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"Paying Attention." Scientific American. "Increased Medication Use in ADD: Regressive or Appropriate?" JAMA "The Ritalin Controversy: What's Made This Drug's Opponents Hyperactive?" JAMA The Leading Edge Research Homepage newsgroup: alt.support.attn-deficit Wired Magazine, "Interrupt Driven" Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Adults You Mean I'm Not Lazy, Stupid Or Crazy?! Success with Attention Deficit Disorder and Hyperactivity Parents of Children With Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder |
Wender, Paul H. (1995) Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Adults. New York: Oxford University Press. This book was found in the Boston Public Library. Anyone with a library card has access to this book. Every resident of Boston is eligible for a library card. This book was written by Paul H. Wender, M.D., who has been studying and writing about this disorder for more than 25 years. The audience is psychiatrists, non-medical therapists, and the lay reader. Wender answers the following questions about Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): What are the signs and symptoms of ADHD? How does ADHD affect adults? What causes ADHD? How is ADHD treated? In the Appendices Wender presents some various rating methods that are used to describe the existence and the degree of ADHD. The main actor in this narrative is ADHD, along with disorders that are variations of ADHD. The criteria used to determine ADHD given emphasis because ADHD is polythetic-if some subset of a list of symptoms is diagnosed, the patient is said to have ADHD. Two groups of actors in the periphery throughout the book are people with ADHD and the people who decide who has and doesn't have ADHD. The criteria for ADHD are determined by members of the American Psychiatric Association. Initially a person with ADHD is identified by an "informant," because those with ADHD don't generally recognize it-they feel they have "always been like that." For children, the informant is typically a parent or teacher. For the adult, it may be a spouse or significant other. The book is mainly about ADHD, not the people who have ADHD. The point of view is from the psychological clinician, not the victim of ADHD. Left out of the story were specific accounts from people with ADHD. The reader is presumed to have an interest in treating or understanding the ADHD in someone else, not himself or herself. The story is told as a romance where science is marching forward, gradually gaining a better grip on just what ADHD is and how to treat it. I believe this account because the author is disinterestedly describing ADHD, not to seeking action for or against a group of people. Reviewer: Dan Ryan |
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