does not mean there is no problem. Sickle cell anemia comes immediately to mind. Having one but not two genes protects in malaria. But having two genes results in a severe illness that often shortens life. The genetics behind ADHD are poorly umderstood. A "mild" case may indeed be advantageous, but a more severe case would not. Imagine being inattentive to the environment when the environment has big hungry creatures ready to harm you (e.g. "Watch out for that snake!")

As an adult with mild/moderate ADD I do think it has its uses. I own my own business and being able to do several different tasks at once is a benefit. Most of the other small business owners I know also exhibit some ADD symptoms.

Another area of benefit is, not surprisingly, is seen while hunting. One's attention constantly and lightly "touches" all the sights, sounds and smells around one and when something of interest pops up the mind becomes hyper focused. Then, if it isn't anything out of the ordinary, the mind goes back to quickly and lightly "touching" the surrounding environment.

It is in the woods, hunting that I am most at home. It is there that I feel "normal". During day to day living I am constantly trying to remember things, focus, and act more like everybody else. In the woods all that drops away.

I

dberne:

does not mean there is no problem. Sickle cell anemia comes immediately to mind. Having one but not two genes protects in malaria. But having two genes results in a severe illness that often shortens life. The genetics behind ADHD are poorly umderstood. A "mild" case may indeed be advantageous, but a more severe case would not. Imagine being inattentive to the environment when the environment has big hungry creatures ready to harm you (e.g. "Watch out for that snake!")

You kind of misunderstand how ADHD (or attention in general) actually works. A person with ADHD is actually going to be more attentive to dangers and opportunities in the natural environment than a neurotypical person. People with ADHD may have a hard time concentrating on lectures or on typing up quarterly reports, but in active sports or in nature, they can do very well. A person with ADHD will see that snake in the grass or the big predator in the tree before you do.

ADHD brains are very well adapted for a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. In fact, that's what all human brains are adapted for. The kind of lifestyle we live in industrialized countries today is actually harmful to us in many ways because it doesn't "mesh" very well with the human cognitive makeup.

Our physical and mental evolution has not kept up with the pace of change in our technology and society. There are ways to change our lifestyles to be more friendly to our brains, but it requires us to realize that the way we live is not "normal" as far as our biology is concerned.

Actually, as a child psychiatrist with nearly 20 years of experience, I think I have a reasonably good idea about how ADHD works. Attentional difficulties are key, with problems in any of several areas of attentional regulation, including engaging attention, sustaining attention (task completion), reorienting attention (e.g. shifting focus when necessary, sometimes appearing as hyperfocused). If someone is hyperfocused on tracking, they may miss other dangers in the environment, for example. It's one reason why parents think the kid who gets lost for hours in a preferred activity could not have ADHD. And gathering (as in hunter-gatherer) is a repetitive, slow, and potentially boring task, ill suited to the higher needs for stimulation and excitement of most individuals with ADHD. And I haven't even touched on those individuals who also have problems with impulse control (e.g. "stop poking the bear!") I'm not saying there are no advantages in certain areas to having ADHD (creative and energetic pursuits chief among them). When combined with good social skills, individuals with ADHD can rally forces behind them to complete great tasks. And arguably, without individuals with a high drive for novelty seeking, we never would have left the trees or savannas and colonized the whole planet. My original point is that when I see articles that seem to suggest that ADHD somehow does not warrant treatment, I need to respond. I see too many kids who have had unrecognized ADHD and experience repeated failures academically, socially, and within their family, that then give, drop out, become depressed and/or turn to drugs, when early recognition and intervention can prevent much of the bad outcomes.