Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is an enigmatic and often perplexing condition. The diagnostic criteria employed for the past four decades have left many individuals uncertain about whether they truly suffer of this condition.
Clinicians confront exhaustive lists of symptoms, with the DSM 5 encompassing a staggering 18 criteria, while other compilations cite up to 100 traits.
Seeking a more comprehensible approach, practitioners have endeavoured to elucidate the complexities of ADHD. The leading psychiatrist who took a fresh look at ADHD was Dr. William Dotson. His research has unveiled a crucial aspect of the ADHD, leading him to a revelation about the fundamental nature of the ADHD brain, one that sets it apart from neurotypical (“normal”) individuals. Consulting over two decades hundreds of ADHD individuals, he found a common thread that defines their uniqueness: the ADHD Nervous System.
Dr. Dodson is a board-certified adult psychiatrist who since decades specializes in adults with ADHD. He was named a Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) in 2012 in recognition of his contributions to the field of adult ADHD.
Schedule an Appointment with Our Leading Psychiatrist, Dr. Kowal
Specific Qualities of Nervous System in People with ADHD
People with ADHD possess a remarkable nervous system that operates differently from their neurotypical (“normal”) peers. Being wired differently doesn’t diminish a person’s worth or validity. ADHD individuals may naturally approach things in unconventional ways, often deviating from societal norms, but this divergence doesn’t equate to being incorrect or inferior.
Understanding the structure of the ADHD brain can provide valuable context. The frontal lobe, often regarded as the conductor of the brain’s orchestra, governs executive functions. These functions encompass problem-solving, working memory, motivation, judgment, impulse control, planning, decision-making, attention, and the ability to delay gratification. Coincidentally, these are areas where many individuals with ADHD encounter challenges. Struggles with organization, decision-making, and impulse control can create difficulties for those with ADHD in a society governed by rigid societal structures.
One prevailing theory suggests that ADHD individuals face issues with dopamine processing, a neurotransmitter crucial for motivation and stimulation. Lower dopamine levels can impede task gratification, making it challenging to initiate and complete tasks. Decision-making can also become overwhelming, trapping individuals in a state of indecision.
Interest versus Importance Based Nervous System
The ADHD nervous system operates differently when it comes to motivation. Dr. Dodson, introduced the concept that people with ADHD possess an interest-based nervous system, whereas neurotypical individuals (“normal people”) have an importance-based one.
Importance-Based Nervous System
In the case of an importance-based nervous system, tasks are completed because they are deemed important. It might be a personal sense of importance or driven by external factors, such as rewards or consequences. The task is carried out because it’s believed to be the right thing to do, driven by a sense of duty or because someone else values it.
Interest-Based Nervous System
In contrast, an interest-based nervous system finds motivation through genuine interest or passion for a task. Mere “shoulds” or the fear of consequences are not motivating factors. Instead, what drives them forward is their inherent curiosity and engagement with the task at hand.
Even if someone with an interest-based nervous system recognizes the importance of a task, such as for example cleaning, they may struggle to initiate the action because it lacks engagement. Cleaning is repetitive, mostly unpleasant, and time-consuming. While individuals with ADHD may genuinely want ro do a task and dislike being yelled at, the lack of interest makes starting the task challenging.
Misconceptions about ADHD
The key issue lies in misunderstanding the interest-based nervous system, leading to misconceptions that individuals with ADHD are lazy or indifferent to others’ needs. In reality, a task can hold importance but still lack the inherent engagement necessary for motivation.
Without interest, there’s a dearth of dopamine, the neurotransmitter responsible for motivation. This deficiency in motivation transforms tasks into uphill battles, often exacerbated by external shame from those who fail to comprehend the difficulty individuals with ADHD face.
Characteristics of ADHD Individuals
In a world where 90 percent of individuals are considered “normal” or “neurotypical,” it’s crucial to understand that this term doesn’t imply superiority or normality. It means that their neurological makeup aligns with societal norms. For neurotypical (“normal”) people, interest, challenge, novelty, or urgency can be motivating but are not mandatory prerequisites for task execution.
The geniuses from the past and the presence were and are everything but not “normal” as per the understanding of their epoch or culture.
One of the most brilliant minds of the past century, C.G. Jung used to say:
“To be normal is the ideal aim for the unsuccessful.”
People with ADHD versus “Normal People”
Normal (neurotypical) individuals rely on three key factors when deciding what to do and how to see tasks through:
1. Main importance:
They believe a task should be completed.
2. Secondary importance:
External validation, such as the approval of parents, teachers, or bosses, motivates them.
3. Rewards and consequences:
They respond to the prospect of rewards for task completion and consequences for inaction.
ADHD. Living in Incompatible World
For individuals with an ADHD nervous system, importance and rewards do not serve as effective motivators. They acknowledge importance, appreciate rewards, and dislike punishments, yet these factors merely register as nagging distractions.
This difficulty in utilizing importance and rewards profoundly impacts the lives of individuals with ADHD:
- Decision-making becomes challenging when these concepts offer no guidance or motivation.
- Major life choices become daunting because conventional motivators don’t apply.
The above mentioned difficulties in utilizing importance and rewards explain the misalignment while living in the world governed by different roles. The difficulties face by ADHD individuals manifest in various ways:
- The standard education system, founded on prioritizing and emphasizing what others consider significant, doesn’t accommodate individuals with ADHD.
- Conventional employment, which pays for adhering to someone else’s priorities (i.e., the boss’s), often proves stifling.
- Organizational systems, cantered on prioritization and time management, are ill-suited for individuals with ADHD who struggle with these aspects.
- Decision-making becomes an ordeal because everything appears equally unimportant, making alternatives indistinguishable.
Losing Interests in Tasks
Research using PET (Positron Emission Tomography) imaging has unveiled insights into why the ADHD brain often loses interest in tasks. In individuals with ADHD, chemicals that activate reward-recognizing circuits in the brain show reduced binding to receptor sites compared to neurotypical counterparts. This difference explains why people with ADHD struggle to anticipate pleasure or find satisfaction in tasks with delayed rewards.
One significant consequence of this brain chemistry variance is the difficulty ADHD individuals face in initiating tasks that lack inherent interest. Moreover, they struggle to maintain motivation when the rewards are not immediately attainable. These challenges in task activation and motivation contribute to the common experience of tasks losing their appeal for those with ADHD.
Procrastination in ADHD
The inability to rely on concepts of importance and rewards creates unique challenges for ADHD individuals. Procrastination is a pervasive challenge for ADHD individuals. The delay in starting tasks isn’t due to a lack of desire. When traditional motivators hold little sway AHD individuals face difficulties in the decision-making process. This intrinsic motivation is the key to unlocking their full potential.
Interestingly, the urgency of a task can propel those with an ADHD nervous system to engage and access their abilities. However, procrastination often plagues them, as they struggle to initiate tasks until they become interesting, challenging, or urgent. It’s a well known phenomenon, that students with ADHD tend to start learning few days or even hours before the exam, after the urgency reached the “critical point”.
New Approches in Treatment for ADHD
The newfound understanding of ADHD carries significant implications. To begin with, it is imperative for coaches, doctors, and professionals to abandon the misguided endeavour of transforming individuals with ADHD into neurotypical counterparts. Instead, the focus should shift towards early intervention that accommodate their unique neurology. By acknowledging and leveraging the strengths of the ADHD nervous system, therapeutic strategies can prevent the frustration and demoralization experienced by ADHD individuals offering them lifelong benefits.
Entering “ADHD Zone”
The term “Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder” doesn’t resonate with the nature of this condition. ADHD is not a disorder that implies damage or defect. Despite the association with learning difficulties, those with an ADHD nervous system often possess significantly above-average IQs. They utilize their intelligence differently from neurotypical individuals, excelling in problem-solving and innovating solutions that others may overlook.
Contrary to the hyperactivity stereotype, most adults with ADHD are not outwardly hyperactive. Their hyperactivity manifests internally, with racing thoughts and a mind juggling multiple thoughts at once. The core of ADHD isn’t an attention shortage but rather erratic attention.
In ADHD individuals the nervous system is functioning adeptly by its unique rules. ADHD individuals experience moments of brilliance, commonly known as “entering the zone.” In this state, impairments vanish, and executive functions soar. The trigger for entering the zone is often an intrinsic interest in the task at hand. Unlike external motivators, intrinsic interest fuels the ADHD nervous system.
People with ADHD tend to “enter the zone” becoming functional when they are genuinely interested or intrigued by a task, aligning with an interest-based nervous system. Critics may label them as unreliable or self-serving when they insist on doing things they like, but this is the nature of their ADHD nervous system.
Challenges and competitive environments also trigger the zone for individuals with ADHD, as does novelty, albeit temporarily.
Levelling ADHD Deficiencies with Medication
Medication plays a crucial role in providing individuals with ADHD the necessary attention span, impulse control, and inner calm. Typically the medication beeing used in ADHD treatment are the stimulants. They enhance day-to-day functioning, facilitating task completion. However, stimulants fall short in addressing the internal hyperarousal that many with ADHD contend with.
Practical Exercises for Individuals with ADHD Nervous System
Caring a notepad and analysing the following instances:
Intrigue:
What tasks or situations are interesting or intriguing?
Competitiveness:
What aspects of the “opponent” or situation ignites the competitive drive?
Developing a Manual:
Encouraging individuals with ADHD to document what triggers their optimal performance fosters self-understanding. Whether it’s intrigue, competition, or urgency, recognizing these triggers empowers individuals to proactively engage with tasks. This approach doesn’t seek to alter the ADHD nervous system but capitalizes on its inherent strengths.
Medication alone cannot drive substantial change if ADHD individuals employ strategies used by “normal people.” The second crucial component involves crafting a personalized ADHD owner’s manual. The key is to determine what motivates ADHD individuals and enables them to excel in their existing life circumstances, rather than fixating on their shortcomings. The focus has to be shifted to identifying the triggers that facilitate exceptional performance.
Armed with this knowledge, ADHD individuals gain a profound understanding of how their unique nervous system functions and which techniques prove beneficial when engagement and performance are paramount.
These strategies have yielded notable success for many with ADHD. They don’t endeavour to transform individuals with an ADHD nervous system into neurotypical counterparts – an unattainable goal. Instead, they offer enduring support by harnessing and amplifying the individual’s innate strengths.
ADHD Nervous System. Summary
ADHD is not a disorder in the conventional sense. It signifies a unique nervous system with its own set of rules. The research on ADHD unravelled the secrets of the ADHD nervous system as resilient, adaptable, and unique in its cognitive skills.
The key to understanding ADHD lies in recognizing the inconsistency, not deficit, of attention. Unlike a shortage of attention, ADHD individuals grapple with an overabundance of it. Their minds juggle multiple thoughts simultaneously, creating a dynamic and ever-changing mental landscape.
Neurotypical versus ADHD Brain
Neurotypical (“normal”) individuals navigate the world with a different set of motivators. Importance, external validation, and the promise of rewards guide their decision-making and task execution. In contrast, the ADHD individuals find themselves at odds with such conventional structures. They actions are triggered by interest and passion.
The distinction between systems based on importance (normal people) or interest (ADHD individuals) is the key for understanding the nature of ADHD. It highlights that tasks can be important but uninteresting, making them challenging to tackle. From the education system to the workplace, the mismatch between the ADHD nervous system and established norms leads to disorganization, difficulty prioritizing, and an overall sense of feeling out of place.
New Understanding of ADHD
Revelation of how ADHD operates offers a fresh perspective on managing this condition. By embracing ADHD’s particular characteristics can redefine success for individuals navigating in the world of neurotypical (normal people), relying on importance, rewards, and external validation as motivators.
Rather than attempting to reshape individuals with ADHD into neurotypicals (“normal people”), the emphasis should be on early intervention and a holistic approach that combines appropriate medication with the creation of personalized owner’s manuals.
It’s vital to recognize that individuals with an ADHD nervous system aren’t incapable or flawed. They possess intelligence and ingenuity. The primary challenge arises from being handed a manual designed for normal people that doesn’t align with their inner world and abilities.