Change Your Brain, Change Your Life – ADD Chapter
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Last week I started the habit of turning on the TV while I was used the computer after work. One night while I was tuning in and out of the shows that were on when a certain program caught my attention. It was a fund drive for the local PBS television station (though I just learned that the actual show was not a production of PBS and many seem to have expressed issue with the show’s claim being able to prevent or slow Alzheimer’s Disease).
Daniel G Amen, MD spoke about the thousands of brain scans his clinics (The Amen Clinics) have performed over the last decade and what kinds of patterns they’ve been seeing. While some in the scientific community do not agree with his conclusions, nor his methods, I found his experimentation with SPECT scans very exciting and his conclusions even more so.
In his book “Change Your Brain, Change Your Life” Dr. Amen talks about Attention Deficit Disorder, something 3 of his children suffer with.
Chapter 7 of his book deals with impulsivity and other common aspects of ADD. I was amazed to see how clearly this chapter described me. Of course as I’m sure will be your experience as well, not everything was directly applicable, but those things that were, were right on.
I’d like to write more as thoughts come, but for now an overview of the functions of the Prefrontal Cortex will suffice.
- attention span
- perseverance
- judgment
- impulse control
- organization
- self-monitoring and supervision
- problem solving
- critical thinking
- forward thinking
- learning from experience
- ability to feel and express emotions
- interaction with the limbic system
- empathy
These are some of the activities that are handled by the “PFC” and Dr Amen explains that when there is a deficiency in this area of the brain that these functions suffer.
I couldn’t help but smile as I found myself better understanding some of my frustrating behaviors 
).
NOTE: Dr. Amen also published a book all about ADD and called Healing ADD. It discusses the 6 subtypes he’s observed. The premise is that if you know your subtype you may treat it differently than someone with another subtype, and this because each subtype is a deficiency in a different part of the brain (I assume, I’ve yet to read the book yet, but I did see it in the store and was very interested in it way before I saw the TV special).
More thoughts to come soon on Chapter 7 of Change Your Brain, Change Your Life!
