Early onset of depression causing
physical abnormalities within brain.

I find the discourse about attention deficit (hyperactivity) disorder interesting and, unfortunately, saddening. What is not coming to light is the causation of ADD/ADHD. I too find it overly diagnosed and medicated, and without first looking into why we are seeing this marked increase of children with ADD/ADHD symptoms, we will continue to see this superficial, and disastrous, medical policy continue.

In my casual readings in Scientific American Mind and New Scientist (as well as many others), I have come across many clinical trials and neuroscientific research that postulates behavioral abnormalities, such as ADD/ADHD, to be a symptom/effect from a early onset of a psychological pathology, mainly depression. We forget how much our brains are shaped by not only genetics, and our external environment, but our internal environment as well.

How we feel and perceive the “world” around us affects our neural chemistry and physiology. While reading a published article from EurekAlert!, “an online, global news service operated by AAAS, the science society,” about depression and its affects on nearly the entire spectrum of chemistry and physiology, one can just imagine the impacts depression could have on a developing brain. It is said in the article:

“The areas of the brain that are most affected by the changes caused by depression are the prefrontal cortex, amygdala and hippocampus, which are central to emotion, memory and learning. Structural and functional changes as a consequence of stress and/or major depression are a reduction in volume, neuronal size and density, associated with changes in cerebral blood flow and glucose metabolism (see figure 1). In addition, there is a reduced density of glial support cells that are instrumental in the communication between nerve cells, which is particularly relevant to the reduced volume of the prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus. The shrinkage might explain some of the emotional changes observed in people with depression.”

When we take this information and overly it with the information that was released in Scientific American Online in the article, “Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.” as well as others, that show a strong correlation of ADD/ADHD children and a smaller prefrontal cortex and basal ganglia. Many have suggested a genetic link for the smaller cortical regions, but I tend to differ in my interpretation. One could say that our genetics have been the same for hundreds of years, but what has changed is our culture/society.

This post-industrial era, some call information era, has a drastic impact on our children. With both parents working more hours, unemployment increasing, job security decreasing, economic chaos, as well as materialism, individualism and corporatism increasing, who can not imagine children becoming more and more depressed? Being the extremely social animals we are, we rely heavily on our parents for security, leadership and guidance in this scary world. Without those things, because of the aforementioned, children are relying on TV, video games and peers for guidance.

Yet, these stand-ins for parents are substantially over-sensationalizing, over-exagerating the fear, violence and other “scary” things and causing more anxiety, depression and chronic stress in our children. We are lacking the evolutionary buffer called parents, so these psychological pathologies are creating a global crisis within their brains altering norepinephrine, serotonin and dopamine levels as well as cerebral blood flow and glial support for neural function and metabolism.

With these children lacking the function and efficacy of such important brain regions, we can now see a correlation (cause?) with ADD/ADHD. In another article by Scientific America titled “Bored?” mentions a trial that researched people’s ability to focus or “pay attention” and its relationship with their Boredom Proneness Scale (BPS). Here is what they found:

“The researchers found that the students who were prone to memory lapses and attention failures scored relatively high on the BPS. What is more, statistical models suggested that attention failures underlay the elevated scores for boredom proneness as well as for depression—an illness that shares documented similarities with boredom, including a negative mood and loss of meaning in life, Cheyne says. A chronic inability to focus on activities may render them effectively meaningless, the researchers surmise. “Attention is the common link between lack of meaning, depression and boredom,” Cheyne says.”

With all of this research coming full circle, we can scientifically prove that depression, prefrontal cortex abnormalities and attention deficit disorder are intimately linked to one another. Unfortunately, we can not move forward with the medical policy change that is needed until we demand that we take a deeper look into what, how and why our children are suffering from so many behavioral disorders. We need to become advocates for our children’s future!

And, you could throw in a little blame to the public school system, and it’s policies, for good measure, but that’s another discussion.

[Cerebrl]