An Unselected Letter to the New York Times Magazine
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- Written by Lawrence Diller, M.D. Lawrence Diller, M.D.
- Category: Opinions & Editorials Opinions & Editorials
- Published: 06 October 2009 06 October 2009
The following letter was written to the New York Times Magazine in response to the article, "The Bipolar Puzzle," on children's bipolar disorder published on September 14, 2008. The letter was not selected for publication but I believe it remains of interest to readers of this website:
In my thirty years of practice as a behavioral-developmental pediatrician, of recent I regularly see children under the age of six whose worried parents have been told their children are bipolar. There have always been very difficult to manage, highly persistent, intense and sensitive children who test their parents' and other caregivers' authority.
The Swimming Cure for ADHD?
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- Written by Lawrence Diller, M.D. Lawrence Diller, M.D.
- Category: Opinions & Editorials Opinions & Editorials
- Published: 06 October 2009 06 October 2009
Michael Phelps’ amazing Olympic triumph belies the notion of a chronic disorder
In the next view days you are certain to read more about Michael Phelp’s childhood including his being diagnosed with ADHD and treated with medication at age nine for two years. A front page New York Times piece on Michael today suggested the diagnosis when his third grade teacher, Mrs. Kines, was quoted in a recent letter to his mother, Debbie, as recalling Michael having “immense difficulties concentrating and sitting still” leading Mrs. Kines to wonder “if he would ever be able to focus on anything.”
Say It Ain't So Joe
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- Written by Lawrence Diller, M.D. Lawrence Diller, M.D.
- Category: Opinions & Editorials Opinions & Editorials
- Published: 06 October 2009 06 October 2009
On Psychology Today's blog. June 14, 2008
Most parents have never heard of him but Joseph Biederman, head of Harvard's Massachusetts General Child Psychopharmacology Clinic, may be the most influential doctor when it comes to determining whether or not children are normal or mentally ill in America.