Summary: This week on the Strocel.com Podcast I’m speaking with Dr. Margaret Weiss. She’s a Clinical Professor of Child Psychiatry at the University of British Columbia here in the Vancouver area, and an expert on ADHD. If you have any questions about what ADHD is, how it’s diagnosed and treated, and what causes it, you’ll want to listen to this one. Like a lot of people I have some preconceptions about ADHD. For example, I wonder whether it’s an actual disorder, or just a case of a culture that doesn’t allow kids the space to be the energetic little people they are. I wonder why the number of children being diagnosed with ADHD continues to rise. And like many other people, I have reservations about the medications that are used to treat ADHD. So far, neither of my children show signs of ADHD, but as a parent I’m not sure how I would respond if, say, one of their teachers suggested that I might want to take them to a doctor. How do you tell what requires treatment, and what’s just a normal phase of childhood? Dr. Margaret Weiss heads up the provincial ADHD program here in BC, and she very generously answered all of the questions I asked her during our podcast. We talked about what ADHD is, how it’s diagnosed and treated, whether the medications commonly prescribed are safe, and whether or not most children outgrow the disorder. I asked her why so many more boys are diagnosed than girls. We talked about how ADHD impacts adults. And we talked about how our modern lifestyle presents additional challenges to people with ADHD. During our conversation I learned a lot, and Dr. Weiss changed my mind on several fronts. If you have questions about ADHD, and how it impacts people of all ages and genders, I encourage you to listen to the podcast: Next week I’ll be sharing a podcast with Lorelei Rozzano, author of Gracie’s Secret. We’ll be talking about helping kids to deal with difficult situations, and learn to handle their emotions in healthy ways. Subscribe to the Strocel.com Podast in iTunes and you won’t miss a minute! Also, if you have a podcast idea, please share it with me. I’d love to hear your suggestions!
