I've been hearing so many people talking about trauma/ADHD connections, I will be writing and talking about it in the next week or two.

I absolutely agree that childhood trauma can disturb developing brains in ways that replicate many of the symptoms of ADHD.

However, substantial percentages of individuals with ADHD symptoms, even with extensive searching can't or don't find a history of such trauma.

Furthermore, a large body of genetic, and particularly adoption studies indicate that at a population level, genetics have a stronger impact on who develops ADHD than their childhood environment. Specifically, some of these studies looked at genetically high risk for ADHD individuals who were adopted by low -risk families, and vice versa.

Finally, a multitude of studies have shown rates of serious childhood abuse decreasing dramatically over the last 30 years . In many cases rates dropped to less than half of what they were previously. If trauma was the driving factor for ADHD then rates should be plummeting, and they are not.