What organ does ADHD affect?

ADHD develops when the brain and central nervous system suffer impairments related to the growth and development of the brain's executive functions — such as attention, working memory, planning, organizing, forethought, and impulse control.

What part of the brain is damaged in ADHD?

The frontal lobe is the part of the brain that helps people to organize, plan, pay attention, and make decisions. Parts of the frontal lobe may mature a few years later in people with ADHD.

How does ADHD affect the body physically?

Adults with ADHD face elevated risk for sleep disorders, liver disease, obesity, pulmonary disease, and 30 other physical health conditions, according to a Swedish study that also suggests a shared genetic factor behind these associations.

What is ADHD strongly linked to?

Genetics. ADHD tends to run in families and, in most cases, it's thought the genes you inherit from your parents are a significant factor in developing the condition. Research shows that parents and siblings of someone with ADHD are more likely to have ADHD themselves.

What chemical is lacking in ADHD?

ADHD was the first disorder found to be the result of a deficiency of a specific neurotransmitter — in this case, norepinephrine — and the first disorder found to respond to medications to correct this underlying deficiency. Like all neurotransmitters, norepinephrine is synthesized within the brain.

What is ADHD?

Is ADHD considered to be a disability?

Yes. Whether you view attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as neurological — affecting how the brain concentrates or thinks — or consider ADHD as a disability that impacts working, there is no question that the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) covers individuals with ADHD.

What does severe ADHD look like in adults?

Adults with ADHD may find it difficult to focus and prioritize, leading to missed deadlines and forgotten meetings or social plans. The inability to control impulses can range from impatience waiting in line or driving in traffic to mood swings and outbursts of anger. Adult ADHD symptoms may include: Impulsiveness.

Which parent is ADHD inherited from?

A comparison with DNA from unaffected patients showed an abnormality in the sequences. Thayer's study shows that the ADHD group of children had larger and more frequent variations. Fathers with ADHD will pass this code discrepancy to offspring. Barkley explains that the heritability of ADHD runs around 80 percent.

Is ADHD a chemical imbalance?

What is the cause or basis of ADHD? It is an impulse disorder with genetic components that results from imbalances of neurotransmitters.

What is the root of ADHD?

Causes of ADHD

Recent studies link genetic factors with ADHD. In addition to genetics, scientists are studying other possible causes and risk factors including: Brain injury. Exposure to environmental risks (e.g., lead) during pregnancy or at a young age.

What can ADHD cause if left untreated?

What happens in an ADHD brain?

ADHD brains have low levels of a neurotransmitter called norepinephrine. Norepinephrine is linked arm-in-arm with dopamine. Dopamine is the thing that helps control the brain's reward and pleasure center. The ADHD brain has impaired activity in four functional regions of the brain.

What can cause ADHD to get worse?

Is ADHD a traumatic brain injury?

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a frequent cause for hospitalization in young children and teenagers. It's associated with developing mental conditions, including secondary ADHD, a form of ADHD that develops following an injury.

Is ADHD a lack of dopamine?

As you know, one trademark of ADHD is low levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine — a chemical released by nerve cells into the brain. Due to this lack of dopamine, people with ADHD are "chemically wired" to seek more, says John Ratey, M.D., professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School in Boston.

Is ADHD a mental illness or Neurological Disorder?

Attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurobehavioral disorder that affects 3-5 percent of all American children. It interferes with a person's ability to stay on a task and to exercise age-appropriate inhibition (cognitive alone or both cognitive and behavioral).

Why do stimulants calm ADHD?

Stimulants are believed to work by increasing dopamine levels in the brain. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter associated with motivation, pleasure, attention, and movement. For many people with ADHD, stimulant medications boost concentration and focus while reducing hyperactive and impulsive behaviors.

Is ADHD a lack of serotonin?

The onset of attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder (ADHD) in childhood is characterized by developmentally inappropriate levels of hyperactivity, impulsivity and inattention. A chronic deficit of serotonin (5-HT) at the synapse may trigger symptoms of ADHD.

Can you get a brain scan for ADHD?

Brain MRI is a new and experimental tool in the world of ADHD research. Though brain scans cannot yet reliably diagnose ADHD, some scientists are using them to identify environmental and prenatal factors that affect symptoms, and to better understand how stimulant medications trigger symptom control vs. side effects.

Do mothers pass down ADHD?

Available evidence suggests that ADHD is genetic—passed down from parent to child. ADHD seems to run in at least some families.

Can you grow out of ADHD?

Barkley, PhD. “Children diagnosed with ADHD are not likely to grow out of it. And while some children may recover fully from their disorder by age 21 or 27, the full disorder or at least significant symptoms and impairment persist in 50-86 percent of cases diagnosed in childhood.

Is ADHD caused by the mother?

Family analysis of 38 individuals who carried these mutations and 41 of their offspring revealed that children of mothers who had one of the mutations -- and, therefore, had impaired serotonin production -- had a 1.5- to 2.5-time higher risk of ADHD than control individuals or offspring of fathers with the mutations.

What other conditions may someone with ADHD have?

What is masking ADHD?

1. ADHD masking may also be called "camouflaging." This is when someone with ADHD tries to cover up their symptoms by copying the behaviors of people who don't have it. ADHD masking may be a way for some people with ADHD to fit in socially, avoid being stigmatized, or feel more accepted.

What are the biggest symptoms of ADHD?