Why do people have ADHD?

Over the past years I have felt like ADHD has been diagnosed to many people that I know. Do all these people have the same reason that they need it in common? I wonder what the science is behind why people have ADHD. I also feel like many people believe they have ADHD when they in fact do not have it, would there be a way to prove someone has ADHD?

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ADHD

I would say that most everyone knows what ADHD is, to put simply it is a condition that causes people to have consistent trouble paying attention and causes hyperactivity and sometimes impulsivity. There are 3 forms of ADHD. The different forms are differentiated by their symptoms; hyperactivity, impulsivity, and inability to pay attention. ADHD is more common in boys and in the source I found the rest of this background information it mentions that ADHD seems to run in families. It says that statistically when a family member is diagnosed with ADHD theres a 25%-35% chance another member of that family is also diagnosed. This article also touches on my statement I made about how I think recently a lot of cases of ADHD have been increasing in the past years. The article recognizes that the diagnoses of this condition have increased but scientists cannot prove if ADHD is actually more common today or if the increased diagnoses are due to other factors. Other factors including larger awareness of the symptoms of ADHD and the widening of the criteria for what is considered ADHD.

Science of ADHD

The exact causes of this disorder are not known by scientists. In the article I read titled, “The Science of ADHD” Heredity is found to be the main factor that determines if you’ll have ADHD. According to this same source there was a study done 10 years ago conducted by the National Institute of Mental Health that made the discovery that the brains of people with ADHD are actually 3-4% smaller than that of brains of people without the disorder. There is more research being done on the brains of these ADHD patients and I think in the future scientists will figure out much more about the detailed difference between a brain of someone with ADHD and someone without. This same article also reports that the majority of the symptoms of ADHD are  executive function impairments. These are central control processes within the brain that are in control of managing other jobs within the brain. So, the symptoms of patients with ADHD are because their executive functions of their brain are damaged. This makes a lot of sense as to why they would struggle with things like paying attention, being able to control what you say, taking charge in starting their work and many others. People with ADHD really do have something different about their brains. Hopefully in the future scientists will know more about the extent of these differences.

 

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Bibliography

ADHD Definition, What ADHD Stands For, Statistics and More.” WebMD. WebMD, n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2016.

CHADD – The National Resource on ADHD. “The Science of ADHD.” The Science of ADHD | CHADD. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2016.

“Common Pesticide May Increase Risk of ADHD.” Common Pesticide May Increase Risk of ADHD | Media Relations. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2016.

ADHD: A Growing Concern for Youth and Adults [INFOGRAPHIC].” Rawhide ADHD A Growing Concern for Youth and Adults INFOGRAPHIC Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2016.

 

2 thoughts on “Why do people have ADHD?

  1. vek5025

    I agree that there seems to be an increase of ADHD cases of late. I wonder if it was not as socially acceptable to have ADHD in the past so it was not talked about as much. Maybe people hid that they had it? Some personal anecdotal evidence has informed me that some people who had it in the past were just written off as “misbehaved, inadequate or uncontrollable”.

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