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What should make you suspect that ADD/ADHD brain chemistry is affecting your teenager?

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Recognizing ADD/ADHD brain chemistry in teenagers is not easy to do.

Can your teenager be just a growing, developing, normal, somewhat "crazy" teenager? Yes, of course.

But a teenager may sometimes act "crazy" because he or she has ADD/ADHD brain chemistry and, as a consequence, expresses a lot of cognitive and emotive dysfunction which is making life extra difficult.

The diagnostic problem is that ADD/ADHD behavior is "normal" behavior but at the extreme limits of "normal." To be considered "abnormal," behavior must be repeatedly unproductive, harmful and painful. This is one of the critical observations that must be made if you are to distinguish ADD/ADHD teenage behavior from what commonly are the expected behaviors of teenagers.

ADD/ADHD behavior is significantly different as an individual moves from childhood to the teen years and then into adulthood. Keep in mind the factor of age when thinking about ADD/ADHD. [See Understanding ADD/ADHD in the column to the left]

Even though parents once were teenagers, they nevertheless often have difficulty understanding and dealing with their own teenage children. Worse, many parents believe that these years are always and necessarily a difficult time for everyone involved. For example, most teenagers do things, at least occasionally, that are rebellious and may even appear to be "crazy." Are they rebellious? Hopefully yes! But are the teenagers really crazy? Usually not! Are they dysfunctional? Not necessarily! Are they experimenting with life? Yes, almost certainly! Are they constantly pushing at the limits of parental and societal tolerance? Yes!

Normally, teenagers experience tremendous physical, sexual and mental growth, stress from social and cultural expectations as well as intellectual and personal challenges. Testing-the-water behaviors are desirable and healthy ventures of young people going through adolescence. No teenager should be considered dysfunctional because of an occasional misstep, bizarre remark, misjudgment, error, or outlandish act.

By contrast, however, teenagers with ADD/ADHD brain chemistry live on the edge, constantly striving to control their cognitive and emotive behaviors while at the same time creating extreme situations which cause psychological problems and social rejection. The on-the-edge living pattern should be considered dysfunctional if it leads to repeatedly negative consequences that have predictably harmful repercussions on the doer and others.

Are there, then, some reasonably easy ways to distinguish between ADD/ADHD behavior and what is normal and expected for a teenager? Yes, there are!

Look for unacceptable behavior involving inattention, impulsivity and other behaviors listed below that occur over and over again. Please, do not start out thinking that your teenagers are "bad," lazy or "purposely" creating problems for themselves. From a practical point of view, keep in mind that there is not good treatment for "bad" kids, but there is excellent treatment for those with ADD/ADHD brain chemistry.

Below are important ADD/ADHD behaviors that can be seen in teenagers. The behaviors diagnostic of ADD/ADHD are divided into those that are diagnostically "certain" and those that are "strongly suggestive." A detailed discussion of these behaviors is found in The ADD Brain by Dr. Gross.

CORE AND ASSOCIATED CHARACTERISTICS OF ADD/ADHD IN TEENAGERS:

  • Fidgetiness or some degree of hyperactivity

  • Impulsivity, that is, thoughts racing through the mind

  • Inattention for "boring" or "unexciting" activities, including school work

  • Waking slowly in the morning unless expecting to participate in a high excitement activity

  • Falling asleep with difficulty at night, often staying up late until overwhelmingly tired

  • Spatial dyslexia (see above) and sometimes verbal dyslexia (reversing the order of words while speaking)

  • Episodic explosiveness with significant physical manifestations such as hitting others, breaking inanimate objects and screaming uncontrollably

  • A history of bedwetting which may still be present

  • Unexplained emotional negativity, sometimes more appropriately called depression, and even attempted suicide

  • Unexplained irritability or easy frustration over minor issues or matters

For one reason or another, some of the ten major clues to ADD/ADHD brain chemistry are not considered "abnormal" by many parents. For example, some parents are dyslexic themselves. They may not bring their dyslexic children to a doctor for medication treatment because they still live with their own untreated dyslexia.

For simplicity, and without going through the entire ADD/ADHD clue list above, what items can parents and teenagers notice which should alert them to suspect ADD/ADHD brain chemistry in their teenagers? Check out below the "virtually absolute" and the "strongly suggestive" lists of clues to ADD/ADHD. For support of your suspicion, always seek appropriate medical consultation.

VIRTUALLY ABSOLUTE INDICATORS OF ADD/ADHD NEUROLOGY:

  • Hyperactivity/Fidgetiness/Squirming

  • Impulsivity

  • Unexplained academic inattention for boring tasks (i.e., homework)

  • Primary nocturnal enuresis (bedwetting while sleeping at night after the age of four)

  • Episodic Explosiveness/Emotional Outbursts over little matters or from minor provocation

STRONGLY SUGGESTIVE INDICATORS OF ADD NEUROLOGY:

  • Waking slowly (as opposed to not getting out of bed) most mornings ... (91%)

  • Difficulty falling asleep at night... most of the time ... (76%)

  • Unexplained irritability... very often feeling "bugged" ... (very common)

  • Unexplained negativity... often interpreted as depression ... (common)

  • Verbal and/or spatial dyslexia .... sometimes "cute" and controllable but not really "normal" ... (55%)