ADHD (Attention Deficit & Hyper Activity Disorder)

ADD, ADHD, Impulsivity, Behavior & Attention Problems

When you have ADD, people often see symptoms like distractibility, impulsivity, inattention, or lack of follow-through as a result of laziness or lack of effort.

If ADD were laziness or lack of effort, doctors wouldn’t prescribe medications. Doctors prescribe medications because ADD is a brain problem — it’s not a psychological issue.

Medications may help, but only temporarily. Medicines do not teach you how to be calm and focused, or to behave. That’s what is needed.

In addition, even the best talk therapy and behavioral interventions can seem to make minimal progress with difficult kids. Brain training is a new approach that can help almost anyone learn to gain self-control and improve attention.

Medication Concerns

Many parents have concerns about side effects. The list of these can be long, but can include a loss of appetite (especially in growing children) cardiac risks, interference with sleep, or even becoming “less personable”. There is also concern that children are taught that pills can solve their problems.

The longer someone takes medication, the larger the risk of side effects. You can build up a tolerance to medication, which means that medications get changed, or the dosage is increased, or additional medications are added. This can also increase the risk of side effects.

As an alternative to medications, neurofeedback can often help people reduce or eliminate drugs for ADD or ADHD as their brains become more stable.

Brain Training Helps Overcome the Problem

Most people are unaware that brain training can better regulate focus while decreasing distractibility, impulsivity, and behaviors which are annoying to teachers and loved ones. So, out of desperation, people, seek artificial chemical control.

The Problem with the ADD Brain

How do stimulants appear to slow down a hyperactive client and help him focus? It is common knowledge that stimulants speed you up. With hyperactive ADD, there may be too much slow activity in brain regions that regulate focus and attention.

ADD clients compensate for this slower-than-normal brain activity by stimulating their brains with constant body movement to “wake their brain up”. Stimulants increase brain activity so one can focus without the constant body movement. Slow activity in certain brain regions is also associated with lack of motivation, distractibility, inattention, depression, and worry.

Example:

Excessive fast activity in the brain can also cause problems. That can include impulsivity, aggressiveness, and anxiety. Imagine your brain racing so fast that it’s difficult to listen or sit still. People with ADD are normally very intelligent. They often get the big picture right away. Because their mental pace may be faster than the person giving the instructions, they move ahead and miss many of the details.

Brain Training is an Effective and Researched Alternative

Because ADD is a brain problem, doesn’t it make sense to work directly on the problem?

Your brain drives all learning. When you train your brain with neurofeedback, it helps you learn how to become focused, calm, and gain self-control.

Most people can’t control the number of heart beats they make per minute. It’s also hard (without brain training) to learn to control the rhythm of the brain. If the brain’s waves are not “in sync” or are too fast or slow, it’s very hard to focus, be calm, or be in control.

The good news is various studies conducted over many years show that brain training with neurofeedback improves inattention, distractibility, impulsivity and self control.