In the realm of ADHD research, OHSU professor Joel Nigg, Ph.D. is a major player. He recently outlined the latest understanding of ADHD and three major confusions that have hurt this understanding (here).
Confusion #1: It’s easy to fix.
Reality: Long-term follow-up studies show that even the best “fixes” for ADHD barely change its long-term life outcomes.
Confusion #2: It’s no big deal, anyway.
Reality: Childhood ADHD has a strong association with future antisocial behavior, school and work failure, incarceration, and more, including serious injuries, shortening life spans.
Confusion #3: It’s just inherited or it’s just a result of the environment.
Reality: Its development appears to be a combination of uncommon gene mutations AND genetic factors common across psychiatric disorders, WITH the expression of these mutations and factors dependent on experience/environment (e.g., exposure to toxins/pollutants/contaminants).
The truth about us humans appears to be that we are just more complex and complicated than we’d like to believe sometimes. This includes the reality that you, if you have ADHD, are more complex and complicated than it is. It is a complex part of a complex you.
Tonya Lippert 
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