People with ADHD are two or three times more likely to be involved in serious car accidents, to be incarcerated, and to get divorced (if they marry) than the general population. They are less likely to finish school or college, have substantially reduced lifetime earnings, and higher mortality rates. “This is really something that destroys jobs, destroys relationships, and kills people,” Dr. Kruse says. “This is not something trivial.”

President Donald Trump, Dr. Kruse says, is “the poster boy for unrecognized, unacknowledged ADHD.” He explains how “Trump scores bigly” on formal psychiatric criteria for adult ADHD -and why society and the psychiatric community won’t address the issue.

The “Goldwater rule” prohibits psychiatrists from giving professional opinions about public figures without personally conducting an examination. Many ADHD specialists are aware Trump seems to display ADHD symptoms, yet avoid the topic because it’s polarizing and could harm their standing in professional organizations. Dr. Kruse tells why he chose to focus on the president: to raise awareness.

Dr. Kruse discusses how technology and social media are making our society more distracted, over-stimulated, and “ADHD-like.”

It’s estimated that 4.4 percent of the US adult population has ADHD and 41.3 percent of those cases are considered severe. Yet only half of these individuals seek help. Dr. Kruse explains why.

Dr. Kruse discusses why society still stigmatizes people with ADHD or other mental illness, or others who think and behave differently, and reveals how technology and social media are affecting mental health and psychiatry.

Despite the name, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is not a deficit in attention, but a deficit in the ability to control attention, Dr. Kruse says. This is why people with the disorder can be distracted some of the time and hyper-focused at other times.

More than 10,000 studies have looked at characteristics of ADHD in the brain and effects of medication. Dr. Kruse discusses brain imaging studies that have shown marked improvement of ADHD symptoms in kids who took medications over those who didn’t, and what this means for parents considering medication for their children with ADHD.

Dr. Kruse details the top three ways people can calm ADHD symptoms: sleep, exercise, and meditation. Sleep hint: “It’s not just getting eight hours of sleep each night that’s important; it’s getting the same eight hours.” He explains studies that show exercise has a profound effect on many but not all people with ADHD, along with the two types of meditation that people with ADHD find easiest.

An avid runner who has competed in 100 marathons, Dr. Kruse discusses studies on the healing benefits of spending time outdoors and their lessons for people with ADHD.