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funkme1ster t1_ito7bif wrote

Reply to comment by jonathanrdt in Study finds brain changes associated with ADHD remission. As the brains of those with ADHD mature, some individuals may repetitively engage in strategies that compensate for symptoms. These repetitive behaviors may result in the brain changes seen in those who went into remission. by Wagamaga

I'm not a neurologist but I am good friends with some. As I understand, the difference is that coping mechanisms are superficial whereas neuroplasticity is ingrained.

That is to say it's outwardly the same thing, but employing coping strategies over time results in rewiring neural pathways to the point they're not "coping" strategies so much as your brain perceiving it as the normal, correct response to that stimulus. The same mechanism as practice driving muscle memory.

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jonathanrdt t1_ito7nla wrote

Oh okay, so what begins as willful coping becomes new rote behavior because the circuitry actually does change?

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funkme1ster t1_ito8t1s wrote

Aye.

If you've ever looked into modern prosthetics (which you should because they're neat), there is a lot of cool new tech that uses nerve sensing to detect signals and map them onto responses. IE a person thinks about moving their arm, the sensors read nerve signals in the amputated limb, and can map out "this signal pattern = this movement pattern". The person practices and over time is able to train their body to behave in concert such that the signals they send out are consistent and predictable. Neuroplasticity is just the process by which the brain maps those logic paths.

From the article, it would appear that these patients with ADHD, employed coping mechanisms, and over time those mechanisms facilitated neural remapping such that their "remission" is really just them retraining their brains to circumnavigate the problematic responses with the "corrected" responses to the point they didn't need to deliberately employ those mechanisms.

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