Barkley's ADHD Model Analysis

According to Barkley (1997), the satisfactory development of inhibition is necessary for normal functioning in the following neuropsychological abilities: working memory, internalization of speech, self-regulation of affect—motivation—arousal, reconstitution, and motor control—fluency—syntax. As I understood it, the first four of these are are involved in self-regulation, and self-regulation gives rise to the direction and persistence of behavior towards future-oriented goals and the ability to re-engage if that behavior is disrupted for whatever reason. It is believed that there is impairment in at least three of these areas of executive functioning in people with ADHD (Barkley, 1997). I know little about ADHD, aside from what I have learned in this course, but this general model makes some sense to me, and clearly it leaves a lot of room for further investigation which might bring a lot of clarity to our understanding of ADHD, as a brain-based disorder. This model makes sense to me because it seems to effectively …show more content…
480). This seems to be in direct contradiction to itself—if people with ADHD-I tend to be less responsive to stimulant medication, then how can we see an effective response at a lower dose when compared with those who have ADHD-C? Do they mean that in general we see less of a response but that when we do see a response it is usually with a lower dose of medication? Maybe ADHD-I does belong under the general ADHD umbrella, but perhaps there s a more effective way to treat it than stimulant medications, Regardless, these seemingly contradictory findings lead me to believe we know very little about what the DSM-V currently classifies as