>> Tana: Hi. I’m Tana Amen and I’m here with my amazing, wonderful husband, Dr. Daniel
Amen. >> Dr. Amen: Greetings again. We’re so excited
that you’re with us. Today, we’re going to talk about ADD in girls and in women. It’s
something very near and dear to my heart because my wife has ADD.
>> Tana: Which I did not believe. For the record, I thought it was nonsense when I met
him. >> Dr. Amen: She believes it now. I guess
it’s true. And several of my daughters have it and ADD in girls and in women is often
not diagnosed because they’re usually not a big pain in the neck like boys are. So boys
tend to be diagnosed because they can be more hyperactive, more impulsive, they bring a
lot of negative attention to themselves but girls and women often are not diagnosed because
they tend not to be hyperactive or maybe not even terribly impulsive but they have trouble
with focus, they can have trouble with organization and distractibility and so they underachieve
for their potential and it can be chronically frustrating for them.
>> Tana: Well, let’s talk about why they might not have some of those classic symptoms
that boys have of being impulsive and some of the other things, and what I learned was
that it’s because, not that I suffer from this, but they have a lot more anxiety and
so the anxiety, that high level of anxiety keeps them from acting out.
>> Dr. Amen: So, I wrote a book once called Unleashed the Power of the Female Brain and
in it I talked about the female brain actually has some very specific strengths that it’s
wired more for connection, for empathy, for impulse control. The female brain is significantly
stronger in the front part of the brain – forethought, judgment, impulse control, planning, empathy.
>> Tana: And think about it. If you’re raising a baby and, you know, baby needs to survive
and you’re raising the next generation of people and you’re trying to train them,
that’s required. I mean that’s a necessary thing.
>> Dr. Amen: But because of the increased activity, there are also vulnerabilities like
to anxiety and depression, too much empathy so they can’t go further and make decision
unless everybody agrees and one of the things we learned was that 90% of the IQ for women
is in their frontal lobes. So, any sort of frontal lobe injury which is why I’m completely
opposed with girls hitting soccer balls with their head can impact their life traumatically
more than a frontal lobe injury will impact a male’s life because in males their IQ
is more widely distributed in their brain. But girls and women can have ADD too and how
I actually figured that out besides I had it in my own family was that the little boys
I would see who are hyperactive and impulsive, causing trouble at school, I would always
look and go, well, where would they get it from because ADD is highly genetic. So you
totally got it from your mother. >> Tana: Oh my gosh!
>> Dr. Amen: And so when I would start looking and I didn’t see it on dad’s side and
then I would totally see it on mom’s side and now she’s 40 years old and she’s like,
oh my god, that’s me and when I would treat her she would often get dramatically better
but then some of them would actually get depressed and the reason they would get depressed because
they would think, ‘If only I knew that when I was seven or eight and I got treated then
where would I be now?’ That they knew they were underachieving for their potential and
it will just devastate them. But, I mean, you know, it doesn’t mean you give them
an antidepressant. It means you just work through. It’s, well, you didn’t know and
nobody knew it that time but now you do, let’s see what your life can be like going forward.
>> Tana: So, if you’re noticing some of these symptoms that may not be classic for
ADD in your daughter, your granddaughter, your nieces, whoever is someone special and
close to you, you might want to pay attention because sometimes telling someone to just
try harder not only it doesn’t work but it’s very frustrating to that person.
>> Dr. Amen: That’s counterproductive because what we’ve seen on the imaging work we do,
the harder they try the worse it gets. >> Tana: It literally turns that part of their
brain off when they try harder. >> Dr. Amen: And one of the symptoms I really
want you to pay attention to is if your daughter has a half an hour of homework and it takes
her an hour, two or three to do it with you having to actually walk her through every
part of it, I want you to be thinking about ADD or if you have a teenage daughter that
always seems to be in conflict. And, you know, what I often see is they get excitement from
falling in love and then after a while they get bored with that and then so they’re
in a relationship and they start fighting, they get excitement with fighting and then
they get stimulation from breaking up so they get into this pattern of falling in love-fighting-breaking
up-falling in love-fighting-breaking up, somebody needs to be thinking about ADD because, you
know, they may just think, ‘Oh well this person is cursed by not doing relationships
well and if that’s true as you as an adult woman where your relationships tend to be
intense and then chaotic and then, you know, break apart, somebody should be thinking about
ADD. And the hallmark symptoms – short attention span but not for everything, for regular routine,
everyday things, easily distracted, often disorganized, sometimes late, often late.
I mean that’s not you but for a lot of people, they actually don’t start getting ready
to go until they’re late. >> Tana: But pay attention because that’s
not always true if you’re anxious. >> Dr. Amen: Not always true but very often
and impulse control where you say things where you go I shouldn’t have said that or you
do things where you go I shouldn’t have done that and that’s not, you know everybody
does that but if it’s a pattern in your life then think about getting help for yourself.
>> Tana: Right. So, I’m trying not to interrupt you but I definitely want to leave them with
a few practical tips before we go because this is just very simple. So when you talked
about, you know, the drama-seeking behavior and trying to pick on people, I don’t have
that because I don’t like drama but one thing that helps with that, I figured it out
that I really need, not like, need exercise. When I don’t exercise, I get irritable and
I find myself feeling foggy and irritable and that it’s much easier for me to be reactive.
So, go for a walk. Do some exercises. Now I like really intense exercise and I like
being pushed to my limit. Here’s the other thing though. This is pretty simple. So, for
many types of ADD, the classic types of ADD, small amounts of protein. Do not start your
morning with carbohydrate-based breakfast like muffins and bagels and oatmeal.
>> Dr. Amen: So not with the leprechaun or the tiger or Cap’N.
>> Tana: No. So you want to start your morning with protein. Think eggs with turkey, some
steamed spinach, something like that because when you eat protein, it increases focus.
It increases dopamine which stimulates your frontal lobes. Small amounts of protein throughout
the day. Not massive amounts of protein which is not great for you but think of it like
medicine for your brain. Small amounts of protein throughout the day.
>> Dr. Amen: And some supplements can help like Omega-3 fatty acids especially EPA. So,
you know, when you look on the bottle it’ll say EPA and DHA, those are two kinds of Omega-3
fatty acids. EPA tends to be much more helpful for people who have ADD than DHA.
>> Tana: And as a person who now knows that I have it, you know it’s interesting because
I always thought I’ve done pretty well in life so it’s not, you know, it’s not a
big deal obviously but what I didn’t realize because I didn’t know any different was
how hard I was working. So you know I graduated, you know, top of my class. I was a trauma
nurse. I was doing pretty well in life. What I didn’t know was that wasn’t even close
to my potential. That was the interesting part and I didn’t realize that it didn’t
need to be that hard. >> Dr. Amen: Right. And since you’ve been
treated, you’ve written six books. One of them was a New York Times bestseller. You’re
making a massive difference in the lives of thousands of people.
>> Tana: Well, now I feel like I’m actually living my mission and that’s what’s so
much fun. Now I feel like I’ve got this incredible amount of passion for what I’m
doing, that’s the difference. >> Dr. Amen: And that’s our goal for you
and for those you love – to optimize your brains and when you do you clearly can change
your life. Thanks for being with us.