Modern
Times
"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 |
Kelly, K., and Ramundo, P. (1993) You Mean I'm Not Lazy, Stupid Or Crazy?! Cincinnati: Tyrell & Jerem Press. This book was also found quite easily at the Boston Public Library. The book's colorful cover and illustrated pages give it the look and feel of the popular self-help books in every bookstore. The back cover summarizes the contents: "[This book] is the first self-help book written by ADD adults for ADD adults. This comprehensive guide provides accurate information, practical 'how-to's' and moral support." Because this is a self-help book, the main actors are the "ADDers," or the people with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). The fictional ADDers in the book are described as they find themselves in situations that readers with ADD will recognize from their own lives. Unlike a "scholarly, diagnostic manual" from the list in the appendix, the voice of the medical establishment is only arises when statistics are presented and in the foreword, where a medical doctor gives credibility to the book. The studies quoted are used to assure the ADDer that she is not alone and to validate her experiences with ADD. The romantic theme of the book is that people with ADD should not feel bad about it and that they can learn to cope with it. Irony is frequently used in contrasting the misperceptions of friends and coworkers of the ADDer with her actual mental state. The writing is colloquial and easy to read. For this project, I generally regarded this book as a reference, but I'm sure that if I had ADD the book would be a good friend and liberator. Reviewer: Dan Ryan |
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