Environmental factors as a cause of ADHD

Environmental factors are all external and internal positive and negative influences on the individual. Intensive negative environmental influences are stressors. Stressors is therefore simply another term for stressful environmental influences. Illnesses are just as much stressors as accidents or psychological strain.

Gene-environment interaction is a fundamental biological concept for the development of different behavioral patterns and mental disorders. It describes how environmental influences with different genetic structures have different effects and do not necessarily add up.

ADHD has several roots:

• Genetic factors such as gene mutations (gene variants that arise independently of environmental influences/stress and are inherited in the long term)
• Pure environmental influences (e.g. encephalitis, early childhood stress) and
• Epigenetically anchored environmental influences (different gene expressions that result from environmental influences (stress) and are inherited over a few generations).

Each of these roots alone can lead to ADHD, but usually several of these roots act together. They also interact (gene x environment interactions). More on this at ⇒ Genetic and epigenetic causes of ADHD.