The 10 yr old was oppositional, defiant, cruel, truant, and was already in a violent gang. However, his 11 yr old brother was quite amazing...... a well-behaved, polite young man who was an excellent student and also class president. For years I wondered how such a miracle could have happened. We eventually found 24 families that included an "all-American boy" and a "child from hell". The ill-behaved children had clear chemistry abnormalities whereas the well-behaved ones generally exhibited expected trace-metal levels. This experiment was a watershed experience for me. For the first time I knew that environment wasn't the only causative factor in behavior disorders and ADHD..... that disordered biochemistry (probably genetic) also played a role. In studying nearly 10,000 behavior-disordered children & adults since that time, I've learned the following: 1. A child born with ideal body/brain chemistry is nearly indestructible, and may thrive in a terrible environment. 2. A child with a MILD chemical predisposition to violence may turn out fine, if the environment is good and there are resources for counseling, etc. The same child might wind up in prison if born into poverty or an otherwise terrible environment. 3. A child born with a SEVERE chemical imbalance will exhibit terrible behavior, even in an ideal environment. You can't just "love away" a severe brain chemical imbalance. My group once visited and tested Charles Manson at San Quentin prison..... his chemistry was so extraordinarily aberrant that I am convinced that if adopted into a different family, Manson would have turned out the same. (July 28, 2003)
