The Psychiactric Comorbidity Hypothesis Revisited

Abstract

In our original article (San Miguel, Forness, & Kavale, 1996), we make the case that children with learning disabilities who have comorbid psychiatric disorders, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or depression, may account for at least some of the differences in social skills observed between LD and non-LD samples. In a response, Wiener (this issue) takes issue with our assumptions about comorbid depression and provides some elaboration on our findings regarding comorbid ADHD. Although depression may not represent a large proportion of comorbidity in LD, the overlap of depression with other comorbid psychiatric disabilities and the possibility of comorbid conditions other than ADHD and depression may prove to be critical factors in the comorbidity hypothesis. Issues in school-identified LD samples and diagnostic criteria for psychiatric diagnoses are also discussed.