https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/11/171107140834.htm
Scientists have made a breakthrough in mental health evaluation. They found that not every person diagnosed with a certain mental disorder behaves the same, and that their brains are not acting the same either. They are learning that the diagnoses for mental illnesses are not as defined as they could be, they are broad topics.
After scanning the brains of people that have been diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, researchers see that not every person has the same impairments. The scan showed this and all of them were given behavioral tests as well. After both, it was determined that ADHD can be separated into three different types.
It was seen that some showed that they were impulsive, some performed just to get a reward right away, and some were normal compared to kids who were not diagnosed with ADHD. The researchers did not know the differences by just looking at the children besides just knowing that they had ADHD. They used a special brain MRI and saw that each group had different affected areas on the brain. Those will similar behavior exhibited similar areas affected in the brain.
Scientists believe that this research finding that ADHD is not just one singular disease will improve treatment options to help those with the disease recover more quickly and become more like "normal" people. They hope that with this, more treatment types for each disease will be developed and there won't be a "one-size-fits-all" treatment anymore. The other hope is that this will happen for other illnesses.
