Beyond Ritalin: Facts About Medication and Other Strategies for Helping Children, Adolescents, and Adults with Attention Deficit Disorders – Complete Diagnosis and Treatment Answers

by Stephen W. Garber

In the late 1980s, ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and its treatment with the drug Ritalin came to national attention and became one of the most hotly debated health issues. That debate continues to rage today. But for the millions of ADHD children, adolescents and adults, it still remains painfully difficult to get clear and authoritative answers to the many questions that this confusing disorder poses. Do I have a correct diagnosis of ADHD? What kind of medication might be helpful? What else can and should I do to help myself or my child deal with this problem? Now, at last, the authors of Beyond Ritalin, acknowledged experts on ADHD, provide a complete road map and guide for coping with this disorder. Including anecdotal case histories, as well as a complete checklist of ADHD symptoms, charts, work sheets and a comprehensive list of valuable resources and support groups.

Genres: Nonfiction, Adhd, Psychology

272 pages, Paperback

First published April 23, 1996

Reviews

[Emilee Ashline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even though is book is 10 years old, it has better information about adhd than most of the recent books do. It kept me well informed. The main medicine discussed was Ritalin, but that was before all the newer meds came out. It's a good read

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good time management and productivity advice, ADHD or noDHD.

[Beth A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book. The authors seemed knowledgeable and professional. It seemed well thought out. They had suggestions of things to try before you try medication. They believe that behavioral modification is a very important part of ADHD treatment, and that the best response comes from behavior modification while using medications. The individual can then focus enough to learn new habits.

The book describes some of the problems people with ADHD encounter, and how medication can help, and also what medication cannot do. The authors believe that medication is a temporary fix; without changing the underlying skills and behaviors, the long term benefit is limited. For example, medication can help a student complete more work, be more accurate, stay on task better, and improve short term performance, but medication does not show long term improvement on achievement tests, teach unmastered academic skills, fill in gaps in learning, or treat any underlying learning disabilities. Another example: Medication can decrease impulsivity, lower threshold for reinforcement, improve responsiveness to punishment, and improve compliance to rules. Medication does not teach reflective thinking, teach you how to control where to focus attention, increase the child’s motivation to control behavior, or teach a child to control anger. It also talks about social skills, organizational skills, emotional control, and ADHD in grownups with similar can/doesn’t lists and explanations. For each topic it also presents suggestions on how to modify environments, habits, and skills to help resolve some of the underlying problems that medication doesn’t help. I hope to implement some of these ideas for both myself and my son, and also read another book by the same authors that is supposed to have more specifics on their behavioral modification program. Is Your Child Hyperactive? Inattentive? Impulsive? Distractable?: Helping the ADD/Hyperactive Child

I thought this book was very worthwhile and highly recommend it to people interested in this subject.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative and balanced, if dated. The authors point out that medication is not a magic bullet to cure ADHD, nor does it solve all of the problems associated with the condition. While meds can make it easier for a person to sit down to read a book, they don't teach a child to read. However, its age shows in that the chapter on medications does not cover many of the current ones available (understandably).
A full chapter at the end on coping as an adult, even with such a late diagnosis, is included.