Is there a link between ADHD and spectacular financial failures?

[xchrom]

A new way to study ADHD is to couple brain imaging with neuroeconomics, potentially providing insights into the behaviour of traders and bankers. Photograph: PA

In 1902, George Still, the father of British paediatrics, gave one of the earliest descriptions of ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), calling it a "moral defect without general impairment of intellect" characterised by an "abnormal incapacity for sustained attention".

While the second part remains largely true, causal theories have moved on from descriptions of a "moral defect". Brain imaging studies in particular have shown that there are structural and functional changes that underpin ADHD symptoms, and in a paper published last month in the journal Biological Psychiatry, a group at the Institute for Disorders of Impulse and Attention in the University of Southampton assess one of the newest ways of studying ADHD – by coupling brain imaging with neuroeconomics. They speculate that the condition may be associated with "suboptimal" economic decisions.

At its core, neuroeconomics attempts to understand the neural basis of economic decision making. All economic decisions involve an infinitely complicated set of interacting networks in the brain that adjust and implement plans that are aimed at securing a desired outcome. In children with ADHD, decision making is often compromised because they cannot wait for a reward – a phenomenon known as "delay aversion".

This means that a smaller reward, received now, is often preferred over a more substantial reward in the future. Brain imaging studies have found that ADHD children have a hypersensitivity to delay that often translates into a desire to receive a reward as quickly as possible.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

1. Seriously, someone should conduct a study as to whether MBAs have a tendency to have ADHD.

[JHB]

2. I think it has more to do with SEP...

...that is, Somebody Else's Problem. Get in get the cash, get out, and whatever happens afterward is SEP. Many of the schemes that contribute to financial failures sem (in my unprofessional opinion) to take a longer timeframe than ADHD would manifest over.

It's not so much about short-term rewards as much as a complete lack of any sense of a wider responsibility. With no internal value of civic responsibility and no outside accountability for the damage they do, why wouldn't they grab for whatever they can get?

[Fumesucker]

3. Whether or not a given economic decision is "suboptimal" or not depends a lot on perspective..

What's going on in the economic world is definitely due to a "moral defect" but the moral defect isn't ADHD, it's IGMFY.

[xchrom]

4. there's that...

[Marrah_G]

5. I have adhd

I have a pretty severe case and life is a daily struggle. I am much better with money now then I was, but I have to become pretty obsessive about it. The moment I get distracted, everything falls to pieces.

I've finally got Mass to fix my records in the healthcare system so I should have insurance again sept 1st. Going without my medication for it is extremely tough.

I know people think its a crutch and that it is just some excuse people use, but I have had this since WAY before it was even called adhd, I was diagnosed mid 70's.

[xchrom]

6. ...