ADD - Type 6
Now about Type 6 attention deficit in the series of articles where I explain some of the details of the seven types of ADD.
Type 6 is also called Ring of Fire ADD. The name for this type of ADD comes from underlying aspects of body chemistry imbalance that drives an overall increase in brain activity across the whole cortex. At Johnson Chiropractic Neurology & Nutrition & Michigan Brain Health (my new upcoming name for my mental fitness treatment paradigm) we look at brain maps or qEEG's. The brain maps have a color coding to indicate the degree of brainwave activity. Red and yellow colors indicate higher than normal brain wave activity. When we see light and dark blue we know there is lower that normal brain wave activity. In Ring of Fire ADD, we typically see an overall pattern of red and yellow in all the 4 brainwaves (delta, theta, alpha and beta). Dr. Amen postulates that, "Ring of Fire ADD may represent a variant of bipolar disorder mixed with ADD."
In Ring of Fire ADD, the core ADD symptoms are present along with the additional hallmark symptoms including; irritability, hyperactivity, excessive talking, overfocus issues, extreme oppositional behavior, and cyclic periods of calm behavior alternating with intense aggressive behavior. [1] As with all the other ADD types, a we correlate the patient's qEEG findings with their clinical history and brain map (qEEG) results will assist with correct ADD/ADHD classification.
