{"id":932947,"date":"2026-10-18T20:06:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-18T20:06:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/932947\/"},"modified":"2026-10-18T20:06:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-18T20:06:12","slug":"ive-treated-adhd-for-30-years-this-is-how-medication-affects-the-brain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/932947\/","title":{"rendered":"I\u2019ve treated ADHD for 30 years \u2013 this is how medication affects the brain"},"content":{"rendered":"

ADHD has long been underdiagnosed or misdiagnosed as anxiety, depression<\/a>, personality disorder or even bipolar disorder. When Nice, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, first formally recognised ADHD in 2008, it devoted an entire chapter of its guidelines to explaining why the condition is valid.<\/p>\n

Controversy has always followed ADHD and the stimulant medications used to treat it. Yet randomised controlled trials show that they improve attention, reduce restlessness and impulsive behaviour, and stabilise emotional responses.<\/p>\n

Population studies comparing patients when they are on and off their medication also find reductions in serious outcomes, including road traffic accidents, criminality, substance misuse and death.<\/p>\n

Clearly, the benefits of treating ADHD can be life-changing, and not just for the individual: family and wider society also benefit. We would be wise to understand this condition and its treatments better.<\/p>\n

Are ADHD brains wired differently?<\/p>\n

In a word, yes. Brain imaging studies show us ADHD brains are different<\/a>, particularly in brain networks involved in attention, motivation and managing emotions. But you cannot diagnose ADHD from a brain scan<\/a>. Multiple brain processes are involved.<\/p>\n

ADHD involves differences in function in the prefrontal cortex, the brain\u2019s control centre, and disruption to executive functions such as organisation, attention and control of emotional responses. Part of the problem is difficulty switching off the brain\u2019s default mode network (DMN), which drives our internal narrative. The result? An internal distractibility, or ceaseless mental chatter, that disturbs focus.<\/p>\n

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is a misnomer. It\u2019s less about deficit, more about dysregulation. Think of it like this: if a brain is an orchestra, then the ADHD one has all the orchestra members, but no conductor. Half the musicians are daydreaming and only come to life to play the exciting bits.<\/p>\n

At times, we all experience difficulties with attention and controlling our emotions, but that doesn\u2019t mean we all need medical treatment. We are, to some extent, \u201call a little bit ADHD\u201d, as people like to say. Around 80 per cent of the adult population report a few ADHD symptoms, 5 per cent report four or more, and around 2.5 per cent meet the criteria for a clinical diagnosis.<\/p>\n

This is more than a simple symptom count; it\u2019s about having at least five symptoms of inattention or hyperactivity, the impairment they cause, and how long those symptoms persist over time. Assessment is a detailed process; it should never be about simply box-ticking.<\/p>\n

Assessments use recognised thresholds to establish whether symptoms significantly impair everyday life despite a person\u2019s reasonable efforts to manage them.<\/p>\n

People with ADHD experience focused attention like a faulty dimmer switch, either full on or full off: they can concentrate intensely on something interesting, yet find simple, unstimulating tasks almost impossible to start or finish. The orchestra can\u2019t stop daydreaming.<\/p>\n

There are believed to be issues with the brain\u2019s chemical messengers. The idea that ADHD is just a \u201clack of dopamine\u201d is wrong. The differences concern how and when the neurotransmitters driving action and focus, dopamine and noradrenaline, are released.<\/p>\n

How do ADHD medications work?<\/p>\n

Around 90 per cent of prescribed ADHD medications are stimulants, which help improve focus, impulse control and restlessness by making dopamine and noradrenaline more available.<\/p>\n

Methylphenidate medications, such as Concerta, work mainly by blocking neurotransmitter transporters that clear these chemicals from the brain, allowing them to remain available for longer. Other amphetamine-based medications, such as lisdexamfetamine (Elvanse), work slightly differently, both increasing the release of these brain chemicals and blocking their reuptake.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ADHD has long been underdiagnosed or misdiagnosed as anxiety, depression, personality disorder or even bipolar disorder. When Nice,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":932948,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[23624,64,63,137,13069,490,10559,514,353961,38211,156,39080,275075,7594],"class_list":["post-932947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-medication","tag-attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder-adhd","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-health","tag-health-and-fitness","tag-medication","tag-medicines","tag-mental-health","tag-nhs-national-health-service","tag-spine","tag-standard","tag-therapy","tag-us-content","tag-wellbeing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/932947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=932947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/932947\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/932948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=932947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=932947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=932947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}