Day care is causing the ADHD epidemic. That’s the provocative take from psychotherapist Erica Komisar on John Anderson’s podcast. She argues that putting very young babies into long hours of daycare creates chronic stress that flips the brain’s stress switch (the amygdala) on way too early. It goes into... hypervigilant mode, eventually burns out, and leaves kids in a constant low-level fight-or-flight state, which gets labeled as ADHD. She says there’s no strong genetic cause for ADHD. It’s largely a response to the environment we’re putting kids in. This one really made me pause. We’re wiring tiny brains for survival mode before they’ve even had a chance to develop properly. If much of the ADHD explosion is coming from early chronic stress and separation, then rethinking daycare norms and early childcare could dramatically improve kids’ mental health long-term. What’s your experience or observation, do you think modern daycare schedules are contributing to rising ADHD rates?show more

True, and let's go two steps further: "Why are parents putting kids into daycare?" A: because they can't afford to live off one income Q: "Why not?" A: Because of currency debasement eroding purchasing power of every citizen since 1971.

Wow I so hope this gets the attention it deserves! I’ve been so deeply concerned about this for so long. How our society as normalised removing very babies/young children from the security of their closest people I struggle to understand It is unnatural and disturbing

I think parents should raise their children at home, I think our population collapse is because it's to exhausting to raise well adjusted kids when they're being raised in daycare and public education. Someone needs to teach them how to behave and function in society and daycare is not where they learn this. This generation of kids are depressed and anxiety filled, teachers can't even teach them academics because they are always dealing with poorly raised children.

Full interview with @EricaKomisarCSW on @JohnAndersonAC’s podcast:

no. It's the vaccines. I am NO fan of daycare, believe me, for numerous reasons, but ADHD is from the vaccines.

Blaming daycare FOR ADHD is guilt tripping working parents without solving root issues. ADHD has a strong genetic basis (heritability ~70-80% from twin/adoption studies), not largely environmental with no strong genetics. Komisar's amygdala burnout narrative oversimplifies, ADHD involves complex neurobiology (dopamine pathways, etc.), not just early survival mode. Attachment/security is important, but evidence doesn't support daycare as a primary cause of the ADHD rise.

I grew up with ADHD, and my mom was a stay at home mom. And never utilized childcare.

Sounds like bollocks. If it would be so, then several generations of the Soviet Union would have ADHD. Because they were in daycare from like 0.5 years. And apparently they don't, so there must be another and more plausible explanation.

It seems to be multi factorial, which may include toxic air, water, food, and other foreign material ingested & injected I pray daily for our children! 🙏

The amygdala piece is real. Chronic early stress does dysregulate the threat system. But daycare isn't the only variable. Sleep deprivation, screens, and academic pressure on 4-year-olds all hit the same switch. Blaming one cause sells books.

My daughter has ADHD and never went to daycare. I think daycare is wrong for many reasons but not sure I agree with this take.

She puts her finger on something we’ve normalised without really examining: we’ve built an economic and social model that assumes very long separations from very young children, then we’re surprised when stress and regulation issues show up downstream. Even if daycare itself isn’t the villain, we should be asking: are our early‑years arrangements, at home, at daycare and at work, organised in a way that genuinely minimises chronic stress and maximises secure, consistent relationships for kids? I’m teetering on NO.

It’s BS. My dad, born in the 1920s & grew up on a farm, was a poster child for ADHD. His first-grade teacher told my grandma: “He’s not a bad boy. He just keeps the entire class in a constant uproar.” Then he passed that down to his kids, and now grandkids. It’s demonstrably genetic (although epigenetics could possibly be involved).

Can’t be 100% the cause. I have triplets - identical twins and a fraternal. All sisters. One identical twin has adhd. I was a stay at home mom until they went to first grade….

@PaulParkerG That’s not true. In 2021, we identified the MTHFR gene mutation. Diet and environmental factors can cause it to happen, and also alleviate symptoms. But it is factually incorrect to say there’s no genetic cause.

define very young? my kid was 16 months old and couldn't wait to get to day care. she spends the whole day drawing, painting, singing reading, learning from other older kids, being around professionals who knows a lot about taking care of and stimulating small children. she's there for 6-7 hours ish. i deliver late, mom picks up early. we have friends who kept their kids home until they were two and change (same age as our daughter exactly). their kid talks way less, cant play cos they wont share toys, spends way more time on an ipad because the parents are exhausted from "staying at home to take care of their daughter" of course thats completely anecdotal and kids are different. but daycare (at least in norway) is a blessing for both kids and parents.

This is a closed case. Obviously true and studied to the point of being unethical.

Daycare from an early age was normal in the communist Part of Germany. But no problems with ADHD. So there must be something else…….

Look at the highly processed foods these children are eating everyday along with the amount of vaccines these children are subjected to, compared to the real foods eaten in the 1950s and the vaccines schedules for children during that time. Daycare could affect this, too.

Weird how kids might need their moms and when they are apart from their moms 8-10 hours a day, competing for an adults attention, it causes negative outcomes

the unvaccinated never get ADHD.

Well, if that were the complete answer, then I would never have had ADHD because day care did not exist when I was a child, but I did have a neglectful mother. Does that count?

No, I think neurodivergent children have made an "explosion" in recent years because they're the third of 3 incoming Souls waves who don't come from this world. [I'm in that second wave.] People/doctors can call ADHD and autism "brain damage", or try to link it to external factors all they want to. We all volunteered. Our extraordinary sensitivities were needed to stay afloat in this hellhole, and in a low-density world the manifestations of these extraordinary modes of being ate pathologized. No, I don't think daycare, indoctrination or the breakdown of traditional family structures is helping anything. Yes, these are devastating and lead to lifelong changes and PTSD. Yes, there are toxins, poisons, and adverse reactions to vaccines. These can lead to profound neurological injuries. They are not responsible for true neurodivergence and those who don't understand this are usually also demonstrating that they don't understand (1) Spirit, (2) history/anthropology, or (3) life beyond Earth.

She is such a fraud. She is way out on a limb with her theorizing but she talks as if standing on a podium of stone. Many ppl don’t notice. They just get off to hearing they are bad parents (or better yet, those other ppl are bad parents). Sick.

Yes! Professionals said toddlers need daycare socilisation I took happy daughter to a nursery & within 2 days saw her becoming stressed at home I went & stayed with her the next time The children were unruly, the carers unable to cope Took my daughter out and glad I did

Is school any different? Putting kids into a high stress environment where they are unprotected, get fed all sorts of rubbish (both for their stomachs and their minds), get exposed to all kinds of germs and diseases, look up to other children as role models. It's horrific

@Scarcifiable It's the television the movies the cartoons parents plop them down in front of. You don't need some freudian psychotherapist fraud to tell you that. Watch the flashes, the scene changes. Courtesy of Disney et al

Tämä siirtyy lisäksi epigeneettisesti kovasti stressaantuneista vanhemmista. Vaikuttaa sitten lapsella kaikkeen terveyteen. Meillä on täysin vanhentuneet ja erittäin kapeat näkemykset liittyen stressiin ja sen vaikutuksiin.

Say what? Day care gives children a “disability”? Must be part of why the leftists want mothers at work; so they can get to the kids. Also why they hate homeschoolers.

Maybe that explain it for some of you ex-children but I did not spend my childhood in day care nor stressed. I think this lady is just overlooking that it is genetic for some of us.

What’s the rate in Chinese children or Russian children- because they all went to daycare very early on? Let’s compare and draw realistic conclusions.

There were full day cares in Soviet Union, kids didn’t have ADHD

Daycare has been around forever. It’s the screen time! The screen time is causing ppl of all ages to have low attention spans. Cocomelon and shows like that are literally produced to keep your kid locked in by providing consistent and frequent stimulation. Who funded this lady

There is a strong genetic component, but like almost every other affliction, other factors have influence as well.

ADHD is caused by the fact that we now live sedentary lifestyles. We used to exercise to live. Now we pay to workout, maybe. Kids on screens are not kids playing outdoors. The brain needs oxygenated blood. Exercise is the best treatment of an inability to focus.