Puberty is a hurricane of emotional, physical, behavioral, and social changes — and ADHD is the undercurrent that fuels its strength and intensity.Already prone to impulsivity and intense emotional reactions, teens with ADHD experience higher highs and lower lows while their brains continue to develop in puberty.
Hormonal changes in boys and girls, we now know, can significantly alter ADHD symptoms and responses to treatment, creating a perfect storm that demands specialized understanding and support.Puberty is powered by a complex interplay of biological and environmental factors.Major Hormonal Changes: Hormonal pathways activate the production of estrogen and progesterone in females, and testosterone in males.
Aside from ensuring sexual maturation, these hormones act on the brain, organizing neural circuits to create long-lasting functional and structural changes that impact behavior.Novelty and Thrill-Seeking: Adolescent brains also undergo synaptic pruning, the refinement of neural connections to increase brain efficiency.
In other words, teen brains are primed to learn, which is part of the reason we see increased novelty and thrill-seeking, identity exploration, and boundary-pushing.
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