I understand the energy of stimulant medications may help *inattentive type* ADHD people to focus: but how would they help someone who is already *hyperactive*?
It sounds counter-intuitive : ELI5?
In: 8
Adhd is more accurately described as an inability to regulate attention. Hyperactivity is just a common consequence of that deficit, mainly in children–people with adhd often grow out of obvious hyperactivity once they reach teens or adulthood, and plenty of people never show this symptom!
Stimulant medications help the adhd brain regulate attention by increasing levels of dopamine. You can think of the adhd brain as inherently dopamine-starved, and as a result it’s always looking for its next fix. Dopamine is the fuel for our reward center. Its generally released in response to pleasurable things and things that are good for us. You might get some dopamine release from a hug or good food, but also from cleaning the house. The feeling of satisfaction from a job well done? Dopamine. In this dopamine-starved environment, however, the reward system is dysfunctional/disregulated. The adhd brain always wants more, more, more dopamine and that means if its under-stimulated, it’s distracted by anything and everything that seems more interesting, exciting, or novel, and if it finds something hyper-stimulating, it cant stop. The artificial dopamine release from stimulants makes that brain environment a bit more like a neurotypical one.
We think of stimulants as, well, stimulating because in a neurotypical brain adding dopamine raises levels to a supernormal state instead of normalizing them. That creates extra energy, and hyperfocus where *everything* seems ultra-interesting/motivating. This can happen with adhd too if one takes more than the therapeutic amount.
For more reading about the science of adhd and stimulants, I highly reccomend the work of Dr. Russel Barkely, to whom I credit the information above.
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