Science current events, science news articles, research and discoveries.
Top science news articles and science current events stories from the past week.
Science Current Events Resources
Science Current Events and Science News RSS Feeds
Earth, Life and Space Science News and Current Events RSS Feeds.
|
 |
 |
 |
| View Larger Image | Running on Ritalin: A Physician Reflects on Children, Society, and Performance in a Pill
by Lawrence H. Diller
| | List Price: | $23.00 | | Price: | $20.70 | | You Save: | $2.30 (10%) |  | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours | | | | | Sales Rank: | 549548 | | Studio: | Bantam | | | Binding: | Paperback | | Number Of Pages: | 404 | | Publication Date: | May 04, 1999 | | Publisher: | Bantam |
| |
ACCESSORIES |
| |
|
EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
In a book as provocative and newsworthy as Listening to Prozac and Driven to Distraction, a physician speaks out on America's epidemic level of diagnoses for attention deficit disorder, and on the drug that has become almost a symbol of our times: Ritalin.
In 1997 alone, nearly five million people in the United States were prescribed Ritalin--most of them young children diagnosed with attention deficit disorder. Use of this drug, which is a stimulant related to amphetamine, has increased by 700 percent since 1990. And this phenomenon appears to be uniquely American: 90 percent of the world's Ritalin is used here. Is this a cause for alarm--or simply the case of an effective treatment meeting a newly discovered need? Important medical advance--or drug of abuse, as some critics claim?
Lawrence Diller has written the definitive book about this crucial debate--evenhanded, wide-ranging, and intimate in its knowledge of families, schools, and the pressures of our speeded-up society. As a pediatrician and family therapist, he has evaluated hundreds of children, adolescents, and adults for ADD, and he offers crucial information and treatment options for anyone struggling with this problem.
Running on Ritalin also throws a spotlight on some of our most fundamental values and goals. What does Ritalin say about the old conundrums of nature vs. nurture, free will vs. responsibility? Is ADD a disability that entitles us to special treatment? If our best is not good enough, can we find motivation and success in a pill? Is there still a place for childhood in the performance-driven America of the late nineties?
From the Hardcover edition. |
Amazon.com Review
Diagnoses for Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) have escalated dramatically over the past few years, and right along with these diagnoses have been prescriptions for Ritalin. Considered a family-saving wonder drug by many parents, Ritalin gives children who have trouble in school or difficulty socializing (due to poor impulse control) the ability to slow down, focus, and behave. Success stories abound, but not everyone is convinced. Pediatrician and family therapist Lawrence H. Diller thinks it's time to reexamine the ADD "epidemic" and our responses to it, particularly our eagerness to use medication as a first strike. In Running on Ritalin, he poses many thoughtful questions: Are behavioral problems in over 15 percent of elementary school-age boys really the result of neurological aberrations? Is performance pressure so great that parents seek out ADD diagnoses (and Ritalin) to give their children an edge? Does it make sense to give so many kids daily doses of a drug with as much potential for abuse as speed? His answers are equally thoughtful. Refusing to polarize the issues (he prescribes Ritalin to some of his own patients), Diller explores the roles played by advocacy groups, drug companies, schools, and the government in creating the ADD mania, and makes a plea for calmer thinking about behavioral problems. He can only hope that adults take the time to sit down and pay close attention. --Rob Lightner |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 3.5 based on 22 reviews)
|
Dr. Diller has no class 
I saw him in person when my son was 5 and he blamed my son's issues on our fmaily dynamics. Turns out Dr. Diller was wrong and my son has ADHD, a language delay, and now learning disabilities. I wouldn't give him another dime. The book is not as helpful as finding a good psychiatrist. And Dr. Diller is a "developmental pediatrician" - I thought all pediatricians know about development? He is an over-priced regular pediatrician.
April 19, 2007 | |
Good book, but another endorsement for Ritalin 
This book is well-planned and discusses drugging your child for various reasons, including the gamut from sluggishness to hyperactivity. I was convinced that the author actually intended to present a multi-modal plan for dealing with "the symptoms that are often known as ADD." That is, until I read that his idea of exercise is a little wrestling with Dad (no kidding) and that he is aware of no evidence that diet affects brain chemistry. Most of the symptoms of ADD read identically to those listed for hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar. Low blood sugar involves some lethargy, but is also characterized by angst, irritability as well as hyperactivity. Hypoglycemia is also a condition that is , ahem, not known to exist, but every physician knows how to administer the wrong test for it. Athletes call the exercise-induced hypoglycemic period "recovery." Alcoholics pour a drink. Smokers light up. Others just crash or drink coffee. Wow. And to think that Speed (oh, Ritalin) can help with that.
Homework burden cutting into your videogame time?
Can't sit in your chair during school?
Talk back to your parents?
Rough play with your pre-school friends?
Zone out and play with a toy too long ?
Stick out from the herd ?
After all of the well-written prose, this book is just an attempt to legitimize the increased prevalence of Ritalin. Modern psychiatry is about writing life-long prescriptions, and now they have a way to start as early as age five. Now, if only there were prescription for those pre-school years ...
November 07, 2006 | |
Living imbalance 
There is no test for ADD. Competitiveness, underfunding for education, and the use of day care centers for young children may cause the increase in supposed instances of ADD and the prescribing of Ritalin to alleviate the symptoms. The issue of the validity of the diagnosis and the supposed cure is of some concern since the medicine also helps people focus who aren't ADD. That ADD is a neurological disorder is a reductionist view.
Unchecked ADD behavior is alienating to the student because so many negative responses from others are provoked. Such experiences may cause the person to drop out of school. Studies following individuals from childhood to adulthood show that medication alone doesn't alter outcomes. The multimodal approach is recommended by psychiatrists. It may be useful for the physician to work with the unhappy or angry child alone.
Ninety percent of the Ritalin worldwide is consumed in the United States. There is an American rejection of underperformance. Additional factors contributing to the rise in ADD diagnoses and use of Ritalin are the exigencies of the managed care system and an emerging culture of disability. The identification of the ADD disorder is socially defined notwithstanding the possible biological attributes.
The book cites the case histories of the author with a number of his patients serving to flesh out and delineate the concerns he raises that some of the trends highlighted may have negative consequences to the development of healthy personalities.
November 24, 2005 | |
A Balanced View 
I started this book with some trepidation, expecting the author to be dead-set against Ritalin. This was not the case at all. He points out many positives about it, and frequently prescribes it to his own patients. He does examine (and question) the huge increase in the diagnosis of ADHD and the use of Ritalin, but in an insightful way. As the aunt of an ADHD child and a mother who is considering evaluation for her own daughter, I found the book very helpful. As we go through the process, I am already successfully using some of the behavioral techniques he discusses in the book.
I did feel that the book could have been quite a bit shorter, as the author seemed to repeat himself quite a bit.
October 01, 2004 | |
A book that at least asks the tough questions
This books raises a lot of the questions I had but that I never see addressed elsewhere. It duscusses the fact that Ritalin does not cure ADD. It talks about the dramatic rise in ADD diagnoses and Ritalin prescriptions and discusses possible reasons. It also looks at some of the history and viewpoint of CHADD, the major support group for ADD. And it discusses how family environment and parenting techniques can play into a child's behavior. I think it also makes clear that Ritalin boosts everyone's performance, not just ADD kids or adults, and that the research stating that ADD results from faulty brain chemistry is less than proven. At the same time, the book is also reassutring about the relative safety of Ritalin. And, every case study of his patients he cites seems to include at least a trial of Ritalin, so he is not at all flatly against the drug. He is in favor of looking at the bigger picture of the patient's life, not just writing out a prescription. I think this book is definitely worth a read for anyone with a child who "has" ADD. And if you are someone who wonders why nobody seems to think it is any big deal to put your 6 year-old child on this highly-regulated stimulant drug, then you might feel the same relief I did in reading a book that at leasts asks questions, even if it doesn't have all the answers. Highly recommended.
June 13, 2003 | |
SIMILAR PRODUCTS |
| |
|
|
|
|
