Modern Times

Project 3 - Truths

Project 3 - Truths

• First Thoughts
• Sources

"Paying Attention." Scientific American.

"Increased Medication Use in ADD: Regressive or Appropriate?" JAMA

"The Ritalin Controversy: What's Made This Drug's Opponents Hyperactive?" JAMA

The Leading Edge Research Homepage

newsgroup: alt.support.attn-deficit

Meng Weng Wong ADD page

Wired Magazine, "Interrupt Driven"

NIMH Pamphlet on ADD

Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Adults

You Mean I'm Not Lazy, Stupid Or Crazy?!

CH.A.D.D. Homepage

Success with Attention Deficit Disorder and Hyperactivity

Parents of Children With Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Biological Correlates of Learning and Attention

Interrupt-Driven

An Epidemic of ADD or a Matter of Overdiagnosis?

• Cultures

Murphy, Kevin R. and Russell A. Barkley. "Parents of Children With Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: Psychological and Attentional Impairment." American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 1st ser. 66 (1996): 93-102.

The American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, which is geared mostly towards the medical/health and research industries as the name implies, is located at university and public research libraries. At the university level, the journal is further confined to medical, health, law, and science libraries. Although the journal has scarce localities, the general public can still obtain a copy of the journal since all of these libraries are accessible to the public. Majority of the articles in American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, like "Parents of Children With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: Psychological and Attentional Impairment," are written by people who possess advanced degrees, such as doctoral, medical, etc. Therefore, the articles tend to be presented in a very technical, research-oriented way increasing the difficulty level - making it more difficult to grasp the presented information. So although the general public has access to the journal, the presentation of the articles has placed limitations on the actual readers - restricting it mainly to the highly educated within this group.

The particular article of interest, "Parents of Children With Attention-Deficit /Hyperactivity Disorder: Psychological and Attentional Impairment," is primarily presented as a study examining the social and psychological functioning of biological parents of children diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Being of such literal structure, there are numerous actors mentioned or referenced in the article. Prior to the presenta tion of their study, the authors produce previous studies and research leading to the purpose of their study. As a result, numerous studies and individual are referenced - Befera & Barkley; Cunningham, Benness, & Siegel; August & Stewart;

Barkley, Fischer, Edelbrock, & Smallish just to mention a few. However, the primary study, which led to the study presented in this article, is Alberts-Corush, et al (1986).

Since the discussion and conclusion are based more or less on the authors' actual study, the focus of the categorization of actors shall be of the actors in this study. Even with such limitations, the actors are numerous; however, subdivisions should provide a means of simplification. The central groups throughout the studies are the parents of ADHD children, the parents of normal children, and of course, the children. The authors further divide the group containing the parents of ADHD children according to the severity of the children's ADHD. The severity of ADHD was determined using several tests. Using the DSM-III-R criteria devised by American Psychiatric Association, the presence of ADHD was determined by doctoral-level clinical child psychologists working in a medical center clinic specializing in the treatment of ADHD children. These psychologists symbolized a mark of expertise to validate the existence of ADHD within the children. The Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) was used to the determine the hyperactivity part of ADHD. The level of severity was determined by the a licensed clinical psychologist through parent interviews, developmental history, school history, review of DSM-III-R criteria, and parent and teacher behavior ratings. Again the psychologist is used to validate the sub-divisions created for the study. Based upon the results of the above, the final sample for the study was composed of three groups, each containing 25 white, middle-class parents: biological parents of 17 severely ADHD children, biological parents of 17 mildly ADHD children, and biological parents of 17 normal children. This sample consisted of 65% mothers and 35% fathers, who were equally distributed across the three groups. Also, note that there did not exist any significant differences in age or gender among the three groups of children. The procedure for the study consisted of several subdivisions, each measuring a different component. The parents socioeconomic status (SES) was determined first using the Hollingshead Two-Factor Index of Social Position. Martial discord was next measured using the Locke-Wallace Marital Adjustment Test (MAT), psychological maladjustment using the Symptom Checklist 90-Revised (SCL-90-R) and the Global Severity Index (GSI), stress using the Parent Stress Index (PSI), intellectual ability using the Shipley Institute of Living Scale (SILS), cognitive flexibility using the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), encoding using Digit Span, a subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale Revised (WAIS-R), sustained attention using the Continuous Performance Test (CPT), and verbal memory using the Verbal Selective Reminding Test. As can be seen, the main actors, outside of the central groups, in this article are tests which categorize the individuals appropriately. Notice that it is non-human actors that provide the expertise for this study, not medical doctors, psychologits, psychiatrists, etc., who are the primary readers of this article.

This article as stated above is presented as a study, which investigates the social and psychological impairments of parents of ADHD children. The authors begin the article, which is told in third person, by presenting the results of several previous studies that show some kind of impairment or deficiency in parents of ADHD children, whether it be lower self-esteem; higher levels of depression, self-blame, and social isolation; marital disturbances; antisocial behavior; alcoholism; hysteria or affective disorder; or learning disabilities. Next they present the root of their study, which is a study, Alberts-Corush et al. This is the only study that formally tested parents of ADHD children on laboratory measures of inattention and impulsivity to determine the existence of cognitive impairments similar to those found in their children. The problem with the Alberts-Corush et al. study is the fact that the assignment of ADHD children into severity levels was not based on a formal clinical criteria. Therefore, the authors devised their study using the Alberts-Corush et al. study as the underlying foundation. The article concludes with a discussion about their findings. There are some noted differences presented. Many of which serve as contradictions to prior testing. When these contradictions were discussed, the authors noted all of the faults with their testing strategies. In other words, instead of saying why their results could be plausible, the authors explain why their results were definitely wrong. The authors ended with a strong statement: "Overall the test battery used in the present study did not capture the significant deficits that some of the subjects described in their daily lives such as forgetfulness, poor memory, difficulty concentrating, poor organization, confusion..." (Murphy and Barkley, p100). They even say that parents should seek interventions, such as medication, education, behavior modification, and support groups, etc.

I am skeptical in believing the presented material. The authors are too quick to disregard their findings when there is really no right or wrong answer in a psychological study. I don't believe that psychology is a pure or applied science in the sense that one has to worry about defying laws or theories. Therefore, I feel that it was the intentions of the authors to show that biological parents of ADHD, the victims in this article, have impairments; it's almost like a conspiracy against the parents. They did not equally defend both sides of their findings. The article would have been more convincing had they done so. Maybe if I was a researcher pursing this line of investigation, I would have perceived the presented article in a different manner, but I am not.

Reviewer: Lekisha Jackson