By Howard Glasser; 203 pages. Subtitle: Including 1 Great Reason Why It's Almost Always Unnecessary
If you're enraged when people compare giving a hyperactive child Ritalin to giving a diabetic child insulin, you'll probably enjoy the heck out of this book. If you're one of folks who makes that comparison and believes it, this book will likely enrage you. It's propaganda, pure and simple: but with so much pro-Ritalin propaganda filling TV and magazine ads, I'm willing to welcome some anti-.
- Expresses a strongly held opinion in bold, straightforward language
- Gives information about Ritalin and other meds your doctor may not share ... or know
- Asks good questions about the way children tend to wind up on multiple medications
- Quotes message-board postings to get parents' point of view
- Offers a behavior management plan that really does work for many kids (including mine)
- Doesn't leave much room for disagreement, and many readers will disagree
- Book sometimes reads like an extended advertisement for the Nurtured Heart Approach
- Since many of these aren't really "reasons," title and structure seem like a gimmick
- Like drug companies, author tends to use only research and testimonials that serve his argument
- Attempts by either side to make this into a black-and-white issue can be frustrating
- Section 1: Damaging Psychological Side Effects
Section 2: Damaging Physical Side Effects - Section 3: Damage to the Relationship Between Parent and Child
- Section 4: Use and Abuse of Stimulant Drugs
- Section 5: Questionable Research: No Physical Basis for ADHD
- Section 6: Ritalin and Other Stimulants Don't Help a Child Heal
- Section 7: The Dangers of Polypharmacy
- Section 8: The Conspiracy to Drug America's Children into Submission: Doctors and Drug Companies
- Section 9: The Conspiracy, Continued: Teachers and Schools
- Section 10: The Conspiracy, Part III: the Government
- Section 11: Reason 101: Why Ritalin Is Almost Always Unnecessary
Epilogue: Ten Days on Ritalin
Since so much of "101 Reasons" touches on bias in research and journal articles -- allegedly funded by pharmaceutical companies and doctored to promote the product but presented as complete and impartial -- I'll state my biases upfront. I've resisted medication for my son. I've found that most of those who think he should be medicated have very weak reasons for thinking so, and refuse to discuss side effects. I do think ADHD is over-diagnosed, Ritalin over-prescribed, and multiple prescriptions seriously dangerous. I've tried Glasser's Nurtured Heart Approach and found it extremely effective in channeling a child's intensity for the good instead of the bad. So an impartial judge of this material, I'm not. I'd guess that few parents are.
Even with my sympathy for the basic point of view here, though, I can't go along with every one of Glasser's 101 reasons. This is not a black-and-white issue, and attempts by either side to make it so tend to get my back up. I disagree that giving kids a label automatically makes them worse, and I think it can be dangerous to suggest that. Nevertheless, there's a lot of very meaty food for thought here, a lot of facts that don't often get seriously discussed, and a lot of questions that absolutely must be addressed. Whether you agree or disagree, this is an important book to read and think about and consider. Taking doctors' and teachers' word for things is no longer, sadly, a reasonable option.
