BLOG No. FOURTEEN

Welcome back to my 14th blog on anxiety and depression. In this blog I’m going to forgo my usual rewind on what we’ve learned and move right into our topic of how attention deficit disorder (ADD) is different—and similar—to anxiety and depression. If you have read the previous blogs and can’t remember anything about anxiety or depression, then… PAY STRICT ATTENTION!! Just kidding.

ADD is an autosomal dominant, inherited disease that gives patients difficulties in focusing their attention.

(Autosomal dominant just means strongly inherited). Sometimes it comes with hyperactivity (ADHD) and sometimes not. Blame on the parents here is completely warranted, LOL. ADD is a paucity (that is a big word that means lack of) type one dopamine (D1) in the prefrontal cortex of the brain. To find the prefrontal cortex, put your hands over the part of your head that hurts after five tequila shots. You are pretty much there. We will call that alcoholic anatomy.

When there is a paucity (lack) of D1 dopamine there (see how your vocabulary is growing!) patients have a difficult time focusing. That lack of focus can be on the content of a book, the lecture of a professor, or the ramblings of a spouse or parent. (Can you take out the trash? What? The trash! The damned trash! Oh, the trash. What do you want me to do with it? Take it out! Take it out! Out where? Oh just forget it I’ll do it myself. Thanks ADD!)

That inability to focus can you look like the inability to focus of people with high levels of D2 dopamine. But there is a big difference in chemistry and how it affects us. D2 chemistry (mood disorders) have a lot of anxiety and depression that go with it, as we have learned. There doesn’t need to be anything to stimulate it. It can be a gorgeous day, nothing pressing or negative, and the anxiety is still there.

But ADD is a different kind of anxiety.

It is an overwhelming feeling that comes over us, because of not being able to get things done. Because of the inattention, frustration grows, primarily out of the inability to accomplish tasks that need to be done. And in this age of multitasking at the workplace or at school, these frustrations begin to multiply. And when they do, any timeline is poking us in the ass. What develops? Yes, it’s our good friend anxiety.

So how do you tell the difference? Easy peasy.

ADD anxiety is the uneasiness that comes from the inability to get things done. The pressure mounts. But sleep is usually reasonable and the mood stays relatively good.

But D2 anxiety usually has an icing of depression, anger, and racing thoughts. If I can depict ADD in one word, it is frustration. If I can depict D2 issues in one word, it is anger. There is a difference.

And to make it a bit more difficult, about 30% of ADD patients tend to have D2 issues—and vice versa. Just as diabetics tender have more blood pressure problems, D2 dopamine patients can have ADD and vice versa. It can be tedious to tease these out. But that is why I make the big bucks—or should, LOL.

Okay, a nice Mexican waiter has brought my Italian Chardonnay in a Chinese cup. So until next time, when we talk about gambling, sexual promiscuity, and buying stuff that you just don’t need, this is Dr. G saying, keep the faith!