My Desk Is a Mess! Do I Have ADD?

Who among us hasn't had the occasional discombobulated day at work, when we feel messy, disorganized and incapable of setting priorities? What with endless e-mails, phone calls and meetings, it's easy to feel overwhelmed at work. But does that mean you have ADD?

"ADD is like life these days," write Drs. Edward Hallowell and John Ratey in their 1995 best- selling book, Answers to Distraction. "The fast pace of everyday life, the search for the sound bite, the proliferation of the fax machine, cellular telephones, computer networks, bulletin boards, and e-mail systems, our widespread impatience, allthese very American traits are also very ADD-like."

Given the similarities between modern life and ADD symptoms, it's no wonder many people would turn to ADD as an explanation for their work problems. Your desk may be cluttered and you may not be meeting your deadlines, but that doesn't mean you have ADD, says Dr. Martin Teicher, an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

"To determine if ADD was the cause of your clutter," says Teicher, "You'd have to go through a careful diagnosis. If ADD was not present before age 7, you don't have it. ADD has to have emerged during childhood."

Nancy from proxy.aol.com at 3:40pm ET

Of course, each person has their own talents, but are there any jobs or professions that are better suited for people with ADD?

Dr. Kathleen Nadeau at 3:42pm ET

The most important thing in selecting a career path when you have ADD is to choose something that greatly interests you. There's a plus side to ADD which isn't talked about enough called hyperfocusing. Most adults with ADD tend to hyperfocus on activities which greatly interest them and that's why there are many highly successful people who also have ADD. If they're headed in the right direction they often have more drive and more energy than the average person.

Jobs which entail a great deal of mundane, routine, boring work, especially involving paperwork, is often the most difficult with ADD. But jobs that allow creativity, innovation, interaction and movement are often well-suited to people with ADD.