"Remembering Ritalin," Dr. Lawrence Diller Revisits Former Patients 15 Years Later

Editor's Choice

Main Category: ADHD
Also Included In: Psychology / Psychiatry;  Pediatrics / Children's Health;  Mental Health
Article Date: 16 May 2011 - 1:00 PDT

In 1996 a bestseller"Running on Ritalin", by Dr. Lawrence Diller, a pediatrician from Walnut Creek, triggered a national and international debate onADHD diagnosis and treatments. Today, the same doctor in his new book - "Remembering Ritalin" - spoke to some of those patients he had in the 1990s, now in their twenties and thirties to see how they have developed and coped.

In his new book, Dr. Diller provides some findings that many parents, teachers and health care professionals often wonder about. Such as:

• When is an ADHD diagnosis legitimate?
• When is ADHD diagnosis an oversimplified and harmful label?
• Have psychiatrists been too eager to medicate or overmedicate children?

In his new book, along with his patients in the 1990s, the author explains his findings and some of the insights provided by his former patients.

Put simply, the main thrust of the book is "How are his former patients doing now? 15 years later."

In his 1996 book Dr. Diller suggested that ADHD was being diagnosed too quickly in many cases. He believed that Ritalin was commonly being prescribed to children who might have responded effectively to tailored programs, home and school routines, and family therapy.

He warned that America's tolerance to many normal characteristics of childhood would narrow. Characteristics such as, forgetfulness, impulsivity, being easily distracted, daydreaming, and being unmotivated. Children may have those features without necessarily suffering from ADHD.

By being too eager to medicate a child, Dr. Diller wondered how many of them were being turned into lifelong patients unnecessarily.

There are approximately 4.5 million children with an ADHD diagnosis in the USA today, 5% of American children. Two-thirds of them are on some kind of medication to control their symptoms. A growing number of adults are now known as Generation Rx.

Dr. Diller says that about two in every ten of his former patients - now in their twenties and thirties - are significantly bothered with ADHD. He claims that a much higher percentage of his former patients graduated from college compared to some who were followed up in other studies and were prescribed Ritalin-type drugs.

Dr. Diller stresses he is not against medicines, he has been prescribing medications for over three decades. His concern is people's attitudes to accepting or prescribing just a pill, when perhaps diagnosis should be done more carefully, and other options should be considered either alongside the medication or as a first line of therapy.

"Remembering Ritalin"
Dr. Lawrence H. Diller

Written by Christian Nordqvist