Thanks for sharing Skully! It is not surprising there is a chromosomal link to ADHD and is not just behavioral.

There is no history or indication of it in our family anywhere, yet my brother has it and I am questionable (I have BP but ADHD tendencies). They have wondered for a long time where it came from but after taking a genetics class, it could be just a switch of something inherited from somewhere in the family that got turned on or off that triggered it with no previous history in the family.

After speaking with a geneticist, we were told that the chance of our children will inherit the actual trait with symptoms goes up 45%-60% now that we have developed the trait with symptoms. If our mate has the trait / family history of ADHD, the likelihood is even higher for them to develop it and almost guaranteed if our mate has ADHD for the children to develop ADHD symptoms. The same it true for mental illness. However, not necessarily the same specific mental illness only that there will be some form of it.

They say this, but two friends who both have ADHD and have had children. One is showing no symptoms to date and is 15 now; the other has mild OCD symptoms. I'm not so sure all of this set in stone. The researchers are still trying to figure this all out.

On one hand I see the importance of finding why things happen so if it can be prevented or for ways to treat, but it doesn't change the need to manage what we're currently dealing with in the meantime.