don't forget what we're talking about here, but yes, it's a consequence of human life to a certain extent. I think that's what it is. And I think that you get two schools of thought on this now, Soledad, as a result. And it's a pretty controversial one.

On one hand, people think we're over-medicating all of our social problems. If you have difficulty concentrating, you just throw medication at them. The other school of thought says it's a significant problem. One guy said it's like being near-sighted and never knowing you needed glasses. And finally when you get those glasses one day, the world finally opens up for you, and they think ADD can be that way as well.

O'BRIEN: We only have two seconds left. But what do doctors recommend? Do they say for somebody who feels like they may be just confused or taking on too much, or stretched, you know what, simplify your life first before you go to the drugs, is that what you recommend? GUPTA: Most doctors do recommend simplifying and coaching, such as the thing that we saw there, before going to the medications. But, Soledad, you and I both know that's not the reality. A lot of doctors throw medications quickly at these problems.

O'BRIEN: It's a really interesting study. Sanjay, thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com