SVSU Psychology Professor Studies Causes of ADHD

The primary tools that are currently used to diagnose ADHD are behavioral. They are often rating scales which are filled out by parents and teachers, and if certain behaviors are present, a child will be diagnosed with ADHD. But Sandra Nagel, a professor of Psychology at Saginaw Valley State University in Michigan is conducting a study to develop neuro-chemical diagnoses.

"[Meaghan] Carpenter agreed. 'I would love to see a more biologically-based method of diagnosing ADHD become part of common psychological/medical practice. As Dr. Nagel says, it's pretty ironic that today's method of diagnosing the disorder doesn't involve biological measures of any sort, even though it's a widely accepted fact that the disorder is biologically-based."

Dr. Nagel hopes her research will help her pinpoint different types of ADHD, so that both the diagnoses and the treatment will be more specific. She also hopes it will reduce the number of misdiagnoses. Read more at SVSU.edu.