The Adderall Empire: A Life With ADHD and the Millennials' Drug of Choice

by Andrew K. Smith

Andrew K. Smith's hooligan pranks and social impulsiveness paints a picture of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) before medication, and it would seem that the little orange pills could cure his mischief. But readers will furrow their brows as they enter The Adderall Empire, traveling with Andrew K. Smith through the chemically conflicting mind states. Is working-memory training a feasible alternative? Readers will beg for the answer, hoping Andrew stops getting into trouble before his parents disown him or he winds up in jail. Again.

Genres: Adhd, Nonfiction, Health

181 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Adderall Empire: A Life With ADHD and the Millennials' Drug of Choice by Andrew K. Smith reads like an adolescent road trip through time and space inside the condition ADHD and its treatments, including (or especially) the medication Adderall.

Although Smith describes a childhood and adolescence completely out-of-control as a result of his ADHD, he resents the effects Adderall has on him, believing that it destroys his creativity and his spontaneity. Smith seems to love his ADHD-it is where he finds his authenticity--but he hates the devastation it wreaks on his life.

Smith's rants about his life and his treatment are interspersed with excerpts from his treatment sessions that seem to show his improved functioning on medication. They also document his experiences with alternate cognitive treatments that Smith ultimately turns to in order to be free of medication.

In terms of its personal narrative of life with ADHD, Smith writes enjoyable albeit disjointed prose. His condemnation of Adderall (not just his own experience but as an evil empire) seems ill-considered and even dangerous for people who find relief from the trauma their ADHD may inflict on them. While medication is not for everyone and is a personal choice, the wholesale dismissal of it as unnecessary and harmful seems irresponsible.

Much of the story focuses on Smith's sexual adventures (and mis-adventures) which I found of little interest. More interesting (and for me the best part of the story after the childhood sections) was Smith's experiences during a college semester abroad in Australia. His writing in these sections was sharper and more reminiscent of an on-the-road type experience.

Smith's struggle with ADHD, especially during his childhood when he had no understanding of why he kept sabotaging his life, was moving and interesting. His rants against medication were less so.

I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher Booktrope for the opportunity to read this book.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a copy of “The Adderall Empire” through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A book that manages to balance the emotional extremes of ADHD, “The Adderall Empire” is one of the better books about mental illness that I have recently read.

Andrew Smith draws the reader into the chaos that is a life experienced by an ADHD sufferer while still maintaining a wry sense of humour. Not only does this make for good reading, but increases the sympathy for some of the author’s more outlandish escapades. Introducing what seem to be actual updates by his doctors is an excellent way of keeping the reader up to speed in a brief, concise manner, and provides an extra perspective on the disease. I would have preferred fewer of these updates, however, as the author has a good ear for narrative and it was a shame that this was not used more.

Between each chapter is a lyrical, almost poetic, perspective on Adderall itself and I found that these, while interesting, disrupted the flow of the story and crated a barrier between the reader and the book as it was far more difficult to relate to someone describing their feelings regarding Adderall than to someone who is experiencing extreme emotions – a far more universal conflict.

[Giddy Girlie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I downloaded this book a while back when it was free and based on the title I was expecting more stories about the Adderall "empire" - like maybe kids selling/trading their meds or maybe even some insight into the pharmaceutical side of things? While my expectations are my own problem, this book was still a little shaky.

Firstly, it feels like it was written by someone with ADHD. The good in that is that the voice is "true" but it also means that certain passages are long-winded and manic and clearly Smith spent a lot of time with a thesarus. So where a sentence might be "the sky is blue" it becomes "the sky is cerulean, azure, sapphire" etc. and the actual point of the sentence gets lost. You see this most when he feels passionate about something (his descriptions of young girls is almost uncomfortable because the repetitious use of synonyms for their beauty and breasts is embarrassing).

At a long-view, this story is about a boy growing up with ADHD that isn't diagnosed until he's in high school. By that time, he's unable to differentiate how much of his "problem" is his personality and how much is his disorder. When he streaks a high school football game, he blames ADHD which feels like a cop-out. You're allowed to be reckless and silly without pointing the finger of blame. When he starts taking Adderall he finds that it helps manage his mania a bit although the side effects are what he calls the "Adderall Empire." But he continues to find himself making poor choices and getting in trouble and, basically, being a teenage boy. But he blames his disorder instead of accepting that it's his personality. I'm not doubting that he has a disorder, but the things that he describes are more like stereotypical "jock" behavior rather than ADHD -- the picture of him with Tucker Max should tell you everything that you need to know. So if you're looking for insight about what it feels like to live with ADHD, this might not be the book for you. It could literally be any teenage boy's stories.

This is a self-published book and about 25% of the content is his medical reports. There are numerous typos and editing problems throughout which need attention. The story overall is solid, albeit a bit braggy (again: personality vs. disorder) but not what I was looking for and based on some other reviews, it wasn't the insight that other parents/teachers were hoping to find either.

[Sheila · Rating 1 out of 5]

Don't waste your time and frustration over a book where there are spelling mistakes aplenty. Some chapters are written in diary form and done aren't. Also not all chapters are about being on.Adderall, just his lame ass life.

[Neil · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have to say that you could tell this book was written by someone with ADHD as it was all over the place and at times was very difficult to follow..
Very disappointing although I could understand the affects of the drug.

[Kimberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

First the disclaimers... I received an audio version of this book for no charge in exchange for an honest review. Also, I have no experience whatsoever with people, younger or older, diagnosed with ADHD or ADD. Finally, I am a stay-at-home mother of three, the oldest going into high school and the youngest entering middle school, and I have volunteered 400 or so hours to their elementary school for each of the last 8 years. I am not an educator by education, but have given my time to my children's teachers and classmates to help their education in any little way I can.

So, onto this book! I will not take the time to rewrite a summary of the book -- the author and other reviewers have done this already. Suffice it to say, this is the author's account of his experiences before and after his diagnosis of ADHD, and before, during and after his experience of taking medication, specifically Adderall, to manage his ADHD.

Rather, I would like to share my reaction of what is included in the book and what is excluded from the book. I think Andrew's story was well-enough written to share his point of view, but his criticisms of Adderall, society's dictates of "normal" and the summary of his life on Adderall is simply one side of his story and, IMHO, a skewed point of view. One might think that a first person point of view is authentic, true and accurate, but I am far from being convinced in this instance.

I feel no sympathy for Andrew with regard to his diagnosis and the path that he, his parents and his doctors have chosen to take to manage the impact of ADHD on his life and I do not understand then ultimate message he is attempting to convey with his story. This story begins with Andrew at about age 5 -- not yet ready to enter kindergarten and held out for a year (so very normal for so very many 5 year old boys who may need an extra year to work on social development) -- to about age 23 with his graduation from college. Andrew shares a few scenes/memories from elementary school, middle school and high school -- before diagnosis, and with diagnosis and with attempts at finding the right medication and the right dosage. These scenes/memories seem absolutely "normal" to me and I do not understand the point being made sharing them in detail. Mischievousness in each of these school levels, and those particular ones Andrew went though, seems "normal" to me. Still I do not understand to what end these events being described support or refute Andrew's message.

What is missing and what I am wanting from this history is knowledge of his parent's and his teacher's efforts to help this young boy, then this adolescent boy, then this young man.

From this very one-sided, one person point of view tale, this reader feels that Adderall is not the problem. It seems to me the parents failed big time to be involved in his schooling, his developing learning habits, his social habits. And later on, they failed to be involved with his after-school free time -- and what friends were up to in the basement. Had they took time to oversee his homework efforts and his grades, they might have learned long ago that this child needed help learning how to learn and with learning fundamentals, such as in math, that seemed to plague him for many years. Had the parents been more involved, the ultimate outcome, using medication to regain focus, may not have changed, but in the meantime, this boy/young man may not have felt so awkward, "unnormal", an outcast, a freak, and seemingly alone in his youth.

The parents have three sons. Did they just give up on the youngest? Were they so focused on the older two that they neglected the youngest? Children need supervision, guidance and involved parents, from age 3 to 13 to 23 and beyond! I don't see from what was included in this history that this occurred

The parents were able to send the boys to private schools, but from this one-sided point of view, how helpful were the teachers? School-going children spend more waking hours in the company of their teachers than with anyone else. The teachers are supposed to be knowledgeable in terms of figuring out how best their individual students learn (this is 1996 to 2009 we're speaking of) -- it's their responsibility to help figure out what the students need in order to achieve. When parents and teachers work together, children can receive productive guidance and can flourish! Why is this story silent regarding the teachers reaching out to help Andrew?!?

Do I feel sorry for Andrew? No. We all have our limitations that we need to manage and learn to deal with in order to succeed with whatever our goal is. Some of us have physical limitations we need to learn to live with. Some of us have mental limitations we need to learn to live with. Some of our attributes can be managed with medicine, or exercise or vigilance.

Do I feel I am more aware of the effects of prescribing Adderall or other similar prescriptions? Not really. We don't have the full picture in this story. I want to know what the parents did or didn't do throughout these twenty years. Yes, mom attended a few meetings at the family center, but that amounts to about three sentences and no impact on the situation. Including patient paper from the family center does not fill in these missing gaps -- they add little to no relevant information. I want to know if the teachers were truly negligent with regard to Andrew's education. Neglecting to include their efforts doesn't mean the teachers didn't make an effort.

I am glad that Andrew was able to make it successfully through college, even if it was with the use of Adderall to help him focus and learn. I am glad that Andrew plans to use sites such as Luminosity to help his boost his mental capabilities. We all have our challenges and we all have to learn how to work with them. This makes us all NORMAL!!! Being diagnosed ADHD or ADD or with high cholesterol or with dyslexia or whatever doesn't mean we are not normal (a concept Andrew seems to be concerned with for ever). It means we are individuals and we need to learn how to manage our attention levels, our cholesterol levels, our mathematical abilities/inabilities, our reading fluency or whatever limitations we have with our bodies or our minds.

Conclusion? Should you, reader of this review, spend time reading this book? Of course, it is a great launching point for discussion. Recommend it to your book club; it may lead to very animated discussions among the book club members. Read this if you are related or friends with someone diagnosed with ADHD or ADD or some other learning challenge that is managed with a prescribed drug. Read it as a parent. Read it to broaden your horizon. Read it to determine if this review is looney!

Just read it. Doing so should only take about four hours of your time, but be warned! Reading this book may also cause you to think, too! About your reactions, about parenting, about the educational systems, about medicine for non-life-threatening use, about what is "normal" and what is not, about being an individual with individual quirks and needs.

[Tbfrank · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this book up on a whim, needing something to read and wanting a break from my customary fare. On one hand, I proceeded without any obvious (to me) preconceived notions about what I would find. On the other, the blurb on the back suggested a sociological view of the Adderal problem: its effects, uses, abuses and an exploration of a non-pharmaceutical alternative.

What I found was a personal narrative, a partial biography/memoir of a young man with impulse control issues. The tale follows him from one childish 'prank' to another, where each succeeding crisis in his life becomes more serious than the last. Two things stood out for me in the first half of the book - 1) his parents' reactions are curiously omitted, muted, or presented as simple punishments which he defines as showing a 'lack of trust'; 2) he seems to define himself as a reflection of the friends he keeps amused and who encourage his behavior.

Without explicitly admitting to the ability, he is adept at manipulating those around him primarily through confessing to his guilt and agreeing that he deserves punishment. He has such a sympathetic air that he often escapes the worst consequences. Indeed, the reader sympathizes with a young boy who obviously is suffering and needs help.

At some point, the author realizes his behavior is abnormal and, as I read it, appears to seek medical assistance at his own instigation. This leads him to take Adderal.

From that point forward, the narrative becomes disjointed. Whether intentionally, to represent a mental state affected by drugs and a persistent use of alcohol, or as a measure of the writer's skill, is unclear. The reference to OJ Simpson and his nickname resulting from drinking orange juice before his incarceration was either an illustration of his confused mental state, or an example of his life-long learning disability - I could not be sure which.

Excerpts from the author's medical record are included, without comment. Whether or not the clinician notes are complete is unknown, but the references are terse and mechanical. Did that represent the objective, by the book nature of the accepted plan of care - fix it with a pill?

He clearly attributes his ability to complete a college education to the focus the drug provided, yet constantly laments that he doesn't feel like himself. For me, this would have been a key point to explain as that has become a stereotypical excuse for persons failing to take their prescribed medications. Stating the drug created an artificial focus and stole creativity is a judgment and not a description that can be absorbed and felt by the reader. I wanted a representation that would, if not give me an understanding of that condition, at least offer a way to appreciate the strain the individual is undergoing. The introduction of suicidal thoughts was certainly startling and fortunately were reported to have disappeared soon after. Yet that, too, warranted deeper description.

The suggestion that Adderal has become the drug of choice, whether it is common knowledge or not, is only anecdotally supported and with minimum instances. The reference to alternate, non-drug related therapies is touched on several times with little documentary support or description other than a reference to several of the author's favorite mental challenges. If memory training made such a difference in his life, it merited a more complete description of what and how.

In the end, it is left to the reader to determine if the struggle to stop using the drug is because the author misses the freedom to behave as the moment strikes him or because he wants to consciously refrain from that behavior as his personal choice. A central tenet in the final third of the book is the 'privilege of youth' which I took to mean to experience life in the wildest, most unconstrained manner possible, where irresponsible behavior should be condoned strictly because of one's youth. That may not have been his intention, but that's what I came away with.

I applaud the author's honesty in writing about his life and experiences and the book shows flashes of an ability to string words together in an interesting manner. But on the whole it is inconsistent, much as he describes his thinking process. Perhaps his writing resonates with other millenials and they find it to be an effective means of communication - other than Facebook, Twitter, and texting.

But hey, I did finish it and it spawned a reaction. What more can a fledgling writer want?

[Robert D · Rating 5 out of 5]

What fascinated me so much about this book was not that I could understand the story's protagonist, or that I could see myself in his shoes, but because I absolutely could not understand at all what would drive a person to behave in such a manner. This story is an absolute eye opener. I remember growing up throughout the 90's, and when suddenly the words 'ADHD' and 'ADD' starting getting thrown around, half the people you knew were being diagnosed and given pills to take. This book gives you a behind the scenes look at what happened to those "other kids". The author also included a number of medical records that are very interesting to read and see what the doctors were thinking during the different phases of the disease.

But one thing that I really take away from this story, is what it must have felt like to be the bad kid, the one at your school who could never control himself, the class clown, the bully, or whatever shape they may have taken. I have a lot more respect, as well as a lot more empathy towards those who suffered in this way.

Lastly, the author makes no attempt to censor himself in any way, and I find that brave, powerful, and bold. I absolutely applaud the author for not softening the story in any way, and giving it to us readers in it's stark and raw form.

[Jeff K · Rating 1 out of 5]

The list of the book's shortcomings are too long to enumerate. It is poorly written, overly verbose, and void of any meaningful content. Author claims to have overcome adderall addiction, yet he has a full prescription of pills right next to his laptop. As someone who knows and struggles daily with this beast, I can say with confidence that this man is still struggling with adderall (addiction?). In other words, he cannot provide anyone with any sense of whether there is "life without adderall."

Book gets pawned off as some sort of guide or source for information, but it is just all over the place.

Parents, teachers, everyone...keep your money!