Q. I heard you mention ADHD in relation to dopamine. Is there anything new about that?

A. Two studies were published recently in the Archives of General Psychiatry. Both of them link a dopamine deficiency to ADHD, reportedly the most common psychiatric disorder in children.

This might help to explain the reason that people with ADHD are often substance abusers. Individuals diagnosed with ADHD are at higher risk than others for using drugs such as nicotine, alcohol, marijuana, methamphetamines, and cocaine. According to Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institutes of Health on Drug Abuse, all of these substances temporarily increase the concentration of dopamine in the brain.

This also helps to explain the reason that drugs such as Ritalin or methylphenidate— stimulants often prescribed for ADHD—work by amplifying dopamine in the brain.

According to Dr. Daniel Amen, this information is another reason that parents/teachers need to take active precautions for children with ADHD to help them avoid falling into the trap of substance abuse in an attempt to self-medicate their brains.

Recently a young man who had been diagnosed with ADHD and placed on Ritalin when quite young showed up at one of my seminars. He reported that it had been an easy transition to self-medicate with methamphetamines in adulthood, especially when Ritalin didn’t seem to be “doing the job” anymore. Now he was working diligently to address his addiction to uppers.