Rethinking ADHD

Couples Therapy in Seven Words Short Take 2

Welcome to Short Take #2. In this series Judy and I talk about some of our (well, mostly my) favorite topics in bite-size morsels.

Today’s topic: Rethinking ADHD

Is ADHD a disease, or even a disorder? Or is it a description of one end of a spectrum? Why does the distinction matter? I talk about a recent New York Times article in which long-time ADHD researchers describe how they are re-examining their assumptions. Then I tell one of my go-to stories about working with a high school kid who was diagnosed with ADHD and hadn’t been told yet—but his teachers had been told.

Here’s the NYT article.

Why am I ranting about ADHD in a blog about couples therapy? Well, because the way ADHD hardened into a black-and-white diagnosis, as if it were analagous to diabetes, is a great example of psychosclerosis—hardening of the categories (see Short Take #1). And psychosclerosis is often what’s plaguing couples.