7 Newly Discovered Signs of ADHD | Dr Daniel Amen

He describes seeing multiple scan patterns: some people show decreased frontal activity during focus, while others appear over-focused, overactive, or impacted by trauma—so treating everyone as though they have the same underlying issue can misfire.

He argues the label “ADHD” can miss people—especially females—who aren’t outwardly hyperactive, leading to misinterpretations like being “not smart,” “not interested,” “depressed,” or “anxious,” rather than recognizing attentional issues.

He says repeated criticism and negative feedback can heighten the emotional brain and train people to spot threat faster; he mentions their testing suggests many recognize negative facial expressions faster than positive ones.

He links intense rejection pain to “automatic negative thoughts” that cascade, and describes a practice he calls “killing the ANTs” by writing thoughts down and repeatedly challenging them until the brain learns the habit.

He outlines seven scan-linked patterns and says stimulants often help the “classic” and “inattentive” types but can worsen others—e.g., increasing obsessiveness, rebounding into depression, provoking hallucinations in temporal-lobe issues, worsening “ring of fire,” or increasing anxiety.