Don’t miss this terrific NYT Opinion article: A Natural Fix For A.D.H.D.
While the conclusion is not novel (put kids in schools with small class size) the focus on how the unique qualities of the A.D.H.D. brain evolved for survival, and how people with this wiring are best served to, rather than simply medicate, understand and honor their particular chemistry/wiring. Consider working with it. That means, choose environments in which to live and work that matches your cognitive style and reward drives. Kids, are sh** out of luck. But adults have the freedom to choose.
Here are a few nuggets from Richard Friedman’s article:
“Rewards like sex, money, drugs and novel situations all cause the release of dopamine in the reward circuit of the brain, a region buried deep beneath the cortex. Aside from generating a sense of pleasure, this dopamine signal tells your brain something like, “Pay attention, this is an important experience that is worth remembering.”
“The more novel and unpredictable the experience, the greater the activity in your reward center.”
“Recent neuroscience research shows that people with A.D.H.D. are actually hard-wired for novelty-seeking.”
“They are drawn to new and exciting experiences and get famously impatient and restless with the regimented structure that characterizes our modern world.”
“They have sluggish and underfed brain reward circuits, so much of everyday life feels routine and understimulating.”
“People with A.D.H.D. find repetitive and routine tasks unrewarding and even painfully boring.”