Ritalin Nation: Rapid-Fire Culture and the Transformation of Human Consciousness

By Richard DeGrandpre

Book Overview

This investigation of the epidemic of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and its most widely prescribed treatment, the pscyhostimulant Ritalin, sounds a warning: parents might be failing their children by treating symptoms and not causes with an ultimately unsatisfactory solution.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393046850
• ISBN13: 9780393046854
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc
• Length: 284 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.8" x 0.8" x 5.8"

Customer Reviews

Provocative

This was very provocative and made me look at how I live my life in a very different way. This is much more than an informative text about the overuse of Ritalin in American culture. You should definitely read this book.

Consider the Source

I want to address the Editorial Review from the New Yorker which dismisses this book as a non-scientific, nostalgic plea for a "simpler time." That review claims great scientific progress in understanding ADHD through brain imaging, and cites placebo controlled studies showing the efficacy of Ritalin and other stimulants. I am not a nostalgic person longing for the simplicity of the early '50's. I am a licensed certified clinical social worker, authorized to perform DSM-IV diagnosis and to do psychotherapy. I have an advanced law degree in Law, Psychiatry and Criminology. I have over five years' experience working with disturbed children in various capacities. And over the past two years I have read twenty-five books, pro and con, on ADHD, stimulants, biopsychiatry and psychiatric medication. What I want to say is this:The New Yorker exaggerates the state of scientific knowledge about the alleged biological and genetic basis of ADHD. Virtually all ADHD brain imaging studies are seriously flawed - the studied ADHD children have been on stimulant medication. IF any abnormalities were found, they would most likely be caused by the medication, not by the disorder. So far, the few "differences" found between ADHD and "normal" brains are only averages between the ADHD and "normal" groups studied. There is a very large overlap between the two groups; brain imaging cannot, therefore, distinguish a "normal" individual's scan from one with "ADHD." Moreover, even if a consistent difference were found in ADHD brains, biopsychiatry couldn't tell if it's caused by exposure to psychiatric drugs, by environment, or by heredity. Stimulants are known to produce brain changes in laboratory animals; experience, too, is known to alter brain structure ("brain plasticity'); despite the human genome hype, no replicable causal relationship has been established between genes and mental illness.The New Yorker reviewer must know of the 1998 National Institute of Health's Consensus Conference on ADHD. Conference participants were largely those who accept biopsychiatry and its view of ADHD. Nonetheless, the conference summary concluded that there was no known biological cause of ADHD, adding that the same was also true of most serious psychiatric disorders.Think about that. Biopsychiatry justifies medicating millions of ADHD children on the grounds that ADHD is a physically-based conditon. Yet they have to admit they don't really know of any brain defect causing ADHD. Then they seek to minimize what should be an immensely embarrassing admission by saying, "But don't worry - we don't know the physical basis of schizophrenia and the other serious mental illnesses either."That is why this review is entitled "Consider the Source." Biopsychiatry's claims are misleading. For decades they have represented scientific "progress" in studying the brain as having reached the stage of actual knowledge clearly supporting their biological treatments. This is demonstrably not so.My second po

Great analysis of an overwhelming social problem

I've never been one to write a review, so I'll make this short and to the point. Speaking as someone who was "diagnosed" with ADD in the 80s, I can say that DeGrandre's work has provided me with hard evidence and strong logic to rethink the reality that was thrust upon me. After deconstructing the ADD myth, DeGrandpre offers salient advice and solutions for rebuilding what has been torn apart by our fast paced society. If you or anyone you know has had to deal with ADD, I suggest this book as a real eye-opener.

Extremely well-documented and insightful

Aside from DeGrandpre's masterful deconstruction of the "ADHD" phenomenon, this book offers a unique perspective on the impact of speeding up our activities and lives. This is vastly superior to Gleick's recent book "Speed," for example. Looking at ADHD as some sort of brain disorder is a uniquely North American view, and it has to be tied to larger social trends in North America. This book argues brilliantly that kids benefit least from this view, and that the longer-term impact of providing them with pharmacological stimulation are bound to be devastating. If you enjoy keeping your head firmly in the sand, don't read this book.

a courageous expose of "hyperculture" and its victims

Dr. DeGrandpre makes a most compelling case for the cultural determinants behind attention deficit disorder, bravely taking on the entrenched orthodoxy of biological psychiatry, the pharmaceutical industry, the parents-as-victims movement, and the media which would defend them all. He defends the victims of our speed-up culture, the children, and brilliantly shows the moral and psychological weaknesses of the drug "cure" Ritalin offers. As a psychologist with considerable experience in this field, I found the book an easy read, but readers without such a background or at least a strong interest in the topic might get a little bogged down in his footnoted recap of the research. Parents should invest the effort, however, especially before succumbing to the temptation to drug their children.

Powerful expose of Ritalin abuse -a wake up call for America

There are no easy solutions to the multiple societal problems Richard Grandpre illuminates so clearly in his new book, but we would do well to pay attention to what he has to say. In a brilliantly constructed examination of our "hurried society" and the "culture of neglect" that surrounds the lives of children today, Grandpre carefully explains the effects of speed, technology and rapid cultural change on our brains and behavior. He argues that drug intervention for what is a social and psychological problem is mis-guided, ineffective and dangerous. He exposes the diagnosis of ADHD as a medical or inherited problem as having no basis in fact and backs up his claim with thorough research analysis. This book will be controversial and disturbing to many readers seeking help for their children, but it is a must read nevertheless.