BEHAVIORAL HEALTH

Q:

I’ve noticed that I’m having a hard time paying attention at work. My friends have said that they think I have ADHD. Is there a way to be sure before I consider asking my doctor for medication?

A: When we feel like we can’t concentrate or pay attention, our feelings of success and control over our lives can diminish. We can lose confidence and begin to secondguess a lot of our abilities. And in our society, we are expected to manage many different demands in various roles we maintain, including work, family, financial, and other social obligations. Also, it can be difficult to know how good or bad our attention is because there is no clear and obvious sign of its functioning – there is no blood test for your attention and no MRI will be able to tell you if you have ADHD. Attention is a tricky concept to define because it is associated with so many other abilities crucial to our functioning. Furthermore, attention can be affected by a lot of different physical and mental health issues, only one of which is ADHD. Believe it or not, even factors such as how much sleep we get and our diet can enhance or diminish our ability to focus and concentrate. In order to assist with determining whether your difficulties are associated with ADHD, another diagnosis, or other factors, a neuropsychological evaluation can be of great help. Through such an evaluation, we can more objectively assess a wide range of abilities within the brain without doing anything other than talking with another person and attempting various specific thinking tasks. Of course, your attention would be an area of focus within this assessment to best understand how you may process information to solve problems and concentrate. Give us a call so we can help.

Ryan Mekota, Psy.D. Clinical Neuropsychologist Premier Behavioral

Health Service 8701 Mentor Avenue Mentor 44060 440-266-0770