Your Brain is NOT Broken: Why ADHD Isn't a Disorder to Fix
A neuroscientist's perspective on moving beyond diagnostic labels toward brain optimization
Stop Pathologizing Natural Variation
Here's something that might surprise you: ADHD isn't actually a disorder. It's a natural phenotype—like being tall or having brown eyes. As I tell my clients after 25 years of looking at brain scans, "ADHD is like being bald. It happens. It's a natural thing."
This reframe changes everything about how we approach attention challenges. Instead of asking "What's wrong with my brain?" we ask "What are my goals around this brain?"
The diagnostic industrial complex has convinced us that natural neural variation needs fixing. But here's what I've learned from 25,000+ brain maps: People are not their diagnosis.
The Real Question Isn't "Do I Have ADHD?"
When someone sits in my office worried about their focus, I don't care about the diagnostic label. I care about function. The conversation goes like this:
- "Would you like to sustain your attention better?"
- "Does your current brain state work for you?"
- "Do you want to be more focused?"
- "What are your actual goals?"
This shifts us from pathology to optimization. From broken to trainable.
The brain patterns we label as ADHD are measurable and real. I can show you the underactivity in frontal regions, the theta-beta ratios that correlate with attention challenges. But calling these patterns a "disorder" misses the point entirely.
ADHD Makes You More Vulnerable, Not Broken
Here's the nuanced part: while ADHD is natural variation, it does create vulnerability. The same neural patterns that might fuel creativity and big-picture thinking can make you more susceptible to:
- Trauma responses
- Overwhelm in structured environments
- Executive function challenges
- Emotional dysregulation
Some talking heads claim "ADHD is caused by trauma." This gets it backwards. ADHD brains process stress differently, making traumatic experiences more likely to stick and compound.
But vulnerability isn't the same as pathology. A glass house isn't broken—it just needs different considerations than a brick house.
When People See Their Brain Patterns
The most powerful moment in my practice happens when I show someone their brain map for the first time. People cry when they see their concussion patterns, their tinnitus signatures, their OCD circuits lighting up in real-time.
"Oh my god, yes. Thank you, Mom. Look, it's real."
This isn't about validation for its own sake. Seeing your brain creates a fundamentally different relationship with yourself. Instead of "I'm lazy" or "I'm stupid," it becomes "My frontal cortex has this specific pattern that affects attention."
That shift—from character flaw to brain mechanics—opens up entirely different possibilities.
The Ancient Wisdom Still Works
Here's what's fascinating about our high-tech brain training world: all the ancient practices we've used for 5,000-10,000 years? They still work. Meditation, breathing practices, movement, community connection—these aren't placeholders until we develop better drugs. They're precisely targeted interventions for the neural networks we can now measure.
The difference is we can now see why they work. Meditation strengthens prefrontal control networks. Breathwork regulates autonomic nervous system balance. Movement optimizes dopamine and norepinephrine ratios.
Ancient wisdom plus modern measurement equals precision training.
Moving Beyond Diagnostic Thinking
The entire mental health field is trapped in diagnostic thinking inherited from infectious disease models. Find the pathogen, prescribe the cure, eliminate the problem.
But brains aren't infected with ADHD. They're wired with particular patterns that create predictable strengths and challenges.
This matters because diagnostic thinking leads to:
- Shame about natural variation
- One-size-fits-all treatments
- Focus on suppressing symptoms rather than optimizing function
- Identity fusion with pathological labels
Optimization thinking asks different questions:
- What does this brain do well?
- Where are the leverage points for improvement?
- How can we train the specific circuits involved?
- What environmental modifications support this neural pattern?
The Training Approach
When we stop trying to fix ADHD and start training attention networks, everything changes. Instead of medicating away distractibility, we strengthen the specific circuits involved in sustained attention.
This might involve:
- SMR neurofeedback to build calm alertness and impulse control
- Theta training to optimize the drowsy, scattered patterns common in ADHD
- Coherence protocols to improve communication between brain regions
- Targeted cognitive training for working memory and executive function
The goal isn't to eliminate the ADHD phenotype—it's to give that brain better tools for navigating a world designed for different neural patterns.
What This Means for You
If you recognize yourself in ADHD descriptions, here's what I want you to understand:
Your brain isn't broken. It has measurable patterns that create specific experiences around attention, impulse control, and emotional regulation.
These patterns are trainable. The same neuroplasticity that allows brains to develop ADHD patterns allows them to develop better attention control.
You get to choose your goals. Maybe you want laser focus for work projects. Maybe you prefer to keep the creativity and just need better emotional regulation. Maybe you want to optimize around your natural patterns rather than fight them.
The mechanism matters more than the label. Understanding your specific frontal-parietal network activity, your theta-beta ratios, your stress response patterns—this gives you precision targets for training.
The Bigger Picture
We're living through a shift in how we understand human neural diversity. The medical model that served us well for treating infections and injuries breaks down when applied to natural brain variation.
ADHD, autism, anxiety, depression—these aren't discrete diseases with single causes and cures. They're complex neural patterns that exist on continua and respond to targeted training.
This doesn't minimize the real challenges these patterns can create. But it opens up possibilities that pure medical thinking forecloses.
Your brain has patterns. Those patterns create your experience. Those patterns can be measured, understood, and trained.
You're not broken. You're trainable.
Dr. Andrew Hill is a neuroscientist specializing in applied neurofeedback and brain optimization. He has analyzed over 25,000 brain maps and helps people understand and train their specific neural patterns.