It Really Is All About The Dopamine

Well, it is. All about the dopamine,that is.

I could get technical here-get into re-uptake inhibitors, and serotonin versus dopamine-but that’s really not my area of expertise. I know enough to understand this one important fact though-there is “an association between ADHD and lower levels of dopamine.”¹

So then, logically speaking, that means that ADHD is related to brain chemistry. Not laziness, not apathy, not “trying to get away with something.” Saying that an ADHDer is being sluggish on purpose is like saying that someone with glasses isn’t trying hard enough to see.

I’m going to cover a lot of topics in this blog-some funny, some not so amusing. But I wanted to start with this basic idea-ADHD is about physical brain chemistry and structure-because if you are reading this, odds are you have ADHD, or have a loved one who has it (or are one of my friends or family that I forced to read it). And you have possibly been told, or even told someone else, that there’s no such thing as ADHD, it’s just people who are screw ups. Or won’t pull their own weight.

There are a lot of events in the world right now that show, in some people’s minds, that science isn’t to be believed. I don’t get that, and I never will. And there will always be people who don’t believe the science that shows ADHD is related to brain chemistry and structure. I don’t get that either, but unfortunately, they’re out there.

As long as you, the ADHDer or the family member of an ADHDer, know different.

It really is all about the dopamine. That’s where it starts…and that’s where it ends.