Departments of Neurology and Psychiatry, New York University Medical Center, New York, New York 10016, USA
Address for correspondence: William Barr, Ph.D., Department of Neurology, New York University Medical Center, New York, NY 10016. Voice: 212-263-8317; fax: 212-263-8342.
william.barr{at}med.nyu.edu
Attentional dysfunction can be found in nearly every form of
psychopathology, not just in attention deficit disorder (ADD).
Being able to distinguish ADD from other psychiatric conditions
is crucial for clinicians working with adolescents and young
adults, particularly in the case of psychoses where making the
correct diagnosis and beginning treatment promptly is extremely
important. In this paper we review the literature on the attentional
dysfunction found in schizophrenia and compare it to that found
in ADD in an effort to increase our knowledge of etiology and
underlying mechanisms. Investigators studying ADD may learn
from the study of schizophrenia by realizing that ADD is also
a complex disorder of attention that occurs across the developmental
spectrum and is characterized by various predispositional, environmental,
and maturational factors.
