“ADHD” is the abbreviation for “Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.” Sometimes it’s also called ADD (Attention-Deficit Disorder), but for simplicity’s sake, we’ll just use the official name “ADHD” here.
As you explore The Attention Center web site further, you’ll learn that we don’t think of ADHD primarily as a “disorder” or a “deficit.” Rather, it is a difference in how the brains of ADHD people monitor and respond to the environment.
When an ADHD person notices something that his brain finds inherently interesting, he will hyperfocus on it – often to the point that it blocks out all other stimuli. The ADHD person also wants to respond to this stimulus immediately. Restlessness may occur as the ADHD person's brain is telling his body to get up and go find something interesting, but that’s not the case for every ADHD person.
Skip the technical definition; explore some myths and truth regarding ADHD. (3-pg pdf; 104 K)
Find out how the ADHD brain focuses.
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder – or ADHD – was so named by the American Psychiatric Association in 1995. (Although it may not include hyperactivity in all patients.) Prior to this, it has been known by many names over the past century, including ADD, Hyperkinetic Disorder, “...and my favorite inaccurate name,” adds Dr. Romereim, “Minimal Brain Dysfunction.”
Although it may present as various attributes in various people, ADHD is primarily a biologically programmed need to monitor the environment for the most interesting stimuli, to hyperfocus on that stimuli, and to respond to it immediately and reflexively.
This trait is a genetic, inherited difference transmitted by several different genes, with the most commonly associated gene a variant of the dopamine receptor known as DRD4. In people with ADHD, it is associated with the allele (variant) of the DRD4 gene known as the 7 repeat allele which is located on chromosome 11.
This gene codes for the dopamine receptors in the brain. Dopamine is one of two neurotransmitters (chemicals) which send messages from one nerve to the next in the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that controls attending to and responding to stimuli, and other functions related to learning, decision making and impulse control.
The APA has identified three sub-types of ADHD: 1. predominantly inattentive type; 2. predominantly hyperactive-impulsive type and 3. combined type.
See visible images of these differences in the brain, in our section on SPECT scans.
Learn about the various types of ADHD.
Explore treatment options, including but not limited to medication.
Here are some common myths regarding ADHD; all of the following statements are untrue:
- ADHD is basically due to bad parenting; the only thing ADHD children really need is old-fashioned discipline.
- ADHD is over diagnosed and over treated.
- ADHD kids are all hyperactive.
- ADHD affects only boys and not girls.
- Children outgrow ADHD; it doesn’t affect adults.
- Teachers just want any child who may be difficult to deal with to be drugged into submission.
- It is not possible to accurately diagnose ADHD in children or adults.
Read the truth about these common ADHD myths. (3-page pdf; 708 K)
Return to top