Barkley describes more concisely than most how vital it is for us to move away from the current “pop psychology” description of ADHD. Indeed, the very name “ADD”, coined in the early 80s, has caused a profound level of professional confusion by naming a fundamental neurological disorder after a peripheral symptom it sometimes causes. This was made worse when, years later, an attempt to rename the disorder simply added another peripheral symptom (hyperactivity) to the mix. The result, “Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder” is, as Barkley puts it, akin to calling autism “Hand Slapping Disorder.” It has resulted in a total obfuscation of very real and profound deleterious, pernicious, and pathogenic traits that are at the core of this disorder, and relegates clients into the periphery of psychotherapy as “bad kids with bad parents” rather than patients with a real, biological disorder with real, medically validated treatments.
