cover image Hyperactivity Hoax

Hyperactivity Hoax

Sydney Walker, Walker. St. Martin's Press, $23.95 (272pp) ISBN 978-0-312-19287-7

Walker, director of the Southern California Neuropsychiatric Institute, makes a dramatic case against the widespread use of the drug Ritalin to treat hyperactive children. Walker (A Dose of Sanity) points a finger at hurried doctors who treat symptoms without identifying underlying causes and blames managed health care (HMOs) for pressuring physicians into making hasty choices. Educators also get their share of Walker's criticism for attempting to push for the ADD (attention deficit disorder) or ADHD label (and the use of Ritalin) when kids are difficult in class (10 % of elementary school boys are on Ritalin, he notes). Rather than relying on easy labels, Walker urges parents to aggressively seek the root of their child's problem. To pinpoint the cause requires careful sleuthing and testing, which many physicians resist, Walker claims, choosing instead to ""perpetrate the hoax"" that hyperactivity is a disease instead of a symptom (of brain tumors, diabetes, allergies, to name a few). He exposes the possible side effects of Ritalin (potential addiction, psychotic reactions and cardiac arrhythmia), the more serious of which, according to the author, have been downplayed to benefit HMOs and pharmaceutical companies. This book is a disturbing but compelling must-read for any parent whose child shows signs of a hyperactivity disorder or is using Ritalin now. (Dec.)