How is the ADD Brain Different

ADHD occurring in both males and females with or without hyperactivity is understood to be a disorder of relative “under arousal”. Such individuals show lower and/or slower than average physiological reactions to stimuli. Excessive levels of “low frequency” (drowsy) patterns appear in the brain’s electrical activity. This excess in low frequency brainwave activity is often most pronounced during reading, listening or other non-stimulus tasks, and can look much like Stage 2 sleep. Stimulant medications such as Ritalin, Adderall and others are currently the most commonly recommended and prescribed treatment for ADHD by psychiatrists, psychologists and general practitioners across the United States and Canada. This is because with the introduction of stimulant medication into the body, the patient’s brain activity is pharmaceutically elevated out of a low frequency, under aroused state. Adequate levels of stimulants seem to allow for some measure of focus and attention. One may observe that when we first get hyperactive children to sit or be still, they rapidly drop off into a drowsy state. These folks seem to live at the edge of sleep, much like a driver who is getting tired and involuntarily drops off, even while fighting it. If the tired driver could just get up, move around or just do something different he would become more alert. Hyperactivity in the same way is thought to be the body’s way of attempting to maintain normal arousal in an effort to prevent drowsiness. This is why amphetamine medications (speed) create the so-called “paradoxical” effect of calming down ADHD behavior.

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