What Causes
Attention Deficit Disorder?
Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) is a dysfunction of
the Reticular Activating System (RAS), which is the
center of consciousness that integrates learning and
memory. RAS typically supplies the right amount of neural
connectors that are needed for smooth information processing
and clear, non-stressful attention. It is when the neural
building materials are lacking that demand for further
connectivity cannot easily be fulfilled and interferes
with the efficient processing of information, leaving
the afflicted Attention Deficit Disorder individual
frustrated.
A
person with ADD does not have enough neural "hardware"
and the supply cannot keep up with the demand for
new neural connectors within the Central Nervous System
(CNS). As demands for new learning, memory, and the
management of information processing cannot be satisfied,
and the existing neural pathways are being continually
overworked and over stressed due to the insufficient
"connections," this causes gridlock or shutdown,
so that nothing gets processed thereafter. This, most
obviously, causes frustration, bewilderment, and behavioral
problems with an individual with Attention Deficit
Disorder.
The
Reticular Activating System and its connections are
at the center of consciousness, attention, and learning.
It
seems that the Reticular Activating System is intimately
involved in the neural mechanisms which produce consciousness
and focused attention, receiving impulses from the
spinal cord, relaying them to the Thalamus, then to
the Cortex, and back again in a feedback loop to the
Hippocampus/Thalamus/Hypothalamus and the participating
neural structures in order for learning and memory
to occur. Without the continual excitation of cortical
neurons by reticular activation impulses, a person
is unconscious and cannot be aroused. When the stimulation
is enough for consciousness, but not for attentiveness,
Attention Deficit or Learning Disorders is the result.
If too activated, a person cannot relax or concentrate
and is over-stimulated or hyperactive, then that usually
results in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
Disorder. |
