Dr. Johnson Provides and Introduction to the 7 Types of ADHD

Dr. Johnson here. I want to talk with you today about attention deficit. This is one of the primary conditions that we see in our office, and I wanted to let you know that there are really more than the three standard types you're told about when you visit your pediatrician. Commonly, you're told that it's either inattentive, hyperactive, or combined. And while that may be okay when it comes to medication management, it isn't okay when we want to tailor care to the individual. Dr. Daniel Amen wrote a groundbreaking book called Healing ADHD, and in that book, he describes seven different types of attention deficit. This is important, because if we can delineate the type somebody has, then we can specifically treat their needs and have a higher level of success.

To begin this series, I’d like review Type One with you. Type One is your stereotypical attention deficit with hyperactivity. It's the child who can't sit still, is always fidgeting, rolling on the ground during a history taking, in the classroom has to stand up, move around the class and so on. They just don't seem calm and centered. For this type, what's happening on the inside is part of the brain is very underactive, and they're looking to stimulate that part of the brain to give it the input that it seeks. Where another part of the brain is overactive, and in that part, we need that to calm down. The underactive brainwave is generally in the beta range. This is our executive processing brainwave. Theta is another brain wave, which is our focus brainwave, and there's usually overactivity there, which means the brain isn't efficiently moving information around, and it sort of gets stuck electrically. So, this type one ADD person is trying to stimulate themselves in an effort to wake up the quiet areas and calm down the overactive areas. With this Type One, typically they often do better with a higher protein/ lower carbohydrate type of diet. It tends to bring emotional stability for them and allows them to stay focused for a more sustained time period.

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