Healing ADD - Dr. Daniel G. Amen
www.SADD.nl - Foundation for the predominantly inattentive type - Attention Deficit Disorder

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The ADD Brain

Dr. Daniel G. Amen: ADD Netherlands Foundation

Q: Does the long term memory have less storage capabilities in some types of ADD and if so, does the information get stored in a different place in the brain? The wrong place…?

A: Not that I am aware of. It is usually getting information into long term storage, from not paying attention, that is the problem in ADD. Temporal lobe subtypes are often plagued by more memory and learning problems.

Q: What is happening in the brain when a person with the inattentive type is really interested in something? (Hyperfocus) Do the dopamine levels rice to abnormal levels? Even more so then when people without ADD are enthusiastic about something?

A: Love is a drug. Think of just falling in love...no matter what type of ADD you have you can listen intently to the new person for days. Love increases dopamine and helps us focus. When you love a person, task, hobby, or job paying attention is much easier.

Q: Did our ancestors a couple of thousand years ago also have ADD or is it sort of a human DNA / brain deteriation? (maybe even brain improvement?)

A: ADD, likely, has been around for thousands of years. I think our society (refined sugar diets, increased TV and video games, sedentary lifestyle) is contributing to the increased expression of the disorder.

Q: What do you think will happen to the ADD brain in the future, will we adapt or will the world slowly change to overall ADD thinking because it usually runs in the family?

A: The world is rapidly changing to accommodate people with ADD...more TV channels, pay bills online, instant messaging, Internet dating, everything is becoming immediate.

Q: Are there differences in the development of intelligence between people with the inattentive type and people with the hyperactive type?

A: Not that I am aware of. ADD in general has nothing to do with intelligence.

Q: Why can’t a person with ADD just write a note and stop forgetting things? I would like to know more about the differences between the ADD brain and the non-ADD brain?

A: The lower prefrontal cortex activity cause people with ADD to live in the moment, so they do not think about finding their keys tomorrow...they think about now.

Q: Are there people without any disorders?

A: Very few, if any. Carl Jung said "the normal man is a myth." We have had the hardest time finding a normal control group. We screened over 3,000 people to scan 85 normals.

Q: Do you think the Amen subtypes ADD will be more accepted in the future?

A: Yes, or some version of new subtypes. ADD is just not hyperactive or not.

Q: I would like to do a spect scan. Why isn’t that possible in the Netherlands and is it possible for me to come to go see the Amen Clinics somewhere else?

A Someday soon I think it will be malpractice to not order scans in complex cases. We have 4 clinics now, one on the East Coast of the U.S. in Reston, Virginia, near Washington, DC. Check us out at www.amenclinics.com.

Q: Do you think other medications will be developed, other then symptom covering medicine?

A: Most psych meds deal with symptoms, not underlying causes. In ADD, it is a genetic disorder. We are many years away from developing genetic therapies that could actually target the problem genes.

Q: Do you consider ADD a psychological problem or a handicap?

A: I think of ADD as a psychiatric disorder that is highly treatable.

Q: What is your advice when someone with ADD chooses to live with the side effects of ADD, in stead of accepting the side effects of medication? What can the inattentive type do to use the brain to its best potential?

A: I would treat the ADD so that it does not interfere with the quality of your life. I would try natural treatments first, such as exercise, fish oil, and type specific supplements. If these did not work I would consider medication. You have to ask yourself, what are the side effects of having untreated ADD?

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Daniel G. Amen, MD is a child and adult psychiatrist, brain imaging specialist, and a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. He is the CEO and medical director of Amen Clinics, Inc. in Newport Beach and Fairfield, California, Tacoma, Washington and Reston, Virginia. Amen Clinics, Inc have the world’s largest database of functional brain scans relating to psychiatric medicine, totaling over 37,000 scans, and the clinics have seen patients from 62 countries.

By Karin Windt - 2006 - ADD Netherlands Foundation (SADD.NL)