An estimated seventeen million people in the United States have attention deficit disorder (ADD), which was later renamed as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). I prefer the name ADD, as ADHD highlights the hyperactive component of the disorder (H) and discards half the people who have it, particularly girls, who are typically not hyperactive. According to the CDC, 13.2 percent of boys at one time have been diagnosed with ADD, 5.6 percent of girls.
ADD is the most common learning and behavior problem in children. But the issue doesn’t end there: It is also one of the most common problems in adults, and has been associated with job failures, relationship breakups, loneliness, a tremendous sense of underachievement, drug abuse, Alzheimer’s disease, obesity, and Type 2 diabetes. Despite its prevalence, many myths and misconceptions about ADD abound in our society. Here are just a few of them:
33 percent never finish high school compared to the national average of 8.7 percent (25 percent repeat at least one grade).
52 percent of untreated teens and adults abuse drugs or alcohol.
19 percent smoke cigarettes (compared to 10 percent of the general population).
46 percent of untreated hyperactive boys will be arrested for a felony by age sixteen, compared to 11 percent for controls and 21 percent of ADD adults versus 1 percent for controls.
21 to 25 percent of inmates in a number of studies have been found to have ADD.
75 percent have interpersonal problems; untreated ADD sufferers have a higher percentage of motor vehicle accidents, speeding tickets, citations for driving without a license, and suspended or revoked licenses.
People with ADD also have many more medical visits and emergency-room visits and get injured up to five times more than others.
Parents of ADD children divorce three times more often than the general population.
ADD is found in every country where it has been studied. I once had a patient from Ethiopia who had been expelled from his tribe for being so easily distracted and impulsive.
Ineffective parents or teachers can certainly make ADD symptoms worse, but they are generally not the sole cause. ADD behaviors often make even the most skilled parents and teachers appear stressed and inept.
Why are there so many myths and negative reactions about ADD when physicians know so much about it? The answer is simple. Until now, you couldn’t see ADD. On the outside, ADD children, teens, and adults look like everyone else. Sure, they may be more distractible, more impulsive, and more restless. And after all, it’s a lot easier just to chalk up someone’s problem as bad behavior or a child as “someone who doesn’t try hard enough,” rather than to go deeper and understand why. But unless you know the story of an ADD person’s life, you can’t see that he or she has ADD. Until now!
ADD is real. We can see it in the brain. Brain imaging research conducted at my clinic and at other centers around the world have uncovered the ADD brain. Based on our research with tens of thousands of ADD patients using brain SPECT imaging we have been able to see areas of vulnerability in the ADD brain, and why it has such a negative impact on learning, behavior, and emotions. Humans have an innate distrust of the intangible, but seeing the ADD brain can cause the destructive myths and prejudices to fade away.
As you’ll see in the pages that follow, ADD affects many areas of the brain, primarily the prefrontal cortex and cerebellum (the brain’s controllers of concentration, attention span, judgment, organization, planning, and impulse control), the anterior cingulate gyrus (the brain’s gear shifter and place of error detection), the temporal lobes (involved in memory, learning, and emotional reactions), the basal ganglia (which produce the neurotransmitter dopamine that drives the prefrontal cortex), and the deep limbic system (involved with setting emotional tone and bonding). But the good news is that with targeted treatment, people with ADD often get much better. Before-and-after imaging shows that, with effective treatment, brain function can dramatically improve and give sufferers more access to their own abilities.
Effective treatment does not make ADD sufferers different people: It removes the barriers hindering them from being the people they already are. I think of effective treatment for ADD like glasses for people who have trouble seeing. The glasses do not change people, they just make their vision more effective.
This book will give you a completely new perspective on ADD. You’ll see actual ADD brain images (many before and after treatment) and identify the seven types of ADD that we have described (based on a combination of our work with many others in the field). You can also take a comprehensive questionnaire that will allow you to identify ADD (and which type) within yourself or others. That’s right, seven types of ADD—not the simple types currently catalogued in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Version V (DSM-V). Most importantly, this book offers promising new solutions. Understanding the nuanced complexities of ADD allows us to treat most people more effectively.
Type 1: Classic ADD—sufferers are inattentive, easily distracted, disorganized, hyperactive, restless, and impulsive.
Type 2: Inattentive ADD—sufferers are inattentive, easily distracted, disorganized, and often described as space cadets, daydreamers, or couch potatoes.
Type 3: Overfocused ADD—sufferers tend to have trouble shifting attention, which makes them look like they cannot pay attention; they frequently get stuck in loops of negative thoughts or behaviors; can be obsessive, worried, and inflexible; and are frequently oppositional, argumentative, and fault finding. Opposed to most ADD types, their organization is often fine or in some cases they are obsessively organized.
Type 4: Temporal Lobe ADD—sufferers are inattentive, easily distracted, disorganized, and struggle with mood instability, irritability, memory problems. This type is often associated with learning problems.
Type 5: Limbic ADD—sufferers are inattentive, easily distracted, disorganized, and struggle with low-grade sadness, negativity (e.g., “glass half empty syndrome”), low energy, and social withdrawal.
Type 6: Ring of Fire ADD—sufferers are inattentive, extremely distracted (too many thoughts), irritable, overly sensitive to the environment, hyperverbal, oppositional, and experience cyclic moodiness.
Type 7: Anxious ADD—sufferers are inattentive, easily distracted, disorganized, anxious, tense, nervous, predict the worst, struggle with timed tests, social anxiety, and often have physical stress symptoms, such as headaches and gastrointestinal symptoms.
Knowing which ADD type you or your child or loved one has is critical to developing an effective treatment program. Treating five of the seven types of ADD with stimulant medication alone often makes things worse. You’ll learn that specifically tailored interventions, on the other hand, often lead to quick, dramatic, and lasting improvement.
After helping you properly identify if ADD is an issue for you (or someone else you know) and which type, this book will give you a plan on how to treat it, the same plans we give our patients at Amen Clinics, including the same clear step-by-step brain enhancement program for optimizing brain function and overcoming ADD barriers. This program is effective, powerful, and easy to understand. While much of the program can be done outside of the doctor’s office, for the medication and psychotherapeutic components you’ll need to consult a healthcare professional. We currently have six clinics across the United States and hundreds of affiliated centers. A list of Amen Affiliated Education Centers can be found at www.amenclinics.com.
For all types, I’ll give you suggestions for:
For the individual types, you will also get:
This book will give you an effective program for enhancing brain function and overcoming the ADD traits that sabotage chances for success in all aspects of living—in relationships, at work or school, and within yourself. ADD affects whole families, not just individuals. Therefore, the following pages will also have extensive material on the dynamics of living in an ADD household (for parents, spouses, and siblings), along with many practical suggestions for effective cohabitation.
A note for teachers, school counselors, principals, social workers, policemen, parole officers, marital therapists, psychologists, physicians, attorneys, and even IRS agents:
Many people with ADD have societal problems and this program can teach you how to work with them. Here are some common examples of the societal challenges people with ADD face: