if a patient had four or more ACEs, she was thirty-two times as likely to have learning or behavior problems, which suggested that the underlying issue was probably not ordinary ADHD. In those cases, I was convinced that the problem was chronic dysregulation of the stress-response system, which inhibited the prefrontal cortex, overstimulated the amygdala, and short-circuited the stress thermostat—in other words, toxic stress.
