Featured Faculty: Dr. Andrea Chronis
January 2006

Andrea Chronis received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology in 2002 from the State University of New York at Buffalo, where she conducted research on behavioral and pharmacological treatments for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). After completing an APA-accredited internship at the University of Chicago, she joined the Department of Psychology at the University of Maryland and developed the Maryland ADHD Program. Dr. Chronis also holds an appointment as Adjunct Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the George Washington University School of Medicine.

She is a recipient of the University of Chicago Zanvel Klein Academic Award for excellence in clinical research and practice and the American Psychological Association (APA) Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology (SCCAP) Junior Faculty Mentoring and Development Award. She is a licensed clinical psychologist in the state of Maryland.

In 1998, Dr. Chronis worked on the ADHD subcommittee of the APA SCCAP Task Force for the identification of evidence-based treatments for childhood disorders. Through this work, it was determined that behavior therapy and stimulant medication are empirically-supported treatments for ADHD. In working with children and families, Dr. Chronis became aware of the extent to which these treatments rely on parents to administer and implement. For instance, behavior therapy involves teaching parents and teachers of children with ADHD to structure the child’s environment and to provide consistent consequences for the child’s behavior. Medication requires that parents keep regular appointments with the child’s prescribing physician and remember to give the child his medication each morning. In many cases, parents of children with ADHD have great difficulty with these tasks.

In a December 2003 paper published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Dr. Chronis and her colleagues at the University of Chicago and State University of New York at Buffalo found that parents of children with ADHD are at far greater risk of having psychopathology themselves. The most common diagnoses found among these parents were adult ADHD and depression. Adults with ADHD often have difficulties with organization, planning, impulsive responding, and impatience. Depressed adults often have difficulty seeing the positive aspects of a situation, feel unmotivated, and may be irritable and withdrawn. These characteristics have obvious implications for parenting and participation in treatment for their children’s ADHD.

Dr. Chronis has since been researching the role parental psychopathology plays in the developmental and treatment outcomes for children with ADHD. She recently completed an NIMH-funded grant examining the relationship between maternal ADHD symptoms, parenting, and participation in child behavioral treatment. Currently, in collaboration with Children's National Medical Center, she is conducting an industry-sponsored clinical trial examining the effects of a stimulant medication, Concerta methylphenidate, in treating mothers of children with ADHD who have ADHD themselves. She expects that treating the mothers’ ADHD will have positive effects on parenting and the parent-child relationship. Most recently, Dr. Chronis received a $450,000 grant from the NIMH to develop and test an intervention for depressed mothers of children with ADHD that combines traditional behavior therapy for ADHD and adult depression.

More information on Dr. Chronis’ work can be found on the Maryland ADHD Program website.

 

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