ADHD: Disease or Deception?
Presented by Robert Collins, PhD, President of the Psychological Services Center, University of Michigan ,Kent State, University of Indiana
About the Speaker
Dr. Collins has degrees from the University of Michigan (B.A.-Psychology), Kent State University (M.A.-Psychology), and Indiana University (Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, an American Psychological Association Approved Program). He was on the faculty of Grand Valley State University from 1969-1981 and in this time period was invited to the University of Western Australia in a suburb of Perth, Australia for one academic year as a Distinguished Visiting Professor. He toured Australia in 1976 giving a variety of talks, including one given to the medical staff at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, Australia. Dr. Collins retired as President of the Psychological Services Center, LC on April 30, 2002 with offices in Grand Haven, Muskegon, and Holland, MI on “The Lakeshore” (Lake Michigan) of Western Michigan. He is operating Soiling Solutions from his home.
About the Event
Announcements
Reminder: We are having a business meeting for the purpose of discussing the future development and growth of our group. This will take place on March 21; the same time and place as for our regular meetings.
There has been another modification to the schedule of upcoming topics. The following is the current listing:
Ø MARCH 14: “Surely We’re Different! Is there “sanctity of life” for human and non-human animals?” Moderated by Jeff Seaver.
Ø MARCH 21; 7PM Calkins Science Center: FAOWM Business Meeting (see above).
Ø MARCH 28: “Guns, Germs & Steel.” Moderated by Marshall Grate.
Ø APRIL 11: “Is Alcoholism a Disease?” Moderated by Jill Pinkerton.
Ø APRIL 25: “Are There Objective Values? Human Hope vs. Randian Logic as an Answer to Relativism.” Moderated by Dr. Joseph Ellin.
Ø MAY 9: “Determinism vs. Free Will: How Will, Choice and Liberty are Consistent with Determinism.” Moderated by William Merriman.
A meeting is scheduled for those interested in volunteering to help with coordinating the potential televising of group meetings through GRTV. This is for March 2 around 2:30-3PM.
March 6 will be the first broadcast of “The Humanist Perspective on public access tv in the Hudsonville/ Georgetown viewing area. This is the first of 6 tapes to be shown. Time VanHaitsma has coordinated this and can still use help in getting this out to other areas. Showtime will be 5:30PM, Channel 6 in Hudsonville.
Jeff brought to our attention the new issue of Skeptic magazine.
Photos were snapped at the meeting, for those willing to be photographed, to be used along with an article written by member Dirk Nebbeling. This will appear in the Fountain Street Church publication, “Free Spirit” to introduce our group to F.S. Church members.
Presentation
Our topic for this meeting was “ADHD: Disease or Deception?” It was presented by Robert W. Collins, PhD, PC. Dr. Collins went through the medical model definition of disease, the history of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and its treatment procedures, beliefs regarding its nature and course through time, symptoms, tests and possible causes.
While this condition has probably always been with us, it was 1st documented in the medical journal Lancet, by Dr. George Still in 1902. He described very emotional, aggressive subjects with limited sustained inhibition and defiant regarding rule-governed behavior. In classrooms, these were disruptive children who could not keep their hands to themselves or stay on task well. >From the ‘30’s through the 50’s this was designated as Minimal Brain Damage and regarded more explicit damage with “soft signs” that might include bed-wetting, clumsiness, poor maturation, and developmental delays. The ‘60’s saw it expressed as Hyperkinetic Reaction in Childhood and medications were introduced that became widespread. Pre-birth differences were found and bio-feedback was used, though in a limited fashion. ADD was coined in the 70’s, though it was controversial. ADHD was introduced in the 80’s, with or without the Hyperactive- Impulsivity component. The various forms and diagnosis were defined and specified.
We discussed the pattern of study of behavior starting with a constellation of symptoms that go toward a syndrome where the underlying physical cause or causes are explored. We talked about exogenous and endogenous causes. Those from without including the bombardment of the senses by the random cacophony of stimulation, confusion, the fast pace and quick change of content in presented input, plus the further rippling out to further environmental factors. From within causes would include genetic and brain structure differences.
It was mentioned that deficiencies in the ability to organize tend to show up more often in modern societies, fraught with the “information explosion” and disruptive conditions in home-life. Children have to manage ever- increasing amounts of information and are expected to keep still for long periods for information-saturated learning.
Ritalin and other medications (Adderal, Dexedrine, Cylert, Clonodine and Concerta, etc.) were discussed and what symptoms they were and were not advocated for. Ritalin has been seen as a “quick and dirty” response to help manage the more wild children who cannot attend to textbooks or class instruction. It is not recommended for the “space cadet” who is without any focus, for instance. Some stimulants were mentioned that have too short a “half-life” for true effectiveness.
Brainwave discrepancies were noted in these individuals as well as specific brain structure differences including the vermis region of the cerebellum being smaller and the right prefrontal cortex and two basal ganglia called the caudate nucleus being significantly smaller than with normal children. Regarding genetics; siblings are between 5 and 7 times more likely to develop the syndrome. Similarities were mentioned between those with TBI (traumatic brain injury) and those with ADHD, with difficulty in controlling inhibitions being one.
This last-noted symptom shows up dramatically in the CPT (continuous performance test) where individuals with ADHD have difficulty in controlling responses to stimuli. Anticipation and problems inhibiting factor in so that directions for response type cannot be followed effectively. Dr. Collins showed us some of this testing in a video tape. Dr. Collins said that one has to be careful in diagnosis and should include classroom and home environment observation, the family history, memory, IQ and other tests. He and other group members talked about how quick some in the medical profession are to label and prescribe medications before a full investigation has been done.
While symptoms must be noted before age 7 for individuals to be considered having some form of this condition along the spectrum of this subset of behavioral types, it is now known that from 50% to 2/3rds of children go into adulthood with this condition, though generally the symptoms diminish over the lifetime of the individual.
Some of the items that came up in our discussion were ones of overmedicating children, societal views, the influence on these views from the Judeo-Christian mindset and alternative methods to medications in treatment and changes in the school system to accommodate better these individuals.
Dr. Collins’ conclusion regarding the topic question—-is ADHD a disease or deception?-was that some use it to deceive, but that does not make the condition unreal.
Recorder: Charles LaRue
