How is the ADD/ADHD brain different?
ADHD occurring in both males and females with or without hyperactivity is understood to be a disorder of relative “under arousal”. Such individuals show lower and/or slower than average physiological reactions to stimuli. Excessive levels of “low frequency” (drowsy) patterns appear in the brain’s electrical activity. This excess in low frequency brainwave activity is often most pronounced during reading, listening or other non-stimulus tasks, and can look much like Stage 2 sleep. Stimulant medications such as Ritalin, Adderall and others are currently the most commonly recommended and prescribed treatment for ADHD by psychiatrists, psychologists and general practitioners across the United States and Canada. This is because with the introduction of stimulant medication into the body, the patient’s brain activity is pharmaceutically elevated out of a low frequency, under aroused state. Adequate levels of stimulants seem to allow for some measure of focus and attention. One may observe th
