Monitor on Psychology - May 2012 - (Page 8)

Letters to fake ADHD. Using specific and embedded measures of performance (symptom) validity, several studies have found evidence of feigned symptoms or impairment in as many as 50 percent of adults and college students seeking ADHD diagnosis (cf., Marshall, et al, 2010; Sullivan et al, 2007). Rather than relying on self-report alone, we believe that ADHD assessment should be comprehensive and, in addition to interview and behavioral ratings, should include academic record review, neuropsychological assessment and performance validity measures, and psychologists should investigate other potential causes, including exaggeration. ROBERT L. MAPOU, PHD Silver Spring, Md. ALLYSON HARRISON, PHD Queens University JULIE SUHR, PHD Ohio University BRIAN SULLIVAN, PSYD College of Charleston And 10 other colleagues in the United States and Canada. Click here for a full list and references. Is ADHD mostly a myth? Sometimes I wonder. When we define symptoms to invent a disorder, this action gives birth to what seems to be a reality. Years ago, I was assigned to find and evaluate all students in seven Rhode Island public elementary schools. At that time, ADHD was called “minimal brain disorder.” However, after being unable to show actual damage to the brain, the experts quickly changed the name to “hyperkinetic” and “hyperactive” disorders before finally settling on 8 “attention deficit” disorders. It was easy to find the students. They were the lively ones: full of life! As I diagnosed one student after another, it soon became apparent that diagnosis and treatment suddenly reversed itself. When a student responded to Ritalin by better conforming to conventional schooling (by tolerating being kept still) it confirmed ADHD. If the student did not respond by settling down, we concluded he or she had “other problems.” The official definition of ADHD simply defined high-energy children whose needs were not being met in their classrooms or schools. These were often bright, talented students. Thus we might say that a school with an ADHD child has a disorder: SWOI (School Without Individualization disorder). When the child’s needs are met in the classroom, including the need to be respected, ADHD disappears. One of my colleagues, Chris Mercagliano, accepted six elementary school students diagnosed with ADHD into his school. They all had been previously medicated. Without medication and with a totally individualized curriculum, the ADHD symptoms disappeared. They did so well that Mercagliano wrote a book, “Teaching the Restless.” After over three decades of study, it seems to me that putting a label on a child or adult can be either helpful or damaging. It is helpful when the diagnosis leads to those involved with the person (including whole school systems) seeing the problem as one in need of individualizing and meeting the child’s needs. It is damaging when it leads to sedating drugs that support a person enough to encourage a damaging system. These are usually ones that hurt not only those with ADHD symptoms, but also most other unidentified victims of that system. With adults, the same sort of thing can happen, as when the label can invite a couple to work together instead of against each other, as your author pointed out. EMMANUEL BERNSTEIN, PHD Saranac Lake, N.Y. Correction Due to a typo, a letter from Dr. Leon Hoffman in the March Monitor incorrectly used the phrase “one-on-one therapy.” Dr. Hoffman was emphasizing that therapy should be known as “oneto-one psychotherapy.” Please send letters to smartin@apa.org or Sara Martin, Monitor editor. Letters should be no more than 250 words and may be edited for space and clarity. M O N I T O R O N P S Y C H O L O G Y • M AY 2 0 1 2

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Monitor on Psychology - May 2012

Monitor on Psychology - May 2012
Letters
President’s Column
Contents
From the CEO
Math + science + motherhood = a tough combination
The rights of indigenous people take center stage at AAAS meeting
Interdisciplinary programs that are leading the way
Good Governance Project moves into its next phase
APA publishes third edition of seminal ADHD book for kids
Government Relations Update
In Brief
Random Sample
Judicial Notebook
Psychology’s first forays into film
Time Capsule
Questionnaire
Presidential programming
Obesity researchers receive lifetime achievement awards
Top speakers for psychology’s top meeting
Science Watch
Homing in on sickle cell disease
Psychologist Profile
Alone in the ‘hole’
Public Interest
State Leadership Conference ‘12
Perspective on Practice
Education tops council’s agenda
Meet the candidates for APA’s 2014 president
Presidential election guidelines
Division Spotlight
American Psychological Foundation
Support for sexual miniorities
Personalities

Monitor on Psychology - May 2012