The Beauty of ADHD
“The beauty of ADHD is it’s the most treatable disorder in psychiatry” Russell Barkley, Ph.D.
Dr. Barkley is a clinical psychologist who retired from his position as a clinical professor of psychiatry at the VCU Medical Center in 2022. During his distinguished career he authored 27 books and more than 280 scientific papers and book chapters. His research articles include multiple papers from his longitudinal study in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and he was among the first to develop a theory of ADHD as a disorder of executive functioning and self-regulation.
Dr. Barkley’s research has been cited by more than 91,000 other authors and he has a H-index (citation impact factor) of 133 on Google Scholar. Dr. Barkley also edits The ADHD Report, a newsletter for clinicians and parents. Besides his clinical work, he is an expert in the neuropsychology of executive function and self-regulation. He has given more than 800 invited lectures in more than 30 countries during his career, and is board certified in three clinical specialties: clinical neuropsychology, clinical psychology, and clinical child and adolescent psychology.
Dr. Barkley’s research and teachings have changed the world’s understanding of what it means to have ADHD and how to treat it effectively.
When my son was diagnosed with ADHD in first grade I dove head-long into reading Dr. Barkley’s books and research papers. Luckily, I had many years of experience working in mental health to help me piece the facts together. However, the more I read and understood, the more astonished I felt by the lack of education and training I had received on the job. ADHD is estimated to affect about 6.1 million children in the United States. That’s about 1 of every 10 kids in American classrooms and in my experience, no one seemed to understand it well. Not the doctors or the teachers. In fact, the more we tried to follow the experts' advice, the worse it got for us.
That’s when I decided that I needed to develop my own plan. I had no idea back then that my son’s diagnosis would change the course of my career but happily, I haven’t looked back. And now, the system my son helped me develop has helped hundreds of other families too.
“The beauty of ADHD is it’s the most treatable disorder in psychiatry. There is no disorder that we treat that has as many medications and as many psychosocial treatments that are as effective as these are for as many people producing more change than any other medications and psychosocial treatments for individuals. 55% of people on medication are normalized, 90% of them respond, the effects of adhd medications are three times that of anxiety drugs and antidepressants. This is the most treatable disorder that we face (in psychiatry) . The biggest problem is that most people don't get treatment. 40% of children and 90% of adults with ADHD are not recognized or treated for their disorder. That’s the problem, not that we are overtreating, we are undertreating, and we are undertreating the most treatable disorder in psychiatry”.
Thank you Dr. Barkely.