In Chapter 10, Addressing the Imbalance: Non-Drug Treatments for ADD, the section: Behavioral Training: An Indispensable Tool, was of GREAT help to our family! Don't skip the beginning chapters! Lots of informative, real life examples.

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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.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #746765 in Books
• Published on: 1999-05-04
• Released on: 1999-05-04
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 404 pages

Amazon.com
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

From Publishers Weekly
Is prescribing the stimulant Ritalin the best way to treat the growing number of American children diagnosed with attention deficit disorder (ADD)? According to Diller, a pediatrician and family practitioner who has contributed many articles on the subject, while Ritalin may treat problems of "brain chemistry" among some children, it also obscures social or environmental factors in many others. Writing for a popular audience, Diller argues that since Ritalin has been shown to enhance performance even among normal children, it is misleading to hold that its success in treating ADD children means that ADD can be reduced to a biological phenomenon, to chemical imbalance. Diller convincingly suggests that part of the reason that many wish to portray ADD as a purely "neurobiological" disorder and Ritalin as the "cure" is political. As victims of biology, children and adults diagnosed with ADD become legally entitled to rights not given to others. But so what? If Ritalin helps those diagnosed with ADD perform better, what difference does it make whether it treats the causes of ADD or just its symptoms? Diller's answer is that America should be concerned because the 700% increase in Ritalin use points to a social imbalance that prescribing the drug covers up: "The surge in ADD diagnosis and Ritalin treatment is a warning to society that we are not meeting the needs of our children." Whether or not one entirely accepts Diller's argument that American psychiatrists have ignored the evidence against Ritalin's effectiveness as a cure for ADD, this is an important book for anyone interested in the narcotizing of America's youth.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
As a pediatrician, Diller has seen an increase in the number of parents looking to attention deficit disorder (ADD) as an explanation for their children's academic and behavioral difficulties. There has been a corresponding rise in demand for Ritalin, an amphetamine-like drug that can allay ADD symptoms in some patients. Diller's book is a thoughtful examination of the science and pseudoscience surrounding ADD, the effects of Ritalin and behavior therapy, societal and parental expectations, ADD in adults, and treatment options. As the ADD debate is heavily divided between nature (biochemical origin) and nurture (parenting skills, home/school environment), the argument is unlikely to be settled any time soon. Ritalin can help some children in the short term, but reliable studies on its effectiveness have yet to be completed. Neither a jeremiad against drugging our children nor an unqualified panegyric in praise of Ritalin, this title brings balance to the discussion. Recommended for all health collections.
-?Anne C. Tomlin, Auburn Memorial Hosp. Lib., NY
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Customer 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.

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 ...

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.