ADHD
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by executive dysfunction occasioning symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity and emotional dysregulation that are excessive and pervasive, impairing in multiple contexts, and developmentally-inappropriate.
ADHD symptoms arise from executive dysfunction, and emotional dysregulation is often considered a core symptom. Difficulties in self-regulation such as time management, inhibition and sustained attention may cause poor professional performance, relationship difficulties and numerous health risks, collectively predisposing to a diminished quality of life and a direct average reduction in life expectancy of 13 years. ADHD is associated with other neurodevelopmental and mental disorders as well as non-psychiatric disorders, which can cause additional impairment.
Although people with ADHD struggle to persist on tasks with temporally delayed consequences, they may be able to do so on tasks they find intrinsically interesting or immediately rewarding; this is known as hyperfocus (more colloquially) or perseverative responding. This mental state is often hard to disengage from and can be related to risks such as for internet addiction and types of offending behaviour.
ADHD represents the extreme lower end of the continuous dimensional trait (bell curve) of executive functioning and self-regulation, which is supported by twin, brain imaging and molecular genetic studies.
The precise causes of ADHD are unknown in the majority of cases. For most people with ADHD, many genetic and environmental risk factors accumulate to cause the disorder. The environmental risks are biological and most often exert their effects in the prenatal period. However, in rare cases ADHD may be caused by a single event such as traumatic brain injury, exposure to biohazards during pregnancy, a major genetic mutation or extreme environmental deprivation very early in life. There is no biologically distinct adult-onset ADHD except for when ADHD occurs after traumatic brain injury.
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