ADD RN,

I have the book--the title is "Healing ADD--The breakthrough program that allows you to see and heal the 6 types of ADD". I found the book fascinating as well and the brain pictures show how much of our behavior involves differences in our brain and how medication and substance abuse affect the brain for good or bad. I learned a lot from that book although I don't agree with some of his conclusions. But he has a lot of good and helpful information in the book. I also enjoyed his book, "Change Your Brain, Change Your Life".

It also seems to me that the four types he mentions of Overfocused, Temporal Lobe, Limbic and Ring of Fire--each resemble ADD with a comorbidity. The overfocused one resembles ADD with anxiety, which my daughter has and that is the one she most closely identifies with. The Limbic one seems to be a combination of ADD with depression. The Ring of Fire represents ADD wtih Bipolar Disorder and the Temporal Lobe sounds incredibly like ADD with Borderline Personality Disorder. My husband has the hyperactive ADHD, depression and borderline personality disorder. His symptoms match Type I, the Limbic type and the Temporal Lobe type. He also takes Prozac, Tegretol (carbamazapine) and Adderall along with an "as needed" antipsychotic.

All three of us have taken Effexor XR and while it did help with depression, none of us noticed any significant differences in our ADD. My sister, who has depression and was recently diagnosed with ADD has been on both Wellbutrin and Effexor XR at the same time and although they have helped considerably with her depression, they have not helped with the ADD symptoms.

And if someone has depression and the borderline personality disorder, as my husband does, they should not take the antidepressant Elavil. Research studies have demonstrated that it worsens the symptoms of the BPD, making individuals more aggressive, hostile and dysphoric.

I also have Dr. Amen's poster of brain scans of a normal brain and brains of individuals who have abused alcohol and different drugs. That is eye opening. It's a great visual for kids and teenagers that show them what the drugs do to their brain.

Elaine

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We'll have to check out Dr. Amen's book and post a review in the ADDitude library: http://www.additudemag.com/resources/bookreviews.html

Thanks!

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