Attention Deficit

One of the current gurus in the field of ADHD is Dr. Russell Barkley, a former Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology University of Massachusetts and currently Professor of Psychiatry at the Medical University of South Carolina. He is author of numerous books on ADHD and has performed research on ADHD, much of which has been sponsored by the pharmaceutical industry.

This includes his most recent survey, Without Boundaries – Challenges and Hopes for Living with ADHD: An International Survey, conducted for the World Federation for Mental Health. The focus of the survey was to determine the average length of time for diagnosis of ADHD and the family impact. The research was funded by Eli Lilly Pharmaceutical, and reveals that the average time to get a child diagnosed with AD/HD is one to two years. Not surprisingly, Dr. Barkley and Lilly think this is too long as children could be started on medication and behavior modification much sooner. While one must agree that a proper, quick diagnosis should be available to all children and adults, sponsorship of the survey is hardly altruistic of Lilly who makes millions of dollars, if not billions off of their ADHD meds. Are they requesting a quicker diagnosis to sell more medication quickly?