2012 Adam Jeffrey Katz Memorial Conversation with Brian Grazer

Part I:
ADHD: Causes, Policy, Stigma, and Medication
The first session of the program featured an engaging and informative lecture with leading ADHD expert, Stephen P. Hinshaw, PhD. Is ADHD a social construction or biological reality? Or both at the same time? Is this condition overdiagnosed or actually underdiagnosed? Is it overtreated — especially regarding medication — or actually undertreated? Why is ADHD still stigmatized, despite our growing knowledge base about it? This talk addressed current controversies surrounding ADHD, what we know about its causes, its changing patterns over the lifespan, sex differences in symptoms and outcomes, and how medications and behavioral treatments can be combined for optimal results. Included were recent debates about the long-range effectiveness of medication and its viability as a long term treatment.

Dr. Hinshaw is a professor and former chair of the Department of Psychology at UC Berkeley, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, former president of the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, the recipient of over $14 million in NIH grants, and author of more than 225 articles and 8 books including The Mark of Shame: Stigma of Mental Illness and an Agenda for Change. View full bio here.

Part II:
Academy Award®-Winning Producer Brian Grazer and Harold S. Koplewicz, MD
In the second session Harold S. Koplewicz, MD, one of the nation’s leading child and adolescent psychiatrists and president of the Child Mind Institute, had an intimate and candid conversation with Brian Grazer about the challenges and successes of living with dyslexia. It will surely be an inspiration to all children and families.

Academy Award®-winning producer Brian Grazer has been making movies and television programs for more than 25 years. As both a writer and producer, he has been personally nominated for four Academy Awards, and in 2002 he won the Best Picture Oscar® for A Beautiful Mind. In addition, Mr. Grazer produced this year’s Oscar telecast.