Nutritional Approaches to ADD and ADHD Treatment in Smithtown

Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are strikingly prevalent disorders, affecting an estimated 7% to 11% of the total population. Because ADD and ADHD cause difficulties in attention that affect learning, memory, and concentration, they are often diagnosed during childhood when it interferes with academic performance. Treatment for these disorders usually takes the form of prescription stimulant medications, such as methylphenidates like Ritalin or amphetamines like Adderall. Unfortunately, these types of medications can have undesirable side effects, including sleeplessness and reduced appetite. This can make them undesirable for some people, including the millions of children who have been diagnosed with ADD and ADHD.

The risks of these medications cause many concerned parents to take a keen interest in other possible approaches to treatment. In addition to cognitive behavioral therapy, a non-pharmaceutical approach based on behavioral changes, and neurofeedback therapy, a sophisticated form of biofeedback that targets electrical activity in the brain, numerous studies have shown nutritional and dietary changes to be effective for helping to manage ADD and ADHD. A balanced diet, rich in key vitamins and minerals known to affect cognition, attention, and other mental processes, may be highly beneficial for keeping ADD and ADHD symptoms in check.

Dietary Changes for ADD and ADHD Treatment

A healthy, balanced diet is important for mental and physical health. Some studies have suggested that certain dietary changes can help with these disorders, including:

• A diet rich in protein. Protein has many uses in the body, including the production of chemicals called neurotransmitters. These chemicals function in communication between neurons and areas of the brain. ADD and ADHD treatment often involves increasing the availability of two of these chemicals, norepinephrine and dopamine, which are often deficient in certain areas of the brain in people with attention deficit disorders—this is what prescription stimulants affect. An adequate supply of dietary protein is necessary for proper manufacture and function of neurotransmitters. Eating protein also helps prevent surges in blood sugar, which can exacerbate hyperactivity.
• Avoid refined sugar. Many Americans ingest too much refined sugar, often in the form of cookies, candy, sodas, and other foods that are decidedly lacking in overall nutritional value. Too much sugar can cause increased hyperactivity in children with ADHD.
• Taking a good multivitamin can help ensure that all micronutrients are accounted for. This can be especially helpful for children with ADD who are “picky eaters” and may refuse to eat foods containing nutrients they need.
• B vitamins, especially B-6, are integral to a variety of brain processes and functions on a cellular level. An adequate supply of B-complex vitamins can help with ADD treatment by increasing focus and concentration.
• Zinc, a key micronutrient, is necessary for the synthesis of dopamine, a neurotransmitter implicated in ADD and ADHD. Some studies have indicated that many ADD and ADHD individuals may also be mildly zinc deficient.
• Iron, like zinc, is needed for dopamine synthesis. Studies have shown that people with ADD and ADHD often have relatively low levels of iron.

In most cases, none of these nutrients alone are entirely sufficient for comprehensive ADD treatment; however, adequate nutrition is crucial for ensuring optimal cognitive function, and people with attention deficit disorders may tend to be lacking in certain nutrients such as iron and zinc. A healthy, balanced diet rich in protein, along with vitamin supplementation, can be helpful in keeping ADD symptoms at bay, especially in children for whom stimulant medications may not be an ideal approach.

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5 Common Physical Anxiety Symptoms

Anxiety symptoms in Melville often involve physical, or “somatic,” symptoms that occur along with emotional feelings of worry and fear. People with anxiety disorders, such as Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Panic Disorder, can experience somatic anxiety symptoms of varying types and severity, ranging from stomach upset to full-scale panic attacks that sometimes feel like a heart attack. Physical anxiety symptoms in Melville can generally be reduced by treating the anxiety disorder with medication, psychotherapy, or neurofeedback therapy. Five of the most common physical anxiety symptoms are muscle tension, gastrointestional problems, difficulty sleeping, shaking or trembling, and full-scale panic attacks.

#1: Muscle Tension

Muscle tension is a common symptom of anxiety in Melville, often affecting the shoulders, back, jaw, and neck muscles. This can cause strain and soreness that can lead to discomfort. Bruxism, or tooth grinding and jaw clenching, is another of the anxiety symptoms resulting from tension, and can cause damage to the teeth and gums over time. The best way to eliminate muscle tension anxiety symptoms is to address the emotional component of the anxiety disorders, although for the muscle tension specifically, relaxation therapy and biofeedback therapy are often helpful.

#2: Digestive Problems and Gastrointestinal Discomfort

Gastrointestinal problems are common anxiety symptoms in Melville. Many people with anxiety disorders become nauseous, experience stomach cramping, or have other GI symptoms when they are worried or afraid. The stomach is sensitive to emotion, as is reflected in colloquialisms like “having a gut feeling” or a “gut-wrenching experience”. Research indicates that gastrointestinal anxiety symptoms may be due to activity involving the vagus nerve, a major cranial nerve that connects the stomach and brain.

#3: Difficulty Sleeping

Anxiety symptoms in Melville are very likely to cause sleeping problems, usually in the form of insomnia. People with anxiety disorders often find themselves tossing and turning at night, thinking about things that worry them. The emotional state of anxiety is a state of arousal that is not compatible with restfulness, and makes it difficult to “wind down” in order to get to sleep. Relaxation techniques and breathing exercises are often helpful for sleep-related anxiety symptoms, which can also be treated with neurofeedback therapy in many cases.

#4: Shaking and Trembling

People with anxiety disorders in Melville sometimes experience shaking or trembling as anxiety symptoms during times of acute worry or fear. Although these effects are most likely to occur in the context of a panic attack, they can also occur on their own.

#5: Full-Scale Panic Attacks

A panic attack is a set of physiological responses that occur in response to acute terror, often in the context of anxiety disorders. Not everyone with anxiety symptoms experiences panic attacks, although they can occur sometimes in Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder, and other anxiety conditions. Panic attacks are the defining feature of a subtype of anxiety disorder called Panic Disorder. Panic attacks sometimes cause the person to feel like they are having a heart attack or another medically serious episode, although they are not physically dangerous. Anxiety symptoms typical of panic attacks in Melville include:

·         Overwhelming feelings of fear and terror

·         A feeling that one might be dying or that death is near

·         Rapid heart rate

·         Nausea

·         Dizziness or faintness

·         Numbness or tingling in the hands or feet

·         Hot or cold flashes

·         Feeling of shortness of breath

·         Chest discomfort

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Three Types of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Anxiety

Cognitive behavioral therapy for anxiety is widely considered by psychiatrists and psychologists in Farmingdale and elsewhere to be one of the most effective and best supported treatments for anxiety disorders, including generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and other related psychological conditions. Cognitive behavioral therapy is a form of psychotherapy in which the therapist helps the patient identify irrational ways of thinking and feeling that lead to maladaptive behaviors, in order to change the client’s response to anxiety-triggering situations and events.

There are six key phases involved in cognitive behavioral therapy:

1.       Psychological assessment of the client by the therapist

2.       Reconceptualization, in which the client learns to reexamine their ways of thinking about anxiety-triggering situations or events

3.       Skills acquisition, in which the client learns new skills for coping

4.       Skills consolidation and application, in which the client applies their newly learned skills

5.       Generalization and maintenance

6.       Post-treatment assessment and follow-up

There are several different approaches to cognitive behavioral therapy for anxiety available in Farmingdale. Some of these include rational emotive behavior therapy, cognitive emotional behavior therapy, and structured cognitive behavioral therapy.

Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy

Rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) is a form of cognitive behavioral therapy for anxiety that emphasizes the resolution of emotional disturbances and related behavioral problems. REBT was originally developed in the 1950s by American psychiatrist Albert Ellis, who continued to develop this approach until his death in 2007. The central premise of REBT as cognitive behavioral therapy for anxiety, is that people tend to become upset not so much by unfortunate circumstances or adversities in and of themselves, but by their own ways of thinking about these adversities.

This is shaped by the person’s overall philosophical outlook and how they construct their view of reality. Albert Ellis described the relationship between events and the person’s reaction to them in terms of the A-B-C Model:

·         A for adversity or activating events

·         B for the person’s beliefs regarding the events

·         C for the emotional and behavioral consequences of the person’s beliefs toward the activating events

Ellis’s REBT aims to help patients realize that, although they cannot control certain events and circumstances in their lives, they can control how they think about, feel about, and respond to those events or circumstances. Many people have cognitive and behavioral tendencies, often developed early in life, that become self-defeating; REBT aims to help people reexamine their feelings, behaviors, and ways of thinking to respond in a more healthy manner to adversities.

Cognitive Emotional Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive emotional behavioral therapy (CEBT) is another form of cognitive behavioral therapy for anxiety. CEBT aims to help clients self-evaluate the basis of emotional distress, and to better understand what causes and contributes to their emotional states. Achieving a better self-understanding reduces the need for dysfunctional coping behaviors. CEBT is distinct from CBT, per se, in that it places more emphasis on the emotional component of anxiety and other disorders. Although CEBT was originally developed for treating eating disorders, it has also proven to be effective for many individuals as a form of cognitive behavioral therapy for anxiety.

Structured Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

A third approach to cognitive behavioral therapy for anxiety in Farmingdale and elsewhere is structured cognitive behavioral therapy (SCBT). SCBT is distinct from CBT in that it is considered less of an indefinite therapy and more as a finite form of training. In SCBT, clients undergo a program divided into progressive sessions arranged into a particular order. The design of SCBT is tailored more to the disorder than to the individual. SCBT stresses willpower, in the form of urge conditioning and desensitization. Although SCBT is most commonly used for addictive behaviors, it can also be effective for some individuals as cognitive behavioral therapy for anxiety.

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Treatment for Brain Damage: Dealing with Anomic Aphasia

Brain damage can create a wide range of effects; many are strange or oddly specific depending on which areas of the brain are affected. When an area of the brain associated with language functions is damaged, aphasia can result. Aphasias are deficits in language ability and can take many forms. One type of aphasia is anomic aphasia, which involves difficulty remembering words or names. Generally the person can speak with correct grammar, but must circumlocute in order to express an idea that he or she can no longer recall the word for. For example, someone may be unable to name a raccoon, and instead resorts to something along the lines of “those grey animals with stripy tails and little bandit masks.” Generally anomic aphasia can be managed, but for the most part people do not recover completely. 

What Causes Anomic Aphasia?

Anomic aphasia is caused by damage to the parietal lobe or temporal lobe of the brain. In most individuals, this is more likely if the damage occurs on the left side of the brain, which is where language is usually processed. Damage can result from a stroke, traumatic injury, or a tumor. 

Types of Anomia 

There are three main types of anomic aphasia:

·         Word selection anomia occurs when a patient can recognize an object when it is named, but cannot name it. Sometimes the anomia only affects naming certain kinds of objects, such as animals or colors.

 

·         Semantic anomia involves a loss of word meanings. The person can no longer recognize the name of an object and is unable to say it when asked.

·         Disconnection anomia results from impairment in the pathways that connect sensory and language corticies. For example, the person may be able to name an object when the information is presented by sound or touch, but not when it is presented visually.  

What Kind of Treatment for Brain Damage Can Help with Anomic Aphasia? 

Anomic aphasia cannot be cured entirely, but exercises that help in word-finding and circumlocution skills can help people manage the disorder. These exercises include:

·         Circumlocution Induced Naming Therapy, in which the patient uses circumlocution to assist with naming, can help people with anomic aphasia by strengthening the relationship between semantics (word meaning) and phonology (word sounds).

·         Picture naming is a therapeutic method that can help for anomic aphasia. Pictures or props can be used to help prompt the patient.

·         Long-term speech therapy is often indicated in cases of anomic aphasia.

When an area of the brain associated with language functions is damaged, aphasia can result. One type of aphasia is anomic aphasia, which involves difficulty remembering words or names. While there are exercises available to help with this condition, there is no cure. If you are in the Port Washington area and would like more information on anomic aphasia and the ways to manage this condition, please contact us today.

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What is Neurofeedback Therapy Used to Treat?

Neurofeedback therapy is a biofeedback procedure in which brain waves are measured via EEG , and a signal is “fed back” to the brain to regulate brainwaves. It has potential applications for treating a number of disorders that are rooted in the dysregulation of brain processes. Neurofeedback works on brainwave patterns to facilitate self-regulation of this mental activity, which can help alleviate symptoms of certain neurological conditions.

Neurofeedback has been used to treat individuals with disorders including:

·         ADHD and ADD

·         Anxiety and other affective disorders

·         Autism

·         Epilepsy

·         Headaches

·         Insomnia

·         Brain damage from injury, stroke, or other causes

What is Neurofeedback for ADHD?

The most comprehensively researched and tested application of neurofeedback therapy is for the treatment of ADHD symptoms.

The electroencephalographic (EEG) models of ADHD brains have found significant differences in brainwave activity when comparing ADHD individuals to “normal” individuals. This model indicates that people with ADHD many have too much slow “theta” brainwave activity, which is associated with states of relaxation, and not enough “beta” brainwave activity, which is associated with mental focus and concentration. The goal of neurofeedback for ADHD is to increase beta activity. This is achieved by showing the individual their own brainwave activity, and then training them to alter it through some sort of active process – often taking the form of a simple “video game.”

What is Neurofeedback for Anxiety Disorders and Other Affective Disorders?

Unlike ADHD, anxiety and related disorders are distinguished by both an excess of beta activity, and asymmetries in the activity between the left and right frontal lobes. Neurofeedback therapy for anxiety disorders is geared toward increasing relaxed alpha wave and theta wave activity. In studies that have been performed, neurofeedback therapy has successfully treated anxiety symptoms, and has even lead to permanent changes in brainwave activity, thereby reducing the likelihood that future instances of this condition will occur.

Additionally, neurofeedback therapy has also been used for symptoms of other affective disorders such as depression, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). More research is needed to effectively demonstrate the benefits of neurofeedback therapy in these contexts, but so far the results have been very positive.

What Else can Neurofeedback Be Used For?

Although there has been less research into other applications of neurofeedback therapy, there are a number of case studies in which it has proven effective in reducing the symptoms of autism. Other case studies have also showed it to be effective in helping to treat migraines, which are highly variable in their response to medications.

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