sv1980

Regarding the treatment of ADD, it is important to realize that it is a biological difference of the brain. Adderall or whatever stimulant being used will help with the complicated "focus enhancement" part of ADD, but remember that our brains cannot be made healthy just by focusing. I think many of the cases of "Adderall-induced depression" are not induced by the drug at all; rather they are induced by an over-reliance on the drug (especially in teens and adults). I do realize that, for example, in some people with a "misfiring" temporal lobe (as Dr. Amen puts it), a dopamine stimulant (like Adderall) can aggravate that area of the brain and increase their aggression, but we have to be very careful in determining how much of that reaction is "biological" and how much is "psychological." We can speculate, but we don't really know yet. There is so much we now know about the brain, but there is even more that we don't know about it, and we don't even know exactly how these stimulant drugs work; we just know that they work.

There is biology, which I'm using here as a term to mean the physical properties of the brain, like neurotransmitters and how the brain metabolizes them. Then, there is psychology, which I am using here to mean how the environment (parents, friends, situations, house, school, etc) and one's own "self" influence thinking. The Adderall will help one's biology, but it isn't a fix-all for one's psychology. One needs to search for general well-being, and search actively, because up until diagnosis and treatment, we ADD folk have been pleasure-seekers, with difficulty feeling rewarded through anything but high-emotion, high-drama, highly-stimulating situations and activities. I think it's important to realize that we were born with a specific type of view and behavioral tendency, and we should NOT deny that. It's important to educate ADD children that while they do need to focus in class, they also need to play, explore, make friends, spend time with their parents, and make up stories when they're at home. They especially may need to take weekends off of the drug so that they can reconnect with the beautiful brain biology they were born with. We adults, even moreso, need to realize that too--that we grew up with these beautiful ADD brains that love to explore and be excited and laugh and cry and be dramatic. When we take medication so that we can function better in this world, we have to remember where we came from, and we have to continue to play and dance and do all the wonderful things we grew up doing. We have to remember to protect our psychology when we correct for our biology.