ADHD in Adults: What the Science Says [Hardcover]

Russell A. Barkley PhD ABPP ABCN (Author), Kevin R. Murphy PhD (Author), Mariellen Fischer PhD (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1593855869 | ISBN-13: 978-1593855864 | Publication Date: October 19, 2007 | Edition: 1

Providing a new perspective on ADHD in adults, this compelling book analyzes findings from two major studies directed by leading authority Russell A. Barkley. Groundbreaking information is presented on the significant impairments produced by the disorder across major functional domains and life activities, including educational outcomes, work, relationships, health behaviors, and mental health. Thoughtfully considering the treatment implications of these findings, the book also demonstrates that existing diagnostic criteria do not accurately reflect the way ADHD is experienced by adults, and points the way toward developing better criteria that center on executive function deficits. Accessible tables, figures, and sidebars encapsulate the study results and methods.

(20090601)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This energetic and informative book tackles head-on the knotty issue of what ADHD in adults really means. It includes helpful answers to such vital problems as what modifications to diagnostic criteria are appropriate, and what are the inferential biases to which clinicians are prone when seeing self-referred cases in their offices. This is the most definitive work to date on the difficult task of generalizing from children with ADHD to adults with ADHD. The authors break new ground in addressing these issues with comprehensive data from their own well-regarded samples. This timely book thus provides a fresh and needed perspective to help resolve longstanding difficulties in understanding ADHD in adults. It will be helpful to DSM-V committee deliberations and to those planning future scientific studies, as well as to clinicians needing a clearer picture of what to expect in adults with ADHD."--Joel T. Nigg, PhD, Department of Psychology, Michigan State University

"A veritable tour de force. This work will be equally useful to researchers seeking innovative hypotheses about ADHD, to clinicians seeking to understand the course of ADHD into adulthood, and to students at all levels of training. Readers have access to a unified and systematic view of the results from two notable, methodologically rigorous research studies. The book addresses a wide range of clinically urgent issues, such as psychiatric comorbidity, drug use, life impairments, educational attainment, and neuropsychological impairment. The discussions of diagnostic criteria not only provide clinically useful information for adult assessment, but also should strongly influence the evolution of the DSM-V."--Stephen V. Faraone, PhD, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences; Director, Medical Genetics Research; and Director, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Research, SUNY Upstate Medical University

"The single best source of scientific information on adult ADHD available to date. The results of two major research investigations are thoroughly reviewed to explicate important similarities and differences between children with ADHD followed into adulthood and individuals first referred for ADHD symptoms as adults. This is the first text to make this important and clinically relevant distinction. It is sure to be an indispensable resource for both clinicians and researchers. In addition, graduate students in clinical psychology, counseling, social work, and school psychology will find this text helpful both for the data it provides about adult ADHD and for its insights into how to establish a coherent research agenda."--George J. DuPaul, PhD, Department of Education and Human Services, Lehigh University

"The authors...are leading experts in the field of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children, teenagers, and adults. The authors are all psychologists....This book provides an excellent summary of the adult outcomes of ADHD including documented impairments in major life activities, educational and occupational functioning, and drug use and antisocial behaviour. There are also important chapters on the effects of ADHD on health, lifestyle, money management, driving, marriage, and parenting. For clinicians who are skeptical about the serious impairments associated with ADHD in adults, this is a very compelling book. By far the most interesting part of the book are the authors'' hypotheses and suggestions for adult-specific criteria....For readers interested in anticipating new diagnostic criteria that will likely appear in DSM-V, this book is a must read....For those interested in the evidence-base for the diagnosis and impairments of ADHD in adults, and for those interested in the development of adult specific diagnostic criteria, this book is essential."--Canadian Journal of Psychiatry

(Canadian Journal of Psychiatry )

About the Author

Russell A. Barkley, PhD, ABPP, ABCN, is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the Medical University of South Carolina. Dr. Barkley has published numerous books, more than 260 scientific articles and book chapters, and 7 videos on ADHD and related disorders, including childhood defiance. He is also the editor of The ADHD Report newsletter. A frequent conference presenter and speaker who is widely cited in the national media, he is past president of the Section on Clinical Child Psychology (the former Division 12) of the American Psychological Association, and of the International Society for Research in Child and Adolescent Psychopathology. His website is www.russellbarkley.org.

Kevin R. Murphy, PhD, is founder and Director of the Adult ADHD Clinic of Central Massachusetts in Northborough and is also Research Associate Professor of Psychiatry, State University of New York Upstate Medical University in Syracuse. He was previously Director of the Adult ADHD Clinic and an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. He has published extensively on adults with ADHD and consults widely on the clinical diagnosis and management of ADHD in adults. Dr. Murphy served as the coinvestigator on the research study of clinic-referred adults with ADHD reported in this volume and conducted the clinical evaluations of all of the adults in that project.

 

Mariellen Fischer, PhD, is currently in private practice and was previously a pediatric neuropsychologist and Professor in the Division of Neuropsychology, Department of Neurology, Medical College of Wisconsin. Dr. Fischer has published numerous articles on ADHD, developmental psychopathology, and neuropsychology. She and Dr. Barkley have reported the earlier results of the Milwaukee longitudinal study of hyperactive children, the adult outcome of which is presented in this book. Dr. Fischer served as coinvestigator and the Milwaukee site principal investigator on the longitudinal study reported in this volume.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 489 pages
• Publisher: The Guilford Press; 1 edition (October 19, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1593855869
• ISBN-13: 978-1593855864
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.6 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #853,051 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Russell A. Barkley, PhD, is a preeminent researcher and practitioner whose other publications for parents include TAKING CHARGE OF ADHD. Dr. Barkley is also the author or editor of numerous acclaimed professional books, including DEFIANT CHILDREN, SECOND EDITION. His educational videos include two programs on childhood defiance and an award-winning series on ADHD. He is Director of Psychology and Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in Worcester, Massachusetts.Christine M. Benton has over 20 years of experience as a writer and editor of books on psychology, self-help, consumer health issues, and other topics. A graduate of St. John's College who resides in Chicago, Illinois, she has helped to develop numerous book projects as a freelance collaborator with publishers, professional associations, and authors.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

58 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Tour de Force, April 4, 2008

By 

Gina Pera "Is It You, Me, or Adult A.D.D.?, a... (San Francisco Bay Area, United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: ADHD in Adults: What the Science Says (Hardcover)

The previous reviewer, Jon, said it all. Adult ADHD is real. You will learn all you need to know about it by reading this amazing book, culminating decades of rigorous study and clinical expertise.

Researchers such as authors Russell Barkley, Mariellen Fischer, and Kevin Murphy are the reliable anchors in a storm-tossed sea of ignorance, lassitude, indifference, and outright chicanery and propagandizing regarding adult ADHD.

Their studies are stunning for their elegant design, careful execution, and solid results. The text is well-written and profound, even to non-clinicians. When it comes to interpreting certain human behaviors, it will turn all your paradigms upside down and then inside out.

I cannot imagine any physician or therapist in this country--no matter what the specialty--not reading this book very carefully. Because untreated ADHD cuts across too many issues for any healthcare provider to remain unaware. These issues include higher risk of traffic and on-the-job accidents, substance use, and poor health habits that can lead to the chronic diseases that so afflict this country, including obesity, diabetes, and hypertension.

ADHD is thought to affect from 10 to 30 million adults in the U.S. alone, depending on how broadly the criteria are applied. Yet only 10 percent of that lower figure is diagnosed--and even fewer in treatment.

Too often, ADHD is misdiagnosed as depression, anxiety, bi-polar disorder, borderline personality disorder, substance use disorder, attachment disorder, and the list of personality disorders goes on--most of which carry poor prognoses. Consequently, too many people suffer in frustration, piled on with moral judgments or plied with the wrong medications or therapeutic interventions that often make ADHD worse.

It's time to join the 21st Century regarding a brain condition that affects so many people, and this book, in my opinion, leads the way.

Gina Pera

39 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars State of the art in ADHD science, April 29, 2008

By 

James V. Snowden - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: ADHD in Adults: What the Science Says (Hardcover)

Dr. Barkley's newest book offers the professional or the well educated lay reader an in depth review of the latest empirical findings on ADHD in adults. It is not a self help book although it may be helpful to a well informed ADHD patient or family member. Two major longitudinal research projects form the core of the book and each examines how this disorder looks as adolescents move into adulthood. Each chapter is followed by an executive summary of the major points. For the reader not steeped in the nuances of research projects this is necessary to avoid getting lost in the detailed findings. The final chapter also nicely summarizes the implications of the research for our best current theoretical model of the disorder and for its treatment. I am a clinical psychologist and Dr. Barkley's body of work in the area of ADHD is an example of what is best in clinical psychology. This work is another in a long series of notable achievements.

50 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The "Holy Grail" has arrived!, March 19, 2008

By 

Jon Teger - See all my reviews

This review is from: ADHD in Adults: What the Science Says (Hardcover)

This new book by authors Barkley, Murphy, and Fischer has, for the first time, given me the confidence to believe that, for adults with ADHD, a new day has dawned, a new light is shining, and the thick fog of shame may, over time, be blown away.

The door has finally slammed shut for the skeptics, the uninformed, the misinformed, the mal-intended, and the ignorant health care professionals and "experts" who, unless they buy a copy of this book and study its contents, will find that their days treating adults with ADHD are numbered.

I appreciate this amazing resource, and feel the utmost respect for the three authors who have devoted their lives and considerable talents and skills to not only wade through and organize the dark morass of books, clinical studies, scientific papers, surveys, interviews, and journals that already existed, but to add to this mix their own ground-breaking and desperately needed perspective and conclusions regarding the incredibly important and massively misunderstood subject of adult ADHD. Thank you. Jon Teger