Letter to APA 5/03 dubunking BS ADHD

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May 15, 2003
Dear Dr. Rubenstein:

This is a reply to your letter of March 17, 2002. The letter you sent was a
reply to Dr. Galves' letter of February 16, 2002 in which he expressed
concern about the following three statements that are included in the
brochures on ADHD that were published by Division 29 (Psychotherapy) in
conjunction with Celltech Pharmaceuticals Inc:
1. "ADD/ADHD is generally considered a neuro-chemical disorder."

2. "Most people with ADD/ADHD are born with the disorder, though it may
not be recognized until adulthood."

3. "ADHD is not caused by poor parenting, a difficult family
environment, poor teaching or inadequate nutrition."

Dr. Galves' basic objection to these statements was that there is no
scientific evidence to support them.
In your letter to Dr. Galves, you included information and references that
were provided to you by Dr. Robert J. Resnick and Dr. Kalman Heller. We
have reviewed the information and references you sent and continue to find
that they do not contain scientific evidence for the statements in question.
We submit to you the following analysis of the information and references
you provided as well as additional information and references.

"ADD/ADHD is generally considered a neuro-chemical disorder"
Although ADD/ADHD may be generally considered by popular opinion
to be a 'neuro-chemical disorder,' there is no scientific evidence to back
this claim. The scientific evidence to which you refer (which is in itself
inconsistent), merely suggests that the biochemistry and brain physiology of
individuals diagnosed with ADD/ADHD is different from that of individuals
not diagnosed with the disorder (Goldstein and Goldstein, 1998; Barkley,
1990; Ross and Ross, 1982 ). However, the statement you have made in your
letter implies that ADD/ADHD is caused by these biological dynamics.
Elsewhere, you also state that "evidence to date suggests a biological
cause." Again, our review of the same references you have cited does not
support either of these claims.
All that we can derive from our careful review of these citations is that
there is evidence of a correlation between the biological dynamics and the
ADHD category. Because this evidence is entirely correlational and the
brain is a living, functioning organ constantly responding to its
environment with complex neurochemical and other neurofunctional changes, it
is just as likely (and perhaps more likely) that the biological dynamics are
a result of an interplay of emotions, thoughts, intentions and behavior
experienced by the diagnosed individuals. Please consider the following
research findings in relation to this perspective:
· Jeffrey Schwartz et.al of UCLA (1996) found that a group of people
suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder had "abnormalities" in their
brains. Half of the group received drug therapy; the other half received
cognitive behavioral "talk therapy." All of the patients improved and, when
Schwartz checked their brains, he found that their brains had changed in the
same ways. Presumably, the cognitive-behavioral therapy had the same impact
on the physiology of the brain as did the biological therapy.
· Mark Rozensweig et.al. (1972) found that the brains of monkeys
raised in rich environments had a greater number of neurons and more complex
interneuronal connections than the brains of monkeys raised in more
impoverished environments.
· Franz Alexander (1984) found the people who had been deprived of
support, affirmation and ample time while growing up were much more likely
to suffer from overactive thyroids than people who were brought up in more
nourishing environments.
· James Pennebaker (2000) found that students who were assigned the
task of writing about traumas they had suffered and about their fears,
relationships and desires had stronger immune systems and were healthier
than students who were assigned to write about less emotionally charged
topics.
· Studies have demonstrated a relationship between vulnerability to
depression and the following psychological variables:
o Suffered trauma at an early age (Kramer, 1993);
o Have a high need for and/or lost an important relationship (Johnson
and Roberts, 1995);
o Use a ruminating style of thinking (Lehmicke & Hicks, 1995);
o Score low on self-esteem and high on stress (Kreger, 1995);
o Have lost control over important variables in their life (Jensen,
Cardello & Baun, 1996);
o Hold a stable rather than flexible attributional style (Seligman,
1975).
o Score high on a scale of self-defeating personality (McCutcheon,
1995).
· A recent study by Cornell researchers found that a two-week course
in remedial reading significantly changed the brain physiology of dyslexic
students (Rappaport, 2003).
· A recent study by Seattle psychiatrist Arif Khan (Khan et al.,
2002) indicated a large overlap in effect between placebo and
antidepressants in the original FDA trials of these drugs. Leuchter and
fellow UCLA researchers (Leuchter et al., 2002) found that these placebo
effects result in detectable changes in brain function. Similar studies have
not been undertaken with ADD/ADHD subjects nor are individuals who may have
already experienced temporary or permanent brain changes as a result of
stimulant treatment typically excluded or controlled for in ADD/ADHD
research (Leo & Cohen, 2002).
· Baumeister and Hawkins (2001) undertook an exhaustive review of
efforts to substantiate a neuroanatomical site or sites related with
ADD/ADHD through structural and functional neuroimaging techniques such as
PET, single positron scanning, MRI, and electrophysiological measurement.
These researchers stated that while "[t]here seems to be a consensus among
experts today that ADHD is associated with structural and/or functional
abnormalities in the brain", they could only conclude that "the present
review indicates that the neuroimaging literature provides no convincing
evidence for the existence of abnormality in the brains of persons with
ADHD" (p. 7-8).
The above evidence contradicts your premises. The scientific principle of
parsimony compels us to arrive at a completely different set of conclusions
than you have-in which the biological dynamics you cite as correlating with
ADD/ADHD at the brain level can be more accurately depicted as a result of
psychological and environmental variables than a neurodevelopmentally
damaged, diseased, or dysfunctional brain. The mind-body dynamic that has
been most thoroughly researched in this regard is the human stress response.
The human stress response is a profound, complex biochemical and
physiological dynamic that is preceded by a perception of threat and a
cognition that the threat is real and needs to be dealt with. The
psychological variables of the human stress response precede and likely
cause the physiological variables, rather than the converse (Everly, 1989;
Selye, 1974).
Calling ADHD a "neurochemical disorder" with a "biological cause" implies
that it has nothing to do with how a child thinks, feels, reacts, intends,
perceives, adjusts and responds. It implies that the behaviors are not
under the control of the child or those within the child's world and have
nothing to do with how the child finds and makes meaning in that world.
That is a fundamental error contradicted by those of us who, like you, also
work very closely with children and families everyday.
"Most people with ADD/ADHD are born with the disorder, though it may not be
recognized until adulthood."
The implication here is that ADD/ADHD is a genetic disorder.
There is a body of research that purports to demonstrate that this disorder
is essentially a result of genetic factors. Most of that research has used
studies that compare interclass correlations between the rates of the
disorder in monozygotic twins and dizygotic twins. Virtually all of this
research has found significantly higher correlations between monozygotic
twins than between dizygotic twins (Goodman & Stevenson, 1989; Pauls, 1991;
Biederman et al., 1992; Gillis et al., 1992; Edelbrock et al., 1995; Sherman
et al., 1997). However, this kind of research suffers from the following
serious deficiencies:
· All of this research is based on the assumption that monozygotic
twins and dizygotic twins are raised in equivalent environments. That
assumption is erroneous. As Jay Joseph (2003) has explained:
Identical twins spend more time together than fraternals, and more often
dress alike, study together, have the same close friends and attend social
events together. James Shields, in his 1954 study of normal twin
school-children found that 47% of the identical twins had a 'very close
attachment' which was true for only 15% of fraternal twins . . . According
to Kringlen's (1967) survey, 91% of identical twins experienced 'identity
confusion in childhood' which was true for only 10% of fraternal twins.
Kringlen also found that identical twins were more likely to have been
considered as alike as two drops of water (76% vs. 0%), 'brought up as a
unit' (72% vs. 19% and 'inseparable as children' (73% vs. 19%). Sixty-five
percent of identical twins were found to have an 'extremely strong' level of
closeness which was true for only 19% of the fraternal pairs (p. ).
Since the equal environment assumption is not valid, the correlations
between monozygotic twins are just as likely a result of environmental
factors as of genetic factors.
· Findings of genetic influence over behavior are confounded by the
fact that genes direct the synthesis of protein and protein synthesis can be
affected by environmental factors such as stress, trauma and lack of
parental responsiveness (Hubbard & Wald, 1993). The process of gene
expression is much more complex than is suggested by stories in the popular
press (Commoner, 2002). Thus, the process through which genes influence
the behavioral characteristics of a person is itself greatly influenced by
environmental factors.
· In order to scientifically demonstrate genetic etiology for any
trait, the precise genetic mechanism involved must be identified. As Ross
and Ross (1982) point out:
The only procedures that can precisely define a genetic mechanism are
segregation studies which could only be done with humans under very unusual
circumstances and linkage studies which would require the identification of
the genetic marker associated with hyperactivity..and these are
possibilities for which there is as yet no evidence." (p. 73, 74)
These flaws cast doubt on the validity of the research that purports to show
a genetic etiology for ADD/ADHD. Even without considering these powerful
contaminating factors and obstacles, the research on genetic factors in ADHD
accounts for no more than 50 % of the variance. This is hardly a reasonable
basis for your declaration that ADD/ADHD is present at birth.
A second approach to demonstrating genetic etiology is by using
research on the correlation between infant temperament (Thomas and Chess,
1977) and later diagnosis of ADD/ADHD. Some theorists have suggested that
such temperament factors as activity level, threshold of responsiveness,
intensity of reaction, distractibility and attention span and persistence of
these elements might be associated with characteristics of behavior
disorders such as ADD/ADHD later on. Thomas and Chess (1977) indicated, for
example, that "features of temperament played significant roles [emphasis
ours] in development of childhood behavior disorders." However, those same
researchers concluded that, "in no case did a given pattern of temperament,
as such, result in [emphasis ours] behavioral disturbance. Deviant
development was always the result of the interaction between a child's
individual makeup and significant features of the environment." (p. 40).
Indeed, the most carefully administered study of this factor found that "the
contributions of family characteristics and pre-natal/perinatal
characteristics are outweighed by the contribution of constitutional factors
(hyperactivity in the family, chronic illness as a child and temperament
characteristics) and by the home environment domain (measures of achievement
press, provision of early learning activities and parent-child interactions)
[emphasis ours]" (Lambert & Harsough, 1984 )
A third approach to inferring genetic etiology of ADHD is
research that compares the incidence of ADHD and other psychiatric disorders
in the relatives of children diagnosed with ADHD with the incidence of such
disorders in relatives of children not diagnosed with ADHD (Safer, 1973;
Biederman et al., 1986; Pauls, 1991). This research is confounded by the
failure to control for the many environmental factors that could also
explain the intergenerational transmission of mental disorders in families.
Research on attachment dynamics and trauma demonstrate the profound
influence that parent-child relationships in the first months of life have
on the mental health of individuals. (Holmes, 1995; Bretherton, 1995;
Crittenden, 1995; Lewis, Amini & Lannon, 2000; Herman, 2000; van der Kolk,
McFarlane & Weisath, 1996). None of the research on the incidence of ADHD
in families controls for these crucial factors.
Research and common sense confirm that genetic inheritance must
have some influence over temperament and, therefore, over the behaviors that
characterize ADHD. However, research also demonstrates that genetic
influence is not a major factor. As three psychiatrists Lewis, Amini and
Lannon (2000) put it:
Genetic information lays down the brain's basic macro-and microanatomy;
experience then narrows still-expansive possibilities into an outcome. Out
of many, several; out of several, one..While genes are pivotal in
establishing some aspects of emotionality, experience plays a central role
in turning genes on and off. DNA is not the heart's destiny; the genetic
lottery may determine the cards in your deck, but experience deals the hand
you can play...Like most of their toys, children arrive with considerable
assembly required.A child's brain cannot develop normally without the
coordinating influence that limbic communication furnishes. The coos and
burbles that infants and parents exchange, the cuddling, rocking, and joyous
peering into each other's faces look innocuous if not inane; one would not
suspect a life-shaping process in the offing. But from their first
encounter, parents guide the neurodevelopment of the baby they engage with.
In his primal years, they mold a child's inherited emotional brain into the
neural core of the self." (, pp. 149-153)

A balanced review of this research indicates that there is no scientific
evidence that ADD/ADHD is present at birth as you have claimed and that
genetic factors are, at best, a minor influence over the behaviors that
characterize ADD/ADHD.
"ADHD is not caused by poor parenting, a difficult family environment, poor
teaching or inadequate nutrition."
In fact, a preponderance of the scientific evidence demonstrates
that ADHD is significantly associated with poor parenting, difficult family
environments and inhumane and oppressive school and community environments.
Researchers have found an association between the behavioral characteristics
of ADHD and the following characteristics of parenting and family
environments:
· Family instability, differences in press for achievement in the
family, provision for early learning, disciplinary practices, interest in
the child's schooling, negative and pessimistic perception by parents of the
child's academic and intellectual competencies accompanied by decreased
expectation levels and decreased desire to participate with the child in
learning activities. (Lambert and Harsough, 1984)
· Parents feeling threatened and inadequate; parents unconsciously
rejecting the child and parents blaming children for the extra problems they
present. (Lambert, 1982)
· Mothers' use of criticism and general malaise in parenting.
(Goodman and Stevenson, 1989).
· Father's hypercritical and destructive attitude, inconsistent,
impatient and pressuring parenting approach and mothers who are judged to be
emotionally disturbed (Thomas and Chess, 1977).
· Maternal anxiety and attitude toward pregnancy (Sameroff &
Chandler, 1975).
· Mothers who are more directive commanding and negative; parents
with depression, alcoholism, conduct disorder, anti-social behavior and
learning disabilities; mothers who are less responsive to positive or
neutral communications of their children (Barkley, 1990)
· A negative, critical and commanding style of child management
(Campbell, 1990)
· Parental distress, hostility and marital discord (Cameron, 1977)
· Greater familial anger during conflicts, more disengagement from
each other and repeated disputes over school issues and issues pertaining to
siblings; parents who adhered to rigid beliefs about their teens' bids for
autonomy and who attributed misbehavior to malicious intentions (Robin,
Kraus, Koepke and Robin, 1987)
· Parents who use aggressive behavior, indiscriminate aversiveness
and submissiveness or acquiescence toward their children during management
encounters (Patterson, 1982).
· Disharmony in early mother-child relationships (Battle and Lacy,
1972).
· Experiences of high level of stress in parenting and feelings of
lower self esteem (Goldstein and Goldstein, 1990)
· Mothers who were critical of their difficult babies during infancy
and showed lack of affection for them continued to be disapproving and
tended to use severe penalties for disobedience during the primary school
years and assessed their children's intelligence as low (Ross and Ross,
1982).
The authors and the research you cite fail to account for two rich areas of
research that have clearly demonstrated the impact of early familial
experience on the behaviors characteristic of ADHD: attachment and trauma.
Attachment researchers have found significant relationships
between the quality of mother (and father) - child relationships in the
first months of life, the quality of attachment (secure, disorganized or
avoidant) at one year of age and the school performance, sociability, levels
of anxiety and general health of children in primary and secondary school
(Goldberg, Muir and Kerr, 1995). As J. Holmes (1995) puts it, "Attachment
research has shown that a school-age child's sense of security is greatly
influenced by the consistency, responsiveness and attunement he or she
experienced with his or her parents in infancy." Certainly, the behavior
that is used to diagnose ADHD can be seen as the normal and understandable
reaction of an insecure child to a stressful situation.
Researchers who have studied trauma have found that traumatic
experiences early in life have a great impact on the ability of victims to
modulate their emotions and to react effectively and appropriately to
stressful and frustrating experiences (van der Kolk, McFarlane & Weisaeth,
1996; Herman, 2000). Trauma victims tend to become easily activated by
threat and adversity, to react impulsively; or they protect themselves by
shutting down and retreating into themselves. Both of these are behaviors
that are used to diagnose ADHD. Traumatic experiences do not have to be
life-threatening to have such an impact. They can consist of deficits in
love, support, nourishment, affirmation that are experienced as being life
threatening.
Deutsch et al. (1982) found that adopted children are much more
likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than non-adopted children. This is
understandable in view of the fact that all adopted children have suffered
the trauma of being ripped away from their birth mothers.
Your inattention to the two rich lodes of research regarding
attachment and trauma in relation to early experience and the kinds of
behavior used to diagnose ADHD are major deficiencies in the research that
you cite.
The brochure draft you quote from also denies the impact of
"poor teaching" on ADHD. While 'poor teaching' may, indeed, not be 'to
blame' for the rise of ADD/ADHD, the inhumane, oppressive, absolutely
stultifying environment of the typical public school as a primary factor is
undeniable. Current educational curriculums appear designed to be stuffed
down the passively-receptive throats of studentsthrough repetitive, boring
worksheets, one-size-fits-all, standardized methodologies, and minimal or no
opportunity for active learning. Seldom is a child asked what he or she
wants to learn or how she or he wants to learn it. Children are subjected
to a horribly skewed value system in which primary emphasis is placed on
linguistic and mathematical intelligence at the expense of other
intelligences that are just as important: musical, spatial, mechanical,
kinesthetic, interpersonal and intrapersonal. If children become bored,
frustrated, and complain about it, they are told to be quiet or go to the
principal's office. Worse than this, these children may be shuffled into the
special education diagnostic category of ADD/ADHD and placed in 'less
over-stimulating' classrooms. In such circumstances, it is the children who
are now pathologized as the 'problem' and 'abnormality' rather than a major
societal system that fails to serve them.
Many scholars have testified to the ways in which the typical
school hurts children by failing to encourage them to develop into the
unique, separate, creative beings they crave to be (Leonard, 1968; Holt,
2000; Gatto, 2001). Others have noted that ADHD is diagnosed by watching
the behavior of children in a typical classroom and that, if you put those
same children in a less oppressive environment, they don't engage in such
behaviors. So Alfie Kohn (2000) wonders if we are diagnosing the child or
the learning environment. And Willerman (1973) asks, "Should we classify a
high level of activity and a low tolerance for being forced to pay attention
to something one doesn't want to pay attention to as a disorder?"
Even the ADHD researchers you have cited have found evidence of
the school environment's impact on diagnosis of ADHD:
Inattention is most dramatically seen in situations requiring the child to
sustain attention on dull, boring, repetitive tasks in which there are
minimal immediate consequences of completion (Barkley, 1990)
Task failure or a sudden reduction in anticipated reward or reinforcing
feedback may severely disrupt behavior (Barkley, 1990);
Pre-school hyperactive children were notably more restless, difficult and
off-task than their nonhyperactive peers when required to engage in
academic-type pursuits such as sitting at a table and listening but were
indistinguishable from their peers in free play (Ross & Ross, 1982);
Onset of hyperactivity often coincides with the point of school entry (Ross
and Ross, 1982);
Hyperactive children perform best on self-paced tasks and their behavior
often deteriorates on 'other-paced' tasks (Ross & Ross, 1982);
Hyperactive children have a difficult time in school, particularly in
adolescence, when school work becomes more demanding and achievement becomes
an important goal--this situation improves in adulthood when they can select
for themselves a job in which they can succeed. (Ross and Ross, 1982).
Are we diagnosing a child or are we diagnosing a learning environment that
is intolerable and damaging to a particular cohort of children with certain
characteristics who are then called 'mentally ill' (ADD/ADHD) only because
some of us choose to call them that?
We can think of many reasons why a child would resist being forced to pay
attention to something that doesn't meet his or her need or that diverts him
or her from something that is considered more important at that moment:
· She may have some deep concerns that are so troubling that she
doesn't have space for anything else:
Will I ever have any friends that I can really depend on and feel safe with?
Is there something I can do to help my parents be happier so they can do a
better job of nurturing me?
Why is it that I have so much trouble doing this work and the other kids
seem to be able to do it with ease?
· He may have a burning desire to express a talent or drive that is
not being honored. When he was ten years old, Picasso's teachers were
concerned because all he wanted to do was paint.
For practitioners of professional psychology to treat such concerns as a
'mental illness' and respond with a 'prescribing predisposition' is a
disservice to a child whose individual crisis needs to be understood and
used as an opportunity for learning-not how to read, write and do math but
how to manage his emotions, thoughts and intentions and how to get along
with other children without losing himself.
That ADD/ADHD is generally considered to be a neuro-chemical, genetic
disorder with little relationship to parenting and environment is a case of
popular opinion being at odds with scientific evidence.
What are the implications of 'buying into' such popular opinion?
This is, unfortunately, not a new dilemma for our discipline. As thousands
of ADD/ADHD evaluations continue to be undertaken by psychologists
nationally, we would do well to recollect the early days of applied clinical
psychology when culturally biased IQ testing of immigrants, African
Americans and Native Americans was used to bolster conclusions regarding the
genetic inheritance of "feeble-mindedness" on behalf of the American
eugenics social movement. At that time, many psychologists were just as
convinced of their methods and theories as many continue to be about ADHD
currently. In fact, no less than six presidents of the American
Psychological Association signed up in some advisory capacity with eugenics
organizations and initiatives over a twenty-year period. That is about the
same time period with which we have witnessed our field involved with ADHD.
It was only tolerance for a diversity of views and a critical minority of
applied psychologists of that time that helped to gradually extricate our
field from a morass of significant racist biases. There are recognized
scholars inside and outside APA who would submit that the current ADHD
diagnostic descriptor, as well as many others contained within the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), was composed in
a controversial manner (Caplan,1996) and that ADHD itself has been
substantiated only through poorly conceived and implemented research
procedures using instruments of questionable reliability and validity
(Carey, 1998; Armstrong, 1997).
The rise in popularity of the ADHD diagnostic category appears to be
occurring on behalf of an American cultural movement relevant to the rearing
of children that arises from changing values, mores, and demands in work and
family life, educational curriculum, media exposure, and perception of time
and time management. We should be vigilant of the multitude of voices and
perspectives relevant to these changes, rather than lending our credibility
to a single perspective that disregards or minimizes such factors in favor
of a suspect reductionist, biological explanation.
Let our letter sound a warning to you that much is at stake here. As the
ADHD category has already begun to be exported from its current white,
middle-class, male youth focus to children of color, who continue to grow up
under conditions of abject poverty and oppression, the die is being cast for
psychology's complicity in fostering a new, modern class of eugenics
survivors - the ADHD child of color, shuffled to special education rooms as
an individual "behavior issue". Thus, we rationalize away our failure to
accurately identify and effectively address his or her problem as having a
primary origin in inequity, injustice, poor parenting and the failures of
American public education.
The matter we are discussing here is of the utmost importance to
psychology and to the people who are treated by psychologists. If we see
the hyperactivity, impulsivity and "disinhibition" that characterize ADHD as
driven by genetics and random biological dynamics, we call it a disorder and
treat it with drugs and techniques of operant conditioning. If we see that
same behavior as a functional response of the child to a situation that is
difficult, off-putting, oppressive, abusive, irrelevant, discounting,
disaffirming, and/or inhumane, we can call it a normal and understandable
reaction and treat it by helping the child, family, and caretakers to
fashion a better, more adaptive and life-enhancing response.
What does it imply if psychologists such as ourselves do not agree as to the
existence of biological or neurological causes of ADD/ADHD? What does it
imply if they have witnessed misuse and abuse of the category of ADHD with
defiant, traumatized, or disruptive children of color? What does it imply
if psychologists question the reliability and validity of their own
diagnostic procedures with respect to ADHD?
It does not mean that children are not having trouble sitting still or
paying attention to teachers or caretakers.
All we wish to demonstrate is that there is no "true ADHD" but only
debatable ADHD. And we wish to emphasize that you are creating an American
Psychological Association brochure and not a brochure for the American
Psychiatric Association. There are many clinicians who do not subscribe to
the reductionist, medical model implied in your efforts to legitimize ADHD
as a so-called "neuro-chemical disorder." They have weighed the same
evidence you have and have come to contrary conclusions. We submit that the
American Psychological Association has an obligation to present a more
balanced account of the professional views of its constituents. That
includes yours-and ours.
Many of the statements you make in your letter are far from
conclusive to the APA practitioners you are attempting to represent in the
brochure program. How can we hand our clients any brochure that seems to
favor the zealotry of biological psychiatric views about ADHD as somehow
unquestionably true when this is far from so, while minimizing and even
invalidating the value of psychosocial explanations we might offer? This is
disenfranchisement of our particular perspective on ADHD from our own
professional organization.
We ask that Division 29 immediately cease the distribution of these
brochures and that other brochures be produced that reflect a more balanced
account of the available scientific evidence and the wide diversity of views
of practicing psychologists regarding ADHD. As the most visible national
public body of psychologists, we strongly recommend that:
o We indicate in these brochures that neurobiological explanations
for ADHD are based on limited and controversial research findings
o Professional psychologists hold a variety of perspectives and
opinions about the diagnostic category of ADHD and its etiology
o 'Best practices' of professional psychologists serving children,
youth, adults, and families in relation to the descriptor of ADHD will vary
in their approach based on what makes sense to each of us as professionals,
what we know about human beings, and what appears to be in the best
interests of all our clients
o As a body of practicing psychologists, we acknowledge before the
public and one another that what we believe about ADHD is based on neither
adequate nor established scientific fact but is instead a reflection of
cultural and societal forces that have influenced our theoretical, research,
professional, and practicing agendas
o We should publicly urge all psychologists to keep an open mind as
we continue to work on the controversies we have raised surrounding the ADHD
issue together.
We submit this letter to you in the spirit of collaboration and
consultation. Although some of our differences with your perspective are
great, your views have challenged us and inspired deeper thought as we
clarify our own for you here. For that, we are very grateful to you.
Sincerely,
Albert O. Galves, PhD
David Walker, PhD
David Cohen, PhD
Kirk J. Schneider, PhD
Thomas Greening, PhD
Bertram Karon, PhD
Michaele Dunlap, PhD
Norbert A. Wetzel, PhD
Harris Friedman, PhD
Barry Duncan, PhD
Thomas Johnson, PhD

.. . . Members in Good Standing, American Psychological Association

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--
It is essential that the student acquire an understanding of and a
lively feeling for values. He must acquire a vivid sense of the
beautiful and of the morally good. Otherwise he-with his specialised
knowledge-more closely resembles a well-trained dog than a
harmoniously developed person.
- Albert Einstein (bout mm?)