A Brief Overview of The ADHD Brain: Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Treatment

Terms like “ADD”, “ADHD”, “hyperactivity”, and others are thrown around frequently today without much consideration as to what they really mean on a neurological level. According to the Attention Deficit Disorder Association, approximately 6% of the US population is diagnosed with ADHD.

So… what does it mean?

In order to understand the significance of that percentage, it’s important to have a reasonable background of what ADHD entails. ADHD can come in two flavors — with hyperactivity or without hyperactive, commonly referred to as ADD or inattentive. For the purposes of this blog, we will focus more on the Hyperactive model.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) frequently affects an individual’s ability to focus on tasks. Simply speaking, individuals with this disorder have lower than normal levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine. Specifically, lower levels of dopamine are available in the synapse — or lower tonic levels. Although dopamine is not the only neurotransmitter involved with ADHD (norepinephrine for example), it is certainly the key player. One of dopamine’s fundamental roles includes learning, memory, and motor functions. The low levels of dopamine available leave individuals searching for other sources, like looking around outside, or tapping their pencil, to naturally increase the levels back to normal. As a result, the individual presents a hyperactive behavior — as a means to self-medicate the lower levels of neurotransmitter.

This cartoon illustration demonstrates normal neuronal transmission of dopamine from neuron to neuron. However, in an individual that has been diagnosed with ADHD’s brain, significantly less dopamine between the two neurons would be present.

Now we know how it works at a neurological level, so how is it treated?

Treatment for ADHD can range from behavioral therapies to prescription stimulants. Although this varies from patient to patient, prescription stimulants — like Vyvanse, Ritalin, and Adderall — seem to be effective at increasing tonic levels of dopamine, thus increasing attention and decreasing hyperactive behavior.

That said, there is no question that a certain stigma around ADHD stimulants exists in the United States. This is plausible, considering the number of prescriptions for these stimulants in the US compared to other countries. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the disorder and why it is treated the way it is — below is a video that explains the disorder, treatment, and stigma behind the medications further.