I met Geri at the meet & greet Dr. Stephens  held for the 2018 fellows and I had already known a bit of her research from her time in Mysore therefore I was a bit stoked to have seen her research on our schedule. That of which Dr. Stephens and Dr. M have helped her acquire all the finishing touches to get it published and expand.  As my own research is based off on pediatric mental health I feel I was able to reflect a lot on the stuff shared, and without further a due I will explain.

   Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder shortly known for "ADHD" is a common word heard in the USA, everyone seems to have something right? But does that not give the ability to stigmatize? Dr. Stephens explained to us what it really means to have ADHD, and that it becomes an actual diagnosis when it intervenes with the function of daily life. That is when it becomes a mental health issue, although it is considered chronic it is manageable throughout some medications and therapies. That of which I actually work in, I am a Registered Behavior Tech and give ABA therapy (Applied Behavior Analysis) through I am able to reduce maladaptive behaviors along with increasing replacement behaviors. It has been proven under the right circumstances and proper generalization to be incredibly effective. ADHD has three core symptoms that define it as such: inattention, impulsivity and hyperactivity.In the research performed it was shown that as the demand in school increases the attention deficits increase. The more work put on the table to less attention you can adequately give to even one simply thing. Something I saw that stood out to me was the fact that upper  middle class white youth (mostly boys) are diagnosed most. With an average of  about 5.29%-7% of diagnosis in children/ adolescents.

    ADHD in India per se, in the 1980 a study was done but it only characterized those children in schools or hospitals leaving a huge gap of the population out, but even then it exhibited high on scale.In the 2000's pharmaceutical industry pushed its way through to get the most out of their pennies worth and introduce medication to treat the ADHD. A global perspective of the disorder relates to an estimate of about 12% primary school kids in India and females are diagnosed earlier. Like in every other mental health disorder ADHD affects family dynamics and the way the mother is seen from the outside point of view. In the Indian culture the mother is responsible for all tasks of the learning that child receives regardless of any uncontrollable behaviors . Which indicates how a father figure is often times not present. This is a phenomenon I strongly believe if address the way diagnosis is handled would only prosper and help the child itself. When all parents are on board the child is able to progress a lot faster and stronger. One parent a lone cannot handle the stress and work it takes to raise a child with a disorder.

    It is very hard to be able to obtain help and guidance when not much is being given and not much knowledge on the topic is acquired. Lack of awareness is a negative factor for overall mental health in India, but based off a research held in 2007 the performance of those 50 kids studied proved that at age 11 they were so extremely delayed and parents shared how symptoms were seen as early as age 5. But to them it was just misbehavior rather than a real issue. There should be more socially and locally accepted models that can bring awareness. (Crawford, 2007)

     Geris study identified mothers subjective beliefs about ADHD behaviors, explore maternal perception of the way addressed and it examined beliefs about appropriate approaches to address the children exhibiting behaviors. The focus group useful when exploring based on the new research area and it is a topic  that is quite difficult to observe. Questions like "What does it mean do be a mother to you?" were asked.

   Results:  twelve participants were recruited from an urban womens health clinic where each had a child between five and twelve years of age. 11 out of the 12 answered at least 3 or more questions that were in respect to ADHD. There the women spoke about how fathers only take a step in if the behaviors are so crucial that it escalates in a school setting where action is required. In school children with ADHD exhibit an extreme difficulty in proper functioning and most parents would prefer school interventions rather than psychiatric interventions.  In the school setting, teachers were asked what factors they believed played a role and all but one ( she believed biological factors) believes parental, environmental, and child. Even in the schools the teachers still think that it has to do with the way the child is being disciplined at home. (David, 2013)  The Indian father is seen as the more authoritative parents where as the mother is more of the nurturer. As far as the perceptions of mothers and their responsibilities they each saw themselves responsible for the behavior their child was exhibiting. Which is the value and social influence the Indian culture portrays on these mothers.What fault can they possibly have on a disorder than not even the own child is capable of fully controlling?  It is seen that the behavior of the child actually comes from the mother... But? How does that even properly occur? There is a disorder in the way. A diagnosis, mental health disorder. 

    Aside from the way the women explained how negatively reflected upon they are seen to the outsiders they do not get much help. Most of it coming from either embarrassment  or ashamed. Leading them to only reach out to a certain few rather than a broad network. It is very hard to be looked at to blame for the way your child is and not be able to help to the best of what they would want too. Dr. Stephens told us that even though there are ways, workshops and programming do not fit into the traditional Indian schedule. They have duties to fulfill as a wife after work. The stigma Indian parents hold when in regards to psychiatric services for their children does not stay behind. Finding counselors is not easy so new family focused therapies are beginning to form. I remember speaking to certain PHRII staff and I got the very same answers. How everything is on them and the men basically does not do much, they are in charge of everything in the house, taking care of the husband, children and in-laws if they live with them (most of the time they all live together) Hearing it from Dr. Stephens coming from research based data and actually having heard it myself is an immense eye opener to the way society perceives women in the Indian culture.

    

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Crawford, S. (2007). Specific learning disabilities and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: Under-

    recognized in India. Indian Journal of Medical Sciences, 61(12), 637.

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David, N. (2013). ADHD IN INDIAN ELEMENTARY CLASSROOMS: UNDERSTANDING

    TEACHER PERSPECTIVE. International Journal of Special Education, 28.

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