ADHD/ADD

Overview

How to Help Struggling Families

Many professionals refer children to Amen Clinics when parents are resistant to pharmaceutical treatment for ADHD/ADD. Given the negative side effects Adderall, Ritalin, and other commonly prescribed medications can have on some children, seeking alternative treatment options—as well as alternative diagnostic methods, which can sometimes reveal unidentified comorbidities—is understandable. Refer families who are struggling with ADHD/ADD to Amen Clinics to give them access to alternative diagnostic tools and treatment options they may not otherwise have.

To learn more about our Nuetraceutical products and how to help your patients achieve healthy brain function, visit our MindWorks store.

How Your Referral Can Help Your Patients: SPECT Imaging

Dr. Amen is the world’s leading researcher on SPECT imaging. Your referral can help patients gain access to expert opinion and experienced diagnostics. SPECT can specifically help your patients with ADHD by:

  • Helping evaluate whether or not the patient has ADHD or some other condition
  • Helping determine the type of ADHD to inform treatment decisions
  • Evaluating treatment efficacy
  • Identifying comorbidities that may warrant treatment
  • Reducing emotional pain and stigma by demonstrating to families that symptoms and behaviors are not imaginary
  • Increasing treatment compliance by showing families pictures of results
  • Helping families gain a better understanding of the illness through visuals

About SPECT Imaging


Learn more about this powerful diagnostic tool

How Your Referral Helps: Identifying and Treating Types of ADHD


Shortly after he began brain SPECT imaging work in 1991, Dr. Amen discovered that ADHD is not a single or simple disorder. While conducting research, he observed different brain SPECT patterns in his ADHD patients, and over the next several years, he came to identify 6 different types of ADHD that responded differently to different treatments. This can help your patients, especially those who may appear to be unresponsive to their current treatments.

Type 1: Classic ADHD

Symptoms: 

Primary ADHD symptoms plus hyperactivity, restlessness, and impulsivity

Common SPECT findings: 

  • Low prefrontal cortex activity while the person is concentrating 

Nutritional Support

Goal of Nutritional Support: To optimize and support both focus and healthy energy levels

Learn More about: The Amen Solution Focus and Energy Optimizer

Type 2: Inattentive ADHD

Symptoms:

Primary ADHD symptoms plus low energy and motivation, spacey, and internally preoccupied. Type 2 is diagnosed later in life, if at all. It is more common in girls. These are quiet people, often labeled as “lazy,” “unmotivated,” and “not that smart.”

Common SPECT findings: 

  • Low prefrontal cortex activity while the person is concentrating 
  • Low cerebellar activity

Nutritional Support

Goal of Nutritional Support: To optimize and support both focus and healthy energy levels

Learn More about: The Amen Solution Focus and Energy Optimizer

Type 3: Over-focused ADHD

Symptoms: 

Primary ADD symptoms plus cognitive inflexibility, trouble shifting attention, stuck on negative thoughts or behaviors, worrying, holding grudges, argumentative, oppositional, and a need for sameness. Often seen in families with addiction problems or obsessive-compulsive tendencies.

Common SPECT findings:

  • High anterior cingulate activity
  • Low prefrontal cortex activity while the person is concentrating

Nutritional Support

Goal of nutritional support: To maintain healthy serotonin levels

Learn More about: The Amen Solution Serotonin Mood Support

Type 4: Temporal Lobe ADD

Symptoms:

Primary ADD symptoms plus a “short fuse,” difficulty distinguishing helpful corrections from insults, periods of anxiety, headaches or abdominal pain, history of head injury, family history of anger management problems, dark thoughts, memory problems, and difficulty reading. Often seen in families with learning disabilities or anger management problems.

Common SPECT findings: 

  • Low temporal lobe activity 
  • Low prefrontal cortex activity while the person is concentrating

Nutritional Support

Goal of nutritional support: To quiet an overactive mind

Learn More about: The Amen Solution GABA Calming Support

Type 5: Limbic ADD

Symptoms:

Primary ADD symptoms plus chronic mild sadness, negativity, low energy, low self-esteem, irritability, social isolation, and poor appetite and sleep patterns. Stimulants, by themselves, usually cause problems with rebound or cause depressive symptoms.

Common SPECT findings: 

  • High deep limbic activity 
  • Low prefrontal cortex activity at rest and while the person is concentrating

Nutritional Support

Goal of nutritional support: The synthesis of neurotransmitters, the hormone melatonin, phospholipids, and polyamines.

Learn More about: Amen Clinics NeuroSAMe

Type 6: Ring of Fire ADD

Symptoms:

Primary ADD symptoms plus extreme moodiness, anger outbursts, oppositional behavior, inflexibility, rapid-fire thinking, excessive talking, and high sensitivity to sounds and lights. “Ring of Fire” refers to the intense ring of overactivity that Dr. Amen has observed in the brains of affected people. Note: this type of ADHD is often worsened by stimulants.

Common SPECT findings: 

  • Noticeable overall increased activity across the cortex
  • Low prefrontal cortex activity (less common)

Nutritional Support

Goal of nutritional support:To support neurological and cognitive function.

Learn More about: Amen Clinics Neurolink

Recommendations for All Types of ADHD

Each type of ADHD/ADD responds differently to different treatment regimens. At Amen Clinics, we use a different combination of nutraceuticals and lifestyle recommendations to treat each type, and comprehensive patient intake evaluations are also performed to gain a deeper understanding of other factors which may affect symptoms and treatment. Your patients will be given time and attention to ensure they are given the treatment regimen that is right for them.

Help your patients learn more.
Patients can read more about the different types of ADHD/ADD in Dr. Amen’s book, Healing ADD, which is available in our store.