The Diseasing of America's Children: Exposing the ADHD Fiasco and Empowering Parents to Take Back Control »

Millions of American children have been diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and prescribed powerful drugs to manage their behavior. Yet while the number of children diagnosed with ADHD is increasing at an alarming rate, the science behind this so-called disorder is unraveling.

In The Diseasing of America's Children, popular family psychologist, speaker, and best-selling author John Rosemond joins with pediatrician Dr. Bose Ravenel to reveal the fallacy and pseudoscience behind ADHD and other childhood behavioral disorders. They show how certain professionals and pharmaceutical companies have allowed bad science to disease millions of children with these fictitious illnesses—and in the process have made an incredible amount of money.

In this book, Rosemond and Ravenel

• Demonstrate that ADHD, as defined by the ADHD Establishment, is a fiction
• Expose the short-term and long-term dangers of using behavioral drugs on children
• Discuss how America's schools are unwittingly feeding the diagnostic beast
• Reveal the commonsense truth behind these behavior problems
• Give parents a practical program for curing these problems without drugs or dependence on medical professionals

The Diseasing of America's Children empowers parents to take back control of their children by recognizing the misinformation they have been given and applying a commonsense, traditional approach to managing their children's behavior problems. With candor and insight, Rosemond and Ravenel draw upon verifiable scientific research and their years of professional experience to outline proven parenting methods that will help even the most difficult children behave functionally at home and school—without medical intervention.

Acknowledgments     ix
Read This First!     xi
Introduction     xiii
Exposing the Adhd Fiasco
Five Slippery Words     3
Redefining Childhood     11
Biology in Wonderland     35
The Politics of Diagnosis     67
The Politics and Perils of Pharmaceuticals     77
Making Sense
A Simple Explanation     105
Why Johnny Can't Sit Still, Pay Attention, Do What He's Told, and Learn to Read     137
Empowering Parents to Take Back Control
Nipping "ADHD" in the Bud     161
Nipping "ADHD" in Full Bloom     189
Notes     213
Index     229
Introduction to The Well-Behaved Child: Discipline That Really Works (available October 2009)     239
About the Authors     253