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i'm irish,and as far as i know within the medical profession in ireland and europe,ADD is seen as something of a joke,it embodies the american touchy-feely everyone is a victim attitude to psychology and psychiatry.

some children are still diagnosed with ADD over here,but nowhere near as many as in america,and only in very severe cases.

i read an article about ADD in an american magazine a while ago (i never bookmarked it,but it was a fairly reputable one,new scientist or something like that) and found it interesting,in that it seemed to describe me quite well.

there was a link to some sort of official us government health site (the address was .gov anyway,seemed legit) FAQ about the disorder,which included one of those "if you answer yes to more than 5 of the following questions" style questionaires.

i answered yes to pretty much all the questions,but rather than taking this as an opportunity to blame all my shortcomings on a disorder,i used it as an opportunity to confirm my suspicions that said disorder was a fancy name for a personality trait.

the idea that if i was a kid in america i might have been given speed-type drugs for my "disorder" seems crazy from a european perspective.