What Causes ADHD?

Synthesizing a wealth of recent neuropsychological research, this groundbreaking book focuses on the multiple pathways by which attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) develops. Joel T. Nigg marshals the best available knowledge on what is actually going on in the symptomatic child's brain and why, tracing the intersecting causal influences of genetic, neural, and environmental factors. In the process, the book confronts such enduring controversies as the validity of ADHD as a clinical construct. Specific suggestions are provided for studies that might further refine the conceptualization of the disorder, with significant potential benefits for treatment and prevention.

Reviews

"Nigg's book is a tour de force. Conceptually rich and clinically relevant, it does not shrink from current controversies regarding ADHD, but instead synthesizes massive amounts of relevant, up-to-the-minute research into a masterful whole. This book is essential reading for scientists, clinicians, and students; it is one of those few volumes that can and should cross over between the classroom and the laboratory. Nigg is a wizard at finding and making comprehensible the complex sets of issues that render ADHD a timely and provocative springboard for discussion of scientific models, causal factors, and implications for treatment. There is nothing quite like it in the field."
-Stephen P. Hinshaw, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley

Contents

1. Conceptual Context
   1. ADHD's Controversies
   2. Defining "Disorder"
2. How Does ADHD Work?
   3. Neural Systems
   4. Attention and Arousal
   5. Executive Functioning or Cognitive Control
   6. Motivation
   7. Motor Control and Timing
3. Where Does ADHD Come From?
   8. Multiple Pathways
   9. Genetic Effects
   10. Uncommon Experiential Risk Factors
   11. Common Experiential Risk Factors
4. Integration
   12. Multiple Pathways Reconsidered
   13. Conclusion