Causes of ADHD

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, which we usually call ADHD, is a disease that children are prone to. There are many causes of this disease, such as genetic reasons, environment, external factors, anatomical reasons, etc., which may cause children to develop ADHD. Once ADHD occurs, children's self-control ability is very poor, they do not abide by discipline in school, and sometimes their academic performance is also poor.

1. Neurological and chemical factors

The human brain has a reticular activating system (RAS) that is responsible for learning, self-inhibition, and motivation. Within the RAS are neurotransmitter substances such as dopamine and norepinephrine that are responsible for attention. Experts believe that ADHD can be induced when these substances are lacking or abnormal. In the research related to the onset of ADHD, it is currently being proposed that neurotransmitters other than dopamine and norepinephrine, such as tryptophan (serotonine), are also related to the onset of ADHD. Therefore, the aforementioned neurological and chemical factors are required to cause ADHD. More importantly, since ADHD is a disease that requires specific diagnosis and treatment, you should never simply assume that ADHD is caused by a child’s innate personality or surrounding environment.

2. Genetic factors

Many ADHD gene studies have found that 30% of the parents or siblings of ADHD children also have attention deficit problems. However, there is no specific conclusion that ADHD is simply caused by some kind of genetic factor, but it is believed that the factor may be related to the family.

3. Environmental factors

There are also reports that the state of the fetus during pregnancy is also related to attention deficit. In other words, the incidence of ADHD can be affected by factors such as maternal malnutrition, smoking, excessive stress, and infection during pregnancy. At the same time, factors such as head damage during premature birth or difficult labor may also be factors that cause ADHD. But this does not mean that such environmental factors will definitely cause ADHD. Experts believe that the claims that "excessive TV viewing", "lead poisoning", "radiation exposure in high-voltage current areas", "fluorescent light exposure", "electric toys", "allergies", etc. can also cause ADHD have no medical basis. In addition, there is no scientific evidence to support other claims that hyperactivity is caused by vitamin deficiency, excessive intake of food additives, salted foods, refined sugar, etc.

4. Anatomical reasons

Most scholars believe that attention deficit is congenital, or may be caused by neurological and chemical reasons. Usually, the basic structure of the brain of ADHD children does not appear abnormal, but subtle dysfunctions in brain function may be found. Taking normal children as an example, their brains will continue to grow during the fetal period and one year after birth, and during their development, nerve cells will be properly formed and combined. However, it is also possible that the above-mentioned brain functions cannot be formed normally due to various reasons such as pregnant women smoking, drinking, drug abuse, etc. On average, the frontal lobe of ADHD children is 10% smaller than that of normal children, and the volume of the anterior superior and anterior inferior parts of the brain is also about 10% smaller than that of normal children.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), ADHD is actually just a collective name for multiple mental disorders. Therefore, to correctly diagnose this disease, you cannot rely on a single test to determine it, but must use multiple tests simultaneously to confirm it.