
ADHD Nation
Children, Doctors, Big Pharma, and the Making of an American Epidemic
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Narrated by:
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Jonathan Todd Ross
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By:
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Alan Schwarz
About this listen
A groundbreaking and definitive account of the widespread misdiagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and its serious effects on children, adults, and society.
More than one in seven American children are getting diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) - three times what experts have said is appropriate, making it one of the most mishandled and debated conditions in medicine. The numbers are rising every year. Now doctors and Big Pharma are targeting adults and the rest of the world to get diagnosed with ADHD and take medications that will "transform their lives".
In ADHD Nation, Alan Schwarz takes listeners behind the scenes to show the roots and rise of this cultural and medical phenomenon: There's the father of ADHD, Dr. Keith Conners, who spends 50 years pioneering the disorder and use of drugs like Ritalin before realizing his role in what he now calls "a national disaster of dangerous proportions"; a troubled young girl and studious teenage boy who get entangled in the growing ADHD machine and take medications that cause them serious problems; and a pharmaceutical industry that egregiously overpromotes the disorder and earns billions from the mishandling of children (and now adults).
While demonstrating that ADHD is real and can be successfully medicated, Schwarz sounds an alarm and urges America to wake up and address this growing national problem.
©2016 Alan Schwarz (P)2016 Simon & SchusterListeners also enjoyed...
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Performance
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What an excellent book!
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Big Pharm at work, this time against children
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Schwartz does a quality review of the history of the disorder. It is well written. This is not a book about the science or fine points of this diagnostic label, or treatment. He does not talk much about psychosocial treatment options, mentioning only CBT, nor does it talk about ecological issues contributing.
Very good starting point to understand what is going on with ADHD
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Comprehensive overview and history of ADHD and it’s meds
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Like it or not we live in a medicated society.
Balanced summary of the current status of ADHD
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informative
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Incredible
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When will we learn that there is no silver bullet?
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What did you love best about ADHD Nation?
Excellent writing(rarely seen or heard in this age of technology) and the exposure of a problem in the way American children,in particular are raised. Children/adolescents/college students and even adults of all ages are told that they have a disorder of cognition. The Bible of Mental Health clinicians has expanded from a pamphlet sized document to a tome too hefty to lift. Different does not mean defective. The government demands conformity in"no children left behind" which really translates to "all children left behind".What did you like best about this story?
As a former pharmacist, I began to see more and more inappropriate prescriptions for ADHD drugs. At one job, we dispensed prescriptions to a group home in our little town. When the psychiatrist came through every month, I thought it very odd that kids would end up on two or three prescriptions(all the same) that were different than the month before. Psychiatry, is less than a science,especially in children. I am thankful that such a prestigious writer has pointed out the problem of over prescribing for conditions that are all subjective(i.e.: reported by a third party or two). One of the cases presented was a problem of parents of a normal child who later had to go to rehab due to abuse of other drugs. She finally did get into the college of her choice,NYU, but noted that she had to stay out of the bathrooms in the library because the sniffing of those brain enhancing pills could be heard outside the door!What does Jonathan Todd Ross bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
The narration was terrific, and he didn't even stumble over words like methylphenidate.If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?
I'm not sure it would make a very good film. People often avoid films that are to close to reality, but I think the book title would be a good film title. After all, how much do we spend on "rehab" every year???Any additional comments?
This book should have been written long ago. our country has gone backwards in educational standards. All children are not equal. That is something we should be thankful about!! As we focus,now, on STEM schools, elevating the sciences and math to higher status than history or geography; we do irreparable damage to our children and our families which make up the nation, once great!Diagnosis in the Interest of Conformity
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What did you love best about ADHD Nation?
I appreciated the author's in depth research and determination to be sensitive to the subject matter and not just settle for easy answers. Over the course of the book, he highlights the problems attached to the over-diagnosis of ADHD and the mindset of parents, doctors, and educators to medicate children as an easy answer rather than looking for other avenues of treatment, but he does not do this to the detriment of those who actually suffer from ADHD. This makes the book richer than it would otherwise be, by admitting that it is a real condition that requires real treatment (sometimes via prescription medicines), but that it doesn't mean every diagnosis is made in a thoughtful and ethical way.Any additional comments?
4.5 stars. Fascinating, infuriating, frustrating, and unforgivable. This even-handed, engagingly-written look at ADHD, treatment, childhood, doctors, and pharmaceutical interests is eye-opening and should spurn any reader to do some serious soul-searching when it comes to how we engage with medicine, how mental conditions are diagnosed, and what happens when a disproportionate part of the equation is not health but profits, not normal development but shortcuts, not seeing patients as a whole person but seeing them as a problem to be solved (preferably with a pill). A must-read.Adroitly written and expertly narrated
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