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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #774351 in Books
• Published on: 1999-05-04
• Released on: 1999-05-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 404 pages

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

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.

Customer Reviews

very informative
This book tells it like it is. For parents not looking for a copout, but for support. As a parent of 2 ADD children (and stepparent of 2 ADHD children) this book makes a lot of sense. He brings up some good points about expecting too much out of our children and looking for ways to make them smarter, better, etc., without putting more time and effort into it. Parenting is a fulltime job, more difficult than any other job. I remember feeling the relief when Dr's told me it was "not their fault or my fault, it is all a medical problem." Well, through the years, I've learned there are things different I can do, and some things I cannot change. We have been able to keep 2 of our kids off Ritalin (it caused bad rebound affects on two, one was zombie-like and one turned into a holy-terror after the medicine wore off everyday). One of our kids may be on it his whole life though, he just cannot function. Unfortunately, the book doesn't come up with a cure, but it also tells you the truth about Ritalin, RITALIN IS NOT A CURE! It does have its place with some children, but in my opinion, it is a bandaid on a bleeding wound

He's right; and he explains why!
Dr. Diller is absolutely right. In my medical practice I have had occasion to see kids who are truly ADD/ADHD. But many more kids are simply not able to handle the factory-system of American education in which one or two dozen kids are expected to sit quietly and do nearly nothing most of the time. Who among us wasn't very often bored to tears in school? Well, things haven't changed. In fact, they've gotten worse, and I discovered this through the school of hard knocks with my own daughter. Although she is very strong-willed and, at times, not as focused and attentive as some other children, she is bright, imaginative, and has been reading at pre-college level since before age 9. When we found (and paid for ourselves) the right teacher for her, it made an enormous difference. I am persuaded that, while Ritalin is for some kids who are truly dysfunctional without it, 90%+ of what's being called ADD/ADHD these days is due to the attention deficits of parents and teachers.

Thoughtful. Cogent. Compassionate.
It's a book for all educated and dedicated parents, grandparents and teens to read. It poses important questions like; why has Ritalin diagnoses increased by 700% since 1994. or why does the US use 90% of the world's Ritalin? You begin to think that maybe it's not a chemical imbalance, but indeed a "living imbalance" as one of Dr. Diller's 10 years old patients says.