THE ISSUES OF PSYCHOLOGICAL DIAGNOSIS OF ATTENTION DEFICIT FACTORS IN ADULTS

The purpose of the study is to investigate the psychological factors of attention deficit in adults.
Research methods and organization. The study was conducted at the Department of General and Clinical Psychology of Samara State Medical University. Testing was carried out on students from the 1st to 5th years of the faculties of Medical Psychology, Medical Prevention Training, and Clinical Medicine.
Research results and conclusions. A number of reasons that lead to attention deficit in adults, which are not of a neurological nature, have been identified. Signs of attention deficit were found in 10% of the surveyed students; high levels of anxiety were noted in 16% of the respondents, and elevated depressive symptoms were identified in 4% of the subjects; impairments in prefrontal control over the sequence of actions were found in 16% of those examined. Self-assessment of attention deficit according to the ADHD scale does not correlate with the objectively identified manifestations of attention deficit; therefore, subjective perception of attention disorders does not reflect the objective picture. Self-assessment of attention deficit according to the ADHD scale correlates with manifestations of anxiety and depression on the hospital scale, which indicates the necessity of conducting differential diagnosis of the causes of attention deficit in each specific case.

attention deficit syndrome, attention switching, attention distribution, volume of attention, anxiety, depression, neuropsychological tests