Give Me My Adderall!
- Details
- Written by Lawrence Diller, M.D. Lawrence Diller, M.D.
- Category: Opinions & Editorials Opinions & Editorials
- Published: 13 October 2012 13 October 2012
(First appeared in the Huffington Post on October 10, 2012)
"Give me my Adderall!" Matthew, a 15-year-old patient of mine, recently demanded of his parents. When they refused, Matthew slashed his left wrist with a box cutter. His parents called the police and he was taken to the county hospital emergency room for evaluation and possible admission to the psychiatric ward. His parents had withheld the medication for Matt's purported attention deficit disorder (ADD) because they hadn't liked the side effects of irritability and anger they had associated with their son's use of the medication.
Read Dr. Diller's Latest Essay in the Huffington Post
- Details
- Written by Lawrence Diller, M.D. Lawrence Diller, M.D.
- Category: Opinions & Editorials Opinions & Editorials
- Published: 26 August 2012 26 August 2012
This essay first appeared in the Huffington Post on August 24, 2012:
Getting 'It' Into the New York Times
Yesterday a letter of mine was published in the print and Web editions of the New York Times. I had read an op-ed over the weekend, "Raising the Ritalin Generation," which had stimulated my letter. Click here to read the letter.
I thought it was a pretty good letter. Still the chances of getting a letter in the Times are pretty low. So when I received the call on Tuesday from the Times editor doing some fact checking on the letter and me, I was pretty pleased that a forum as prominent as the Times was willing to air my opinion.
The Homework Pill
- Details
- Written by Lawrence Diller, M.D. Lawrence Diller, M.D.
- Category: Opinions & Editorials Opinions & Editorials
- Published: 06 June 2012 06 June 2012
(First Appeared in the Huffington Post 6/5/12)
“Can you give me some Adderall that will help me get my homework done?” Joey, a sixteen-year-old high school sophomore asked me near the end of a meeting with his father and me. I was surprised by his request, but I shouldn’t have been – I’ve been prescribing drugs like Ritalin, Adderall and Concerta to children for over thirty years. Yet Joey’s request did catch me off guard because I had known Joey and his family for a dozen years for problems other than attention deficit disorder (ADD). He had always been an intense, persistent and socially awkward boy but now he wanted a medicine that could assist him in homework completion.