The Different Types, or Styles, of ADHD

The diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is very broad, including several different types of ADHD.


What are these different types of ADHD?

• "Inattentive": Just like Winnie the Pooh
• "Classic Hyperactive": Tiggers like to bounce...
• "Over-Focused": Rabbit tends his garden
• "With Anxiety": Piglet is nervous and worries...
• "With Depression": Eeyore says, "Thanks for noticing me..."

And in each article we will discuss the best targeted alternative treatment strategies for each of these five types of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

Different Types, or Styles, of ADHD

Research literature, recent books, and common sense, all point to the fact that there are different types, or styles, of ADHD.

In the past we referred to Attention Deficit Disorder: Inattentive Type, or Impulsive/Hyperactive Type, or a Combined Type. Today the diagnostic differences are a bit less clear, but the reality doesn't change.

Dr. Daniel Amen has written a great book on the subject, titled "Healing ADHD:The Breakthrough Program That Allows You to See and Heal the 6 Types of ADD" where he uses his SPECT scans of patient's brain activity to help in making his six classifications.

His classifications include these "Types" ...

1. Classic ADD - Inattentive, distractible, disorganized. Perhaps hyperactive, restless and impulsive.

2. Inattentive ADD - Inattentive, and disorganized.

3. Over-focused ADD - Trouble shifting attention, frequently stuck in loops of negative thoughts, obsessive, excessive worry, inflexible, oppositional and argumentative.

4. Temporal Lobe ADD - Inattentive and irritable, aggressive, dark thoughts, mood instability, very impulsive. May break rules, fight, be defiant, and very disobedient. Poor handwriting and trouble learning are common.

5. Limbic System ADD - Inattentive, chronic low-grade depression, negative, low energy, feelings of hopelessness and worthlessness.

6. Ring of Fire ADD - Inattentive, extremely distractible, angry, irritable, overly sensitive to the environment, hyperverbal, extremely oppositional, possible cyclic moodiness.

We will be discussing these classification in more detail in this section.

Here our classifications are a bit different, and are based more on our clinical observation and experiences.

Our classifications are based on the classic children's stories of Winnie the Pooh and his friends in the Hundred Acre Wood.

• Winnie the Pooh Type - Inattentive, distractible, disorganized. He's nice, but lives in a cloud.
• Tigger Type- Inattentive, impulsive, hyperactive, restless, bouncy.
• Eeyore Type - Inattentive, with chronic low-grade depression.
• Piglet Type - Trouble shifting attention, excessive worry, easily startled.
• Rabbit Type - Trouble shifting attention, inflexible, argumentative.
• Troubled Type ADHD - Irritable, aggressive, impulsive, defiant, disobedient. Learning problems.

Each of these types of ADHD (using either Amen's system or ours) will have different treatment needs and approaches.

Read all about the different types of ADHD...

And Please! Bookmark this page: del.icio.us | Furl | reddit | Shadows | Yahoo MyWeb