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What Everyone Needs to Know
ADHD: What Everyone Needs to Know®
Rates of diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are skyrocketing, throughout America and the rest of the world. U.S. rates of youth diagnosis have increased 40% from just a decade ago. Adults with ADHD are now the fastest-growing segment of the population receiving diagnosis and medication. The disorder is painful and sometimes disabling for individuals and tremendously costly for society; yet, widespread misinformation, skepticism, and unanswered questions have jeopardized effective diagnosis and treatment.
Researched and written by Stephen Hinshaw, an international expert on ADHD, and Katherine Ellison, a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist and author, What Everyone Needs to Know® is the go-to book for authoritative, current, accurate, and compelling information about the global ADHD epidemic.
This book addresses questions such
· Is ADHD a genuine medical condition or a means of pathologizing active and exploratory behavior?
· Do medications for ADHD serve as needed treatments, or are they attempts at social control, designed to bolster profits of pharmaceutical firms?
· Has the ADHD label become a ruse by which parents can game the educational system for accommodations?
· How do symptoms and impairments related to ADHD differ between girls and women and boys and men?
· Why are ADHD medications often used as performance enhancers by college and high-school students?
What Everyone Needs to Know® clears the air of the most polarizing and misleading information that abounds, providing straight talk and sound guidelines for educators, policymakers, health professionals, parents, and the general public. It shows the reality of ADHD but does not ignore the forces that have pushed up rates of diagnosis to alarmingly high levels.
Researched and written by Stephen Hinshaw, an international expert on ADHD, and Katherine Ellison, a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist and author, What Everyone Needs to Know® is the go-to book for authoritative, current, accurate, and compelling information about the global ADHD epidemic.
This book addresses questions such
· Is ADHD a genuine medical condition or a means of pathologizing active and exploratory behavior?
· Do medications for ADHD serve as needed treatments, or are they attempts at social control, designed to bolster profits of pharmaceutical firms?
· Has the ADHD label become a ruse by which parents can game the educational system for accommodations?
· How do symptoms and impairments related to ADHD differ between girls and women and boys and men?
· Why are ADHD medications often used as performance enhancers by college and high-school students?
What Everyone Needs to Know® clears the air of the most polarizing and misleading information that abounds, providing straight talk and sound guidelines for educators, policymakers, health professionals, parents, and the general public. It shows the reality of ADHD but does not ignore the forces that have pushed up rates of diagnosis to alarmingly high levels.
216 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2015
32 people are currently reading
201 people want to read
About the author
Stephen P. Hinshaw
20 books63 followersStephen Hinshaw grew up in Columbus, Ohio and attended Harvard and UCLA. A professor of psychology (UC Berkeley) and Psychiatry (UC San Francisco), he is an international presence in clinical psychology/mental health, with over 320 articles/chapters and 12 books. He received a Distinguished Teaching Award in 2001; his Teaching Company (‘Great Lecture’) series, “Origins of the Human Mind,” appeared in 2010. He has been recognized by the Distinguished Scientist Award from the Society for a Science of Clinical Psychology (2015), the James McKeen Cattell Award from the Association for Psychological Science (2016) for a lifetime of outstanding contributions to applied psychological research, and the Distinguished Scientific Contributions to Child Development Award (2017) from the Society for Research in Child Development. He lives in Berkeley, California, with his wife, Kelly Campbell; they have three sons. His newest book, "Another Kind of Madness," chronicles his father's recurring mental illness and the doctor-enforced silence surrounding it, plus the huge need to combat stigma.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 15, 2016
This review originally appeared on
The ADHD Homestead
.
Full disclosure: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review, but all opinions here are my own.
Part of me is always looking for the perfect ADHD book, even though I know it doesn’t exist. I need a whole shelf full of them to cover every angle.
ADHD: What Everyone Needs to Know may, however, be the perfect ADHD overview book. When the publisher contacted me about doing a review, the title made me skeptical. It’s a bold claim.
ADHD What Everyone Needs to Know coverHowever, once I started reading, I felt so fortunate to have found this book. It’s not all there is to know, but it is, as the title suggests, what everyone needs to know about ADHD. Not only that, it’s easy to read and weighs in at just under 200 pages.
The greatest value of ADHD: What Everyone Needs to Know isn’t even the ADHD crash course the authors so skillfully provide. The FAQ-style format will prepare readers with responses to others’ questions as well as their own. Remain open about your or your child’s ADHD for long enough and you’ll know exactly what I mean. With so much conflicting information and sensationalist reporting out there, a reasonable and comprehensive layman’s overview is long overdue.
I especially appreciated the nuanced perspective on recent surges in ADHD diagnoses among American children. The chapter exploring “who you are and where you live” leaves no room for black-and-white arguments. A close read reveals no single truth: yes, accountability laws that defund failing schools are correlated with increased ADHD diagnoses, not to mention increased use of stimulant medication. Yes, diagnosis rates dropped when the carrots of Race to the Top replaced the sticks of No Child Left Behind. However, that data is open to interpretation, and while overdiagnosis is certainly possible, it doesn’t delegitimize ADHD.
This balanced presentation of facts won’t validate any battle cries, but it may be our best bet for responding to those extreme viewpoints. Like most issues, ADHD — and our knowledge of it — contains many gray areas. I found it impossible to maintain a bias while reading this book. Hinshaw and Ellison offer their own interpretations, but they also explain why certain areas remain gray. For example, sometimes ethical issues prevent the controlled studies that would answer some of the toughest questions.
That said, I struggled with the authors’ treatment of ADHD in women and girls: specifically, the suggestion that boys with ADHD outnumber girls two or two-and-a-half to one, with the gender gap closing by adulthood. But perhaps this is informed by my own experience as a girl who struggled from a very young age, suffering in increasing silence as I reached middle and high school.
I’ve also read conflicting information on some forms of behavior therapy for children. Specifically, my personal experience and research discourages the use of external rewards and punishment, sticker charts, etc. (For an excellent, concise illustration of this point, check out Vicki Hoefle’s Duct Tape Parenting.)
The authors do acknowledge this problem, saying “the difficulty for children is to maintain their progress [outside] the tightly managed environment.” I myself excelled in the structured environments of grade school, college, and family. Shedding these supports in my 20s, I had no capacity to cope with my ADHD as it affected my adult life.
In this behavior therapy chapter, the authors’ well-rounded approach becomes confusing. While it begins by offering behavior therapy as a possible substitute for medication, it ends by saying most of us really need both. This latter point is weakened by ambiguous language earlier on.
Overall, ADHD: What Everyone Needs to Know is an essential read for any educated consumer seeking ADHD diagnosis and treatment. The book focuses more on childhood ADHD than adult ADHD, but there’s enough general information to give both groups an excellent foundation. If you’re struggling with questions about your or a loved one’s ADHD — including your response to others’ unsolicited questions and opinions — this book is for you.
Full disclosure: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review, but all opinions here are my own.
Part of me is always looking for the perfect ADHD book, even though I know it doesn’t exist. I need a whole shelf full of them to cover every angle.
ADHD: What Everyone Needs to Know may, however, be the perfect ADHD overview book. When the publisher contacted me about doing a review, the title made me skeptical. It’s a bold claim.
ADHD What Everyone Needs to Know coverHowever, once I started reading, I felt so fortunate to have found this book. It’s not all there is to know, but it is, as the title suggests, what everyone needs to know about ADHD. Not only that, it’s easy to read and weighs in at just under 200 pages.
The greatest value of ADHD: What Everyone Needs to Know isn’t even the ADHD crash course the authors so skillfully provide. The FAQ-style format will prepare readers with responses to others’ questions as well as their own. Remain open about your or your child’s ADHD for long enough and you’ll know exactly what I mean. With so much conflicting information and sensationalist reporting out there, a reasonable and comprehensive layman’s overview is long overdue.
I especially appreciated the nuanced perspective on recent surges in ADHD diagnoses among American children. The chapter exploring “who you are and where you live” leaves no room for black-and-white arguments. A close read reveals no single truth: yes, accountability laws that defund failing schools are correlated with increased ADHD diagnoses, not to mention increased use of stimulant medication. Yes, diagnosis rates dropped when the carrots of Race to the Top replaced the sticks of No Child Left Behind. However, that data is open to interpretation, and while overdiagnosis is certainly possible, it doesn’t delegitimize ADHD.
This balanced presentation of facts won’t validate any battle cries, but it may be our best bet for responding to those extreme viewpoints. Like most issues, ADHD — and our knowledge of it — contains many gray areas. I found it impossible to maintain a bias while reading this book. Hinshaw and Ellison offer their own interpretations, but they also explain why certain areas remain gray. For example, sometimes ethical issues prevent the controlled studies that would answer some of the toughest questions.
That said, I struggled with the authors’ treatment of ADHD in women and girls: specifically, the suggestion that boys with ADHD outnumber girls two or two-and-a-half to one, with the gender gap closing by adulthood. But perhaps this is informed by my own experience as a girl who struggled from a very young age, suffering in increasing silence as I reached middle and high school.
I’ve also read conflicting information on some forms of behavior therapy for children. Specifically, my personal experience and research discourages the use of external rewards and punishment, sticker charts, etc. (For an excellent, concise illustration of this point, check out Vicki Hoefle’s Duct Tape Parenting.)
The authors do acknowledge this problem, saying “the difficulty for children is to maintain their progress [outside] the tightly managed environment.” I myself excelled in the structured environments of grade school, college, and family. Shedding these supports in my 20s, I had no capacity to cope with my ADHD as it affected my adult life.
In this behavior therapy chapter, the authors’ well-rounded approach becomes confusing. While it begins by offering behavior therapy as a possible substitute for medication, it ends by saying most of us really need both. This latter point is weakened by ambiguous language earlier on.
Overall, ADHD: What Everyone Needs to Know is an essential read for any educated consumer seeking ADHD diagnosis and treatment. The book focuses more on childhood ADHD than adult ADHD, but there’s enough general information to give both groups an excellent foundation. If you’re struggling with questions about your or a loved one’s ADHD — including your response to others’ unsolicited questions and opinions — this book is for you.
November 2, 2015
I'm experiencing a strange emotion of relief and irony. Relief: my current life explained. In my household of 6, at least (at least! I'm being conservative) have full blown ADHD. I feel somewhat less the crazy, pariah parent. The irony: I've spent 20 years studying, getting degrees and certifications in, working with, and publishing on behavioral treatments for individuals with behavior challenges, be it ASD, ADHD, or unspecified behavior disorders. I am one of the most well suited people I know to be presented with and ADHD family. Why did it take me so long to see it in my own family? And how has all my training gone out the window when it comes to my own kids? This said with a not so small amount of shame as I did not actually believe in ADHD until well after grad school when I married someone with it. ... Now I believe. (And research backs me up.)
After reading this I have now gotten a metaphorical and well deserved slap in the face and have some ideas and tools on what needs to change. Despite the irony and disillusionment with myself I feel validation that I am not, in fact, crazy, and there is hope for a more harmonious life.
This book is well worth the read. Current research is presented, along with the entire gamut of questions that come up regarding ADHD (is it caused by SpongeBob? - spoiler alert: no). And the authors provide the information in an easy to read and (slightly but appropriate) humorous tone.
If you think you or someone you care about has ADHD, read this book.
After reading this I have now gotten a metaphorical and well deserved slap in the face and have some ideas and tools on what needs to change. Despite the irony and disillusionment with myself I feel validation that I am not, in fact, crazy, and there is hope for a more harmonious life.
This book is well worth the read. Current research is presented, along with the entire gamut of questions that come up regarding ADHD (is it caused by SpongeBob? - spoiler alert: no). And the authors provide the information in an easy to read and (slightly but appropriate) humorous tone.
If you think you or someone you care about has ADHD, read this book.
June 23, 2019
Concise, easy to read and understand. Very brief but very broad overview of all things ADHD for children, teens, and adults.
My only criticism was that when discussing how it impacts boys vs. girls, there did seem to be a lot of gender stereotypes being used. I'm not an expert so I wasn't sure how accurate some of those things were but from then on I was a little more cautious in my reading.
I would still recommend for anyone looking for more information on ADHD.
My only criticism was that when discussing how it impacts boys vs. girls, there did seem to be a lot of gender stereotypes being used. I'm not an expert so I wasn't sure how accurate some of those things were but from then on I was a little more cautious in my reading.
I would still recommend for anyone looking for more information on ADHD.
March 3, 2021
This was an informative an easy read that left me understanding the context of ADHD better. The book itself has the feel of magazine articles, which may actually be helpful if read by someone with ADHD. I wouldn't look to this book for an in depth study, but I did find this book helpful as a snapshot in time to understand what ADHD is, what treatments are currently recommended, and the industrial complex that surrounds it.
July 18, 2022
Somehow, this book manages to cover every single controversy, myth, and concept that's related to ADHD that I am aware of. It was also written in a way that's pretty easy to understand, and has a review of each chapter at the end. If you're interested in learning about ADHD, I highly recommend this book, especially since it appears to be very well researched.
November 18, 2023
While reading ADHD: What Everyone Needs to Know, I felt sort of amazed about how much of it my family has navigated. The challenges and suggestions the book addresses brought up memories of therapies tried, special camps, and meetings with “professionals.” Sigh. It’s been (and continues to be) a journey.
August 14, 2024
Very informative
January 9, 2023
Really interesting. I think it explains the general information of ADHD in a really clear way.
Now, I need a diagnosis.
Now, I need a diagnosis.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews