THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, April 9, 1996 TAG: 9604090033
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DIANE TENNANT, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
SO, DOCTOR, do you think too many children are diagnosed with attention deficit disorder and put on Ritalin?
Dr. Russell A. Barkley has no problem answering. And answering. And answering.
Short reply: No.
But he uses a lot more words than that. Barkley unwinds thoughts on the media and public opinion that can be woven into these blanket statements:
Attention deficit disorder is not overdiagnosed or overtreated, despite what the public reads, sees and hears. Mothers ought not be bashed. ADD is a neurologic and genetic problem, not a result of too much TV or permissive parents. A public that can still argue that evolution is a theory is the same public that acquitted O.J. Simpson is the same public that believes media hype on overdiagnosis and overmedication of ADD.
Pause for breath.
But do not pause if you want to hear Barkley speak Thursday night at a free public forum sponsored by Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters, the Barry Robinson Center and Child Abuse Prevention Services. More than 600 people have already signed up; the room holds 1,000.
Barkley is director of psychology and professor of psychiatry and neurology at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. Which means he reads and writes scientific papers on children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, a term that includes both children with just attention deficit (ADD) and those with hyperactivity (ADHD) as well.
``We have a certain public point of view about children's behavior problems,'' he said. ``As our science about those problems advances, it is basically reaching a very different conclusion from the public's point of view.
``Clinical professionals who have experience with this disorder well know that it's not overdiagnosed or overtreated,'' Barkley said. ``But that hasn't stopped the press and some social critics from leveling those charges and getting away with it.''
Put it in perspective, he says: Five percent of school-age children have ADHD, but two-thirds of them are not treated for it.
And that, Barkley said, means the real issue isn't increases in the numbers of children diagnosed and treated, but the numbers who are not.
Barkley's public talk on Thursday and a more scientific discussion with medical professionals on Friday will look at treatments for ADHD and how parents and teachers should view the disorder.
Which is also to say he urges compassion, and an end to blaming society for a genetic faux pas.
``Saying that a big chunk of our self-control, our development of normal self-control, has strong neurological and genetic underpinnings is tough for people to swallow,'' he said.
``We have this very deep-seated, almost subconscious belief that childhood behavior and behavior problems stem primarily from the family and from parents specifically and, within that, from mothers. We are great at the sport of mother-bashing in this country. I think we ought to be ashamed of ourselves.''
More than 6,000 studies have been done on ADHD, he said, making it one of the better researched childhood disorders. And many of those studies point to ADHD as a developmental disorder, where the brain is structurally different and the trait is inherited.
Stimulants such as Ritalin are used to treat ADHD, but critics fear they are overprescribed.
Barkley doesn't buy that. ``So far, every study that we do indicates that only 20 to 40 percent of all children who could be diagnosed with the disorder are getting any services. That's a travesty,'' he said. MEMO: Dr. Russell Barkley will speak from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday at the
Norfolk Waterside Marriott. To reserve a seat at the free talk, call
668-7500. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
BARKLEY
by CNB