Thanks for going into so much detail about this. Good point about the stimulants relieving anxiety. So according to this explanation, it’s not that people with ADHD have a different brain chemistry that makes stimulants affect them differently, it’s that the focus from stimulants relieves more anxiety than the stimulants create.
How does someone use Ritalin to cram for 72 hours once they have wasted time for months? They take heavy doses of the stuff to override the need for sleep and maintain some semblance of mental function while they are abusing their mind and body.
I’m not sure that terms like “waste time” and “abuse” are fair in that situation. Someone who has problems focusing, who may have mild ADHD, may have had trouble studying for months, and then take the Ritalin to try to study. This may not be as effective as taking the medication every day, but it’s an attempt to self-medicate and deal with the problem.
If you look at SPECT scans of brain activity in ADHD individuals compared to normal individuals you can expect to see significantly less activity in key areas of the brain in most of the ADHD individuals compared to the normal samples. Meanwhile a smaller subset of the ADHD individuals will have significantly more activity in the same areas.
Is this related to the two types of ADHD (inattentive and hyperactive)? Would a central nervous system depressant then actually be effective for the “overfocused” group?
Thanks for going into so much detail about this. Good point about the stimulants relieving anxiety. So according to this explanation, it’s not that people with ADHD have a different brain chemistry that makes stimulants affect them differently, it’s that the focus from stimulants relieves more anxiety than the stimulants create.
I’m not sure that terms like “waste time” and “abuse” are fair in that situation. Someone who has problems focusing, who may have mild ADHD, may have had trouble studying for months, and then take the Ritalin to try to study. This may not be as effective as taking the medication every day, but it’s an attempt to self-medicate and deal with the problem.
Is this related to the two types of ADHD (inattentive and hyperactive)? Would a central nervous system depressant then actually be effective for the “overfocused” group?