Anxiety and Depression

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When seeing patients with anxiety and depression and even manic behaviors it is important to rule out ADD. Otherwise they never get back to this until I see the patient. ADD is not attention deficit but attention inconsistency. 

Patients may be very smart, but may not seem so because of their attention. Things they like they are extremely fascinated by. They’re extremely skillful at it. I will ask patients “When you’re into something are you really into it?“. 

They also procrastinate as there is a fear and subconscious thought of failure so they avoid it. There is also a great deal of volatility and they can be upset over things. I’ll ask Patient is everything an emergency to you?

I ask them to complete the ADD self assessment evaluation, which can be found on the Internet.

A very high percentage of patients I see with addictions or coming in for medical cannabis cards have ADD. 

I prefer not to give stimulants. There are other medication‘s including atomoxetine and bupropion.

That being said the ADD brain does amazingly well with Ketamine. The ADD brain has problems in the prefrontal cortex for executive function is performed. This can be rewired with Ketamine.