Everyone who works with children should read this book.
The must-read summary of “ADHD Nation: Children, Doctors, Big Pharma, and the Making of an American Epidemic,” by Alan Schwarz.
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a biological disorder of the brain that can be treated with medications when appropriate. In the 1980s, only 3 percent of American children were diagnosed with ADHD. But now that number is 15 percent—three times what the experts have said is appropriate. Meanwhile, the prevalence of ADHD in other countries such as France, Finland, and Japan, has remained low at below 1 percent. This means that millions of American kids, some as young as three years old, are misdiagnosed and taking powerful stimulant medications like Adderall or Ritalin for a psychiatric condition they probably do not have.
This complete summary of Alan Schwarz’s book reveals the powerful forces fueling its widespread diagnosis and drug treatment through the experiences of three people. One is the father of ADHD and its medications, who now regrets its current misuse. The second is a 7-year-old girl who was misdiagnosed with ADHD. The third is a 14-year-old boy who faked symptoms to get the drug. Both kids spent ten years suffering through the consequences of using the medication.
This guide includes:
Value-added of this guide:
Read this summary if you are a parent, professional or individual, who is dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD.
Genre: STUDY AIDS / Study GuidesIn the summer of 2015, an 82-year-old man traveled in the passenger seat of a car heading to Connecticut for a meeting. The man is Dr. C. Keith Conners, the eminent child psychologist who pioneered the recognition and treatment of a once unappreciated childhood malady called ADHD.
As a young researcher in the early 1960s, Conners had shown how much a new drug—Ritalin—could calm severely hyperactive and impulsive kids. He had developed a questionnaire to help diagnose children with such symptoms. He encouraged other doctors to locate and medicate children with acute issues and worked with pharmaceutical companies to test new and better drugs for these kids.
Conners didn’t know until he read The New York Times story about a kid misusing ADHD medicine, becoming addicted, delusional, and suicidal. Reading about these kids made Conners feel curious and conscientious. So he traveled to Connecticut to meet the two children who had become casualties in medicine’s crusade against ADHD.
One was Kristin Parber. She was seven when misdiagnosed with ADHD in the late 1990s. The other was Jamison Monroe. Jamison faked his ADHD symptoms so he could get a steady supply of Adderall to help improve his school grades. Kristin and Jamison crossed paths in 2009 and they’re now working together. They wanted to meet Keith Conners as much as he wanted to meet them.
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Italian
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Already translated.
Translated by Noemi Tomassetti
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Portuguese
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Already translated.
Translated by Fabiana Williams
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Spanish
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Already translated.
Translated by Jorge Ledezma
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Author review: consistently good quality and timeliness. |
