Brain Scans Link ADHD to Biological Flaw Tied to Motivation

For decades, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder has sparked debate. Is it a biological illness, the dangerous legacy of genes or environmental toxins, or a mere alibi for bratty kids, incompetent parents and a fraying social fabric?

With 4.5 million U.S. children having received a diagnosis of the disorder -- and more than half of them taking prescription drugs to control it -- the question has divided doctors and patients, parents and teachers, and mothers and fathers.

Scientists maintain that they've been narrowing in on the origins and mechanics of disabling distraction, while gathering increasing evidence that ADHD is as real as such less controversial disorders as Down syndrome and schizophrenia. Their most recent progress is described in a Sept. 9 report in the Journal of the American Medical Association, based on a new study that indicates a striking difference in the brain's motivational machinery in people with ADHD symptoms.

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Treatment on a plate - A dietary approach to treating addiction seems worth investigating

PEOPLE are programmed for addiction. Their brains are designed so that actions vital for propagating their genes—such as eating and having sex—are highly rewarding. Those reward pathways can, however, be subverted by external chemicals (in other words, drugs) and by certain sorts of behaviour such as gambling.

In recent years, neuroscientists have begun to understand how these reward pathways work and, in particular, the role played by message-carrying molecules called neurotransmitters. These molecules, notably serotonin, dopamine and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), hop between nerve cells, carrying signals as they go. Some drugs mimic their actions. Others enhance them. Either way, the body tends, as a result, to give up making them. At that point the person needs the drug as a substitute for the missing transmitter. In other words, he is an addict.

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Antidepressants Can Increase Depression, Impulsivity and Suicide Risk by Decreasing Dopamine

Antidepressant medications which increase serotonin neurotransmitter levels can depress dopamine levels. Decreasing dopamine level can increase depression, impulsivity and suicide risk in depressed patients, who were previously dopamine deficient. "When physicians prescribe serotonin enhancement medications to dopamine deficient patients, patients sometimes become more depressed, impulsive and suicidal," said Dr. Rick Sponaugle, Medical Director of Florida Detox.

Many depressed patients do not improve with Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI) Antidepressants, such as Prozac, Paxil or Zoloft. Prozac and Paxil only increase serotonin and norepinephrine activity. When serotonin is increased above normal levels with medication, the brain downregulates dopamine production. Dopamine downregulation explains why some patients become suicidal on "antidepressants."

Physicians must differentiate which "happy chemicals" require adjustment. There are five main "happy chemical" neurotransmitters, serotonin, dopamine, glutamate, norepinephrine and acetylcholine. Deficiency in any of these, can produce clinical depression.

Recent PET brain scan studies clearly reveal dopamine activates the human "pleasure center" (nucleus accumbens). The dopamine D2 receptor within the pleasure center appears to be our happy receptor. PET studies can accurately measure the difference in D2 activity among different patients.

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