This new study helps prove the reality of ADHD, and will hopefully improve the way people with the disorder are treated
In what is now the largest study on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, scientists have concluded ADHD is not a behavioral disorder, but rather a neurological one.
The study’s authors, including Dr. Martine Hoogman from Radboud University in the Netherlands, hope the research will help people understand that ADHD is not the result of bad character (or bad parenting), but a real disorder that can be diagnosed and treated.
During the study, Scientists analyzed brain scans of more than 3,200 people ranging from four and 63. They found that five regions in the brain – regions that affect emotion, learning, and the way we process motivation and pleasure – are smaller in people with ADHD.
The size difference is more dramatic in children, but the brain regions start catching up with non-ADHD brains as they grow and mature.
Scientists now believe this is why around 11 percent of U.S. children have been diagnosed with ADHD, compared to about 5 percent of adults.
“I hope it gives a bit more understanding of the disorder,” Hoogman said. “This research shows that there are neurobiological substrates [brain changes] involved ― just as in other psychiatric disorders ― and there is no reason to treat ADHD any differently.”
Hoogman said the study will hopefully lead to better diagnostic and treatment methods for people with ADHD.
