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Editorial Reviews

From Book News, Inc.

Breggin (International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology) severely criticizes the American Psychiatric Association and the pharmaceutical company Novartis, among others, for using the questionable diagnosis of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in children for pushing such potentially harmful stimulants as Ritalin, Metadate, and Concerta on children. He counters the scientific evidence on the existence of ADHD and details the many psychological problems that can develop in children exposed to Ritalin and other stimulants. He discusses the many environmental factors that can lie behind a child's poor performance in schools and explores the bureaucratic and corporate pressures to medicate America's children.Book News, Inc.®, Portland, OR --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Sharon A. Collins, MD, pediatrician

"I am a mother first and a doctor second... The principles in this book help us as parents to empower our children to be successful in life."

Book Description

Ritalin, Dexedrine, Adderall, Desoxyn, Gradumet, Cylert.... Have you ever wondered whether your child's behavior might be helped by these drugs? Has a teacher or doctor suggested this to you? If so, you need the facts--facts that most doctors can't tell you because even doctors haven't been told the truth about the drugs that they prescribe.

In this compassionate and compelling book. Dr. Breggin shows why our children need education, not medication. TALKING BACK TO RITALIN empowers parents to transform distracted, disenchanted and energetic children into powerful, confident and brilliant members of the family and society.

Solid Critique of ADHD Labels And Drug Treatments, December 10, 2003

Reviewer: Jed Shlackman (see more about me) from Miami, FL United States

Dr. Breggin has become a leading critic of the standard psychiatric approach to labeling and treating children with challenging behavioral symptoms. This book is a thorough examination of the scientific debate as well as political, economic, and psychosocial factors involved in the issue. Breggin makes many excellent points in this book about the interactions between body, mind, and environment that are largely ignored by most medical and mental health professionals. Drugs are routinely used as a form of chemical restraint, even though the withdrawal phase of the drugs actually triggers the "imbalances" and likelihood of misbehaviors that they are supposed to treat. Those who believe the medications are a wonderful way of controlling behavior believe this out of ignorance of alternative approaches to really helping the child become physically, emotionally, and mentally healthy. It is easy to just continually drug someone into submission, but in other contexts this is usually considered an abuse of human rights. The lack of responsibility and commitment by adults toward finding ways of helping children develop positive motivation and social skills is certainly one factor in the epidemic of psychiatric labeling and psychotropic drug prescriptions. The incompetence of physicians to identify real physical issues that impact children's ability to concentrate, such as poor nutrition, neurological impairment, allergies, exposure to drugs and toxins, and hormonal disturbances, is another factor. The propaganda and social programming that falsely claim mental illness is biologically determined is another factor. Having worked in the mental health field in Florida as a licensed counselor for several years,

I have observed much of what Breggin talks about. Children who are labeled "ADD" in one school or home environment suddenly appear normal when their family environment becomes less stressful or when they are placed with a more compassionate teacher or in a less stressful educational setting, such as a Montessori school. When children form more positive relationships they are often suddenly able to concentrate adequately and remain more calm when necessary. Meanwhile, I have seen many children who became depressed or bipolar as an apparent effect of their medications, and have seen no lasting progress associated with drug treatments. That adults treat highly active and inattentive children poorly and treat subdued children better is true, but that is a problem of the adults that is being displaced onto the children who are given drugs that are addictive and perpetuate the child's lack of self-motivated control. There are multiple parenting and educational programs that have successfully reversed "ADD/ADHD" behavior patterns, even in supposedly severe cases, by merely helping adults minimize their emotional reactions to the targeted negative behaviors and increasing positive social attention given to the children.

The physical correlates of ADD/ADHD symptom patterns are typically modulated by the psychological factors present in the individual, and cannot usually be considered to be the root causal source of the symptoms. Various alternative medicine approaches, from naturopathy, oriental medicine, energy medicine, mind-body stress management, nutritional therapy, and more have shown usefulness in reversing the ADD/ADHD symptoms, as these target various levels of the pattern, ranging from emotions, stress, and subtle energy disturbances to nutritional imbalances and metabolic disturbances, with the physical disturbances usually being triggered or facilitated in some way by non-physical (psychological & psychosocial) issues. Mental health clinics and physicians have become increasingly controlled and programmed by the pharmaceutical industry.

They are showered with gifts, including boxloads of office supplies (featuring drug ads) and brochures with misleading information about "disorders" and pharmaceutical company ads for patients as well as trips and meals, typically delivered by attractive young women and less often by young men pharmaceutical reps [all of whom become speechless or irritated when you try to discuss the actual safety and efficacy of the drugs with them beyond letting them repeat their script]. I have seen all this myself, and see the pharmaceutical paraphernalia all over the office of the agency I've worked at, as well as seeing psychiatrists routinely prescribe drugs with no medical exam or any other basis than the intent to briefly manipulate mood and behavior - things anyone could do using street drugs, which happen to manipulate neurotransmitter systems the same way that prescribed drugs do.

I commend Dr. Breggin for his efforts to wake people from the massive deceptions and denials governing mental health care and the topic of ADD/ADHD. --This text refers to the Paperback edition

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