Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

Your attention deficit disorder may be an anxiety disorder

Srini Pillay, MD
Conditions
December 29, 2010
Share
Tweet
Share

Are you one of those people who simply cannot concentrate for long enough? Do you find that no sooner than you start doing something, that your attention is scattered all over the place? Do you find that you log onto your computer and within minutes are surfing every possible tangential site that you find?

Your problem may not be a problem with your attention. In fact, it may be that the primary problem resides elsewhere in your brain.

Your brain attends to things due to circuits that connect your frontal and parietal lobes. Your frontal lobe, an important part of the “thinking brain” helps to focus attention and keep your mind on what it is supposed to be on. However this frontal lobe is also connected to other parts of the brain besides other attentional areas. If we look at the connections closely, we can see that it is very connected to your emotional brain as well, and the amygdala, an important part of the emotional brain can send “shock waves” through to your attentional center without your even knowing this.

Fear and anxiety may be conscious or unconscious. Unconscious fear has been proven to exist. When people lie in an MRI scanner, there are certain conditions under which they will have no awareness of seeing something threatening but the amygdala-part of the unconscious brain registers this and sends impulses that act as “shock waves” or a “brain earthquake” to your brain’s attentional center. This can all happen under the radar-without your being aware of it.

Unconscious anxiety sounds so unlikely. After all, if you are anxious, shouldn’t you feel it? Not really. In fact, unconscious anxiety may even impact the amygdala more than conscious anxiety-without your being aware of anything to do with this. The brain effectively has a “silencer” on but the bullets of anxiety reach your attentional center.

When you treat the “ADD” as if it is a primary problem with attention, you are not really addressing the cause. The anxiety is always there, hitting up against the wall of your medicated ADD. Steadying your attention can decrease your anxiety, because the reverse effect occurs as if the frontal lobe is putting “reins” on the amygdala, but if the anxiety resurges, the reins will fail.

What then can you do about this? From meditation to attentional exercises and psychological insights, there are many things that you can do. To start with, the following may be helpful:

1. Ask yourself: If anxiety were the culprit, what would the reason be?
2. Have you tucked away any fears that you don’t know how to deal with?
3. Do you avoid situations to avoid anxiety?
4. Are you “tolerating” anything in your life, and if so, what?
5. What are your greatest unfulfilled desires and how could your dissatisfaction about this be impacting you?

If you write down brief answers to these questions, you will be well on your way to understanding the possible unconscious anxiety in your brain. If you work with a professional, ask them about his, and check to see if treating the anxiety restores your attention. Exploring this possibility in the longer term is usually what helps people find a way to deal with the anxiety. Remember, anxiety is really just “electrical energy” gone haywire in your brain. The best way to deal with random electrical energy is to make sure you are “grounded” and to make sure that there is an appropriate channel through which it can flow.

It may well be that your attention deficit disorder is actually an anxiety excess disorder. Consider this carefully before deciding on your strategy. Taking a little extra time to explore this may be worth the wait.

Srini Pillay is a psychiatrist and author of Life Unlocked: 7 Revolutionary Lessons to Overcome Fear. He blogs at Debunking Myths of the Mind.

Submit a guest post and be heard on social media’s leading physician voice.

Prev

How American physicians should be paid

December 29, 2010 Kevin 82
…
Next

Health care economics and the relationship between doctor and patient

December 29, 2010 Kevin 51
…

ADVERTISEMENT

Tagged as: Primary Care, Specialist

Post navigation

< Previous Post
How American physicians should be paid
Next Post >
Health care economics and the relationship between doctor and patient

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

More by Srini Pillay, MD

  • a desk with keyboard and ipad with the kevinmd logo

    What a psychiatrist learned during therapy sessions with mothers

    Srini Pillay, MD
  • a desk with keyboard and ipad with the kevinmd logo

    How to escape the prison of social anxiety

    Srini Pillay, MD
  • a desk with keyboard and ipad with the kevinmd logo

    The torture and emptiness of psychological hoarding

    Srini Pillay, MD

More in Conditions

  • What if medicine had an exit interview?

    Lynn McComas, DNP, ANP-C
  • Finding healing in narrative medicine: When words replace silence

    Michele Luckenbaugh
  • Why coaching is not a substitute for psychotherapy

    Maire Daugharty, MD
  • Why doctors stay silent about preventable harm

    Jenny Shields, PhD
  • Why gambling addiction is America’s next health crisis

    Safina Adatia, MD
  • How robotics are reshaping the future of vascular procedures

    David Fischel
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Why removing fluoride from water is a public health disaster

      Steven J. Katz, DDS | Conditions
    • When did we start treating our lives like trauma?

      Maureen Gibbons, MD | Physician
    • Mastering medical presentations: Elevating your impact

      Harvey Castro, MD, MBA | Physician
    • Why the fear of being forgotten is stronger than the fear of death [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Why what doctors say matters more than you think [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The hidden incentives driving frivolous malpractice lawsuits

      Howard Smith, MD | Physician
  • Past 6 Months

    • Why tracking cognitive load could save doctors and patients

      Hiba Fatima Hamid | Education
    • What the world must learn from the life and death of Hind Rajab

      Saba Qaiser, RN | Conditions
    • The silent toll of ICE raids on U.S. patient care

      Carlin Lockwood | Policy
    • Addressing the physician shortage: How AI can help, not replace

      Amelia Mercado | Tech
    • Why medical students are trading empathy for publications

      Vijay Rajput, MD | Education
    • Bureaucracy over care: How the U.S. health care system lost its way

      Kayvan Haddadan, MD | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • Why the fear of being forgotten is stronger than the fear of death [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • How a rainy walk helped an oncologist rediscover joy and bravery

      Dr. Damane Zehra | Physician
    • How inspiration and family stories shape our most meaningful moments

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Physician
    • A day in the life of a WHO public health professional in Meghalaya, India

      Dr. Poulami Mazumder | Physician
    • Why women doctors are still mistaken for nurses

      Emma Fenske, DO | Physician
    • How home-based AI can reduce health inequities in underserved communities [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

View 2 Comments >

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Why removing fluoride from water is a public health disaster

      Steven J. Katz, DDS | Conditions
    • When did we start treating our lives like trauma?

      Maureen Gibbons, MD | Physician
    • Mastering medical presentations: Elevating your impact

      Harvey Castro, MD, MBA | Physician
    • Why the fear of being forgotten is stronger than the fear of death [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Why what doctors say matters more than you think [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The hidden incentives driving frivolous malpractice lawsuits

      Howard Smith, MD | Physician
  • Past 6 Months

    • Why tracking cognitive load could save doctors and patients

      Hiba Fatima Hamid | Education
    • What the world must learn from the life and death of Hind Rajab

      Saba Qaiser, RN | Conditions
    • The silent toll of ICE raids on U.S. patient care

      Carlin Lockwood | Policy
    • Addressing the physician shortage: How AI can help, not replace

      Amelia Mercado | Tech
    • Why medical students are trading empathy for publications

      Vijay Rajput, MD | Education
    • Bureaucracy over care: How the U.S. health care system lost its way

      Kayvan Haddadan, MD | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • Why the fear of being forgotten is stronger than the fear of death [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • How a rainy walk helped an oncologist rediscover joy and bravery

      Dr. Damane Zehra | Physician
    • How inspiration and family stories shape our most meaningful moments

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Physician
    • A day in the life of a WHO public health professional in Meghalaya, India

      Dr. Poulami Mazumder | Physician
    • Why women doctors are still mistaken for nurses

      Emma Fenske, DO | Physician
    • How home-based AI can reduce health inequities in underserved communities [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

Your attention deficit disorder may be an anxiety disorder
2 comments

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...