New ADHD study leaves some wiggle room

"This is 2005, we are not scared of medication," Appleton says. "What we are scared of is the incredible depression in children that comes from these problems [having ADHD] because they are ostracised at school and not socially acceptable."

.....Typically irritability and aggression are much more the product of
Bipolar Disorder than ADHD. Both can be impulsive. Both can hurt
you. The former is often very bright while there are often learning disabilities
with the latter.

What are some general rules of response?

- Reduce stimulation (noise, action).
- Tolerate irritability in the Bipolar individual. They often will seek
weaknesses to prey on verbally, do not be taken in.
- Tolerate effort to attend by engaging in behavioral activity. A person
with ADHD may be squirmy or engage in repetition of some mechanical
behavior (tapping a foot, pencil, etc.).
- Recognize that communication may have to be on more than one plane.
If the individual is having trouble attending (has a poor verbal memory
and does not easily remember what you say) use cues, clues and repetition
of ideas. This is a person that may connect better to providing a cigarette
for five minutes than trying to understand their life situation for
two hours.

A smattering of recent studies....... hint that stimulants could alter the structure and function of the brain in ways that may depress mood, boost anxiety and, in sharp contrast to their short-term effects, lead to cognitive deficits.

I told her that I did not think her son had attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and that he did not need medication. That was the last time I saw her.

Should we be surprised by these findings? Psychopharmacologists are little more than sanctioned drug dealers. They know virtually nothing about the etiology of the "disorders" that they treat and have little knowledge of the mechanism of action of the drugs that they prescribe. I am confident that in subsequent years medicine will look back in shame at the current practice of psychiatry. Psychiatrists have virtually pathologized all human behavioral variation and treat patients with potent agents for which there is little to no data on the long term health risks. Unfortunately, psychiatry has not progressed significantly since the days when "hysteria" was believed to be a dysfunction of the uterus, Tourette's was believed to be the product of a poor disposition, and homosexuality was pathologized as a psychiatric illness. The danger now is that psychiatrists have an arsenal of powerful agents heavily marketed by profit seeking drug companies. Prior to the "drug revolution" psychiatrists were relatively harmless quacks. Now, armed with the dangerous stimulants, antipsychotic, and antidepressants, these dangerous quacks are jeopardizing the long-term health of the public.

The new study "found a disruption in the brain's reward/motivation pathway" in people with ADHD, Volkow said. "We also found that disruption in this area was directly related to the severity of inattention."

The implication of the finding is that ADHD might begin with disruption in motivation, which in turn leads to inattention and hyperactivity, she said.

Volkow described it as "a disruption in interest."

The finding, reported in the Sept. 9 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, could have an impact on treating the condition, she said. "My strategy would be rather than exercising the attention network, let me give an intervention that will make the task much more engaging," she said.

<snip>

Among those with ADHD, the researchers found disruptions in the two dopamine pathways associated with reward and motivation. The finding, according to the researchers, lends support to the theory that ADHD is a result of problems in dopamine pathways in the brain that affect both reward and motivation.

<snip>

The current medications given to children with ADHD already enhance motivation because they target the dopamine pathway, Volkow said.

But the finding should also be considered a "wake-up call for teachers," she said. Knowing that the problem is one of motivation, teachers could devise methods to provide "extra engagement" for these children, Volkow said.