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Well-known Dr. Ned Hallowell responds to Sroufe with a doctor’s opinion…{EF}

Regarding the opinion piece “Ritalin Gone Wrong” written by Alan Sroufe, Ph.D., (NY Times, Jan. 29, 2012): As is usually the case when the use of stimulant medications like Ritalin makes it into mainstream media, the piece pushed emotional hot-buttons in a way that would scare the daylights out of uninformed readers and lead them to avoid ever using such medications or allowing their children to, thereby giving up on a class of medications with enormous potential benefits.

Let me offer a different point of view. I’m an M.D., a child and adult psychiatrist who’s been treating children who have what we now call ADHD for over 30 years….

CONTINUE TO FULL ARTICLE: Dr. Hallowell’s Response to “Ritalin Gone Wrong”

Post Source: Dr. Hallowell’s Blog

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And now here’s KJ DELL’ANTONIA with a mother’s point of view…{EF}

Perhaps the most easily drawn conclusion about L. Alan Sroufe, who wrote Ritalin Gone Wrong for the Jan. 29 Week in Review, is that he does not have a child who suffers from what he calls “problems in focusing” — or what most call attention deficit hyperactivity disorder — and who has benefited from Ritalin or one of the many other drug therapies available.

Nor do I….

…But by the time I reached the final paragraph, Dr. Sroufe’s harsh condemnation of the people who turn to drug therapies in the hope of helping their children had thoroughly alienated me — along with, I presume, many parents he might have hoped to reach with his message.

CONTINUE TO FULL ARTICLE: If Ritalin Has ‘Gone Wrong,’ What’s the Right Way to Cope?

Post Source: Motherlode: Adventures in Parenting from NYTimes.

**Editor’s Note:  Click on links within the post field.  The post “title” hyperlink opens another window in Edfive.**