For those tossing and turning in the tempestuous seas of attention
deficit disorder ("ADD"), the uplifting raft of hope inspiring
information and counsel, imparted by the book entitled Delivered From
Distraction, may have a calming, and indeed salutary, effect.  One of the coauthors (Dr. Edward M.
Hallowell) was formerly an instructor, at the Harvard Medical School; the other
coauthor (Dr. John J. Ratey) is presently an associate professor of psychiatry,
at the same institution.  Both have ADD
themselves.  Writing with rather intense
passion and robust vigor, which pleasingly creates a visceral sense of rhythmic
beauty resonating mellifluously through the length and breadth of the text,
Hallowell and Ratey work very hard, and successfully, to burnish ADD, so as to
enable its bright side to glow and sparkle.

  
The philosophic bent of Hallowell and Ratey is that the world of ADD is
veritably wonderful.  At the heart of
ADD, as conceptualized by Hallowell and Ratey, lies a mélange of traits that
define a way of being that may potentially have positive as well as negative
aspects.  The way of being of a person
with ADD, is not a "disorder" unless the negative forces become
disabling.  The goal for the person with
ADD should be to learn to take optimal advantage of the wonderful gifts and
special talents sewed into the fabric of the ADD mind.  These special talents may include enormous
creativity and also an ability to selectively hyperfocus on things perceived as
being particularly important.  For
persons with ADD who succeed at whittling away non-helpful parts of ADD, the
condition may, in real life terms, be a great asset, rather than a debilitating
liability.

  
In real life, it is, in fact, possible for a person with ADD to have an
extraordinarily fulfilling and successful life.  One of the book’s coauthors, for instance, is a husband and
father of three children, has written twelve books, gives seventy-five to one
hundred lectures per year, and has an active private practice in
psychiatry.  The book is replete with
hard-earned nuggets of clinical wisdom, based in important part on the
day-to-day work of Hallowell and Ratey, in the demanding trenches of clinical
practice.  Quite a few fragments of true
stories are interestingly and informatively grafted into the textual body, thus
imbuing the text with the great power of sobering truths drawn from real
life.  This wonderful book is a brightly
shining beacon of hope for persons with ADD as well as an invaluable
contribution to the burgeoning medical scientific literature relating to ADD.

  
The book’s forty-three chapters are very strongly supported by an
unshakeable foundation of infectious optimism and hope.  And, congruently, over the course of these
many chapters, Hallowell and Ratey, overall, do a excellent job of explaining,
in terms tilted steeply towards practical, rather than theoretical, aspects of
ADD, how persons, with ADD, can optimize their lives.  True to the book’s practical focused roots, only carefully
measured doses of academic language are injected into the textual corpus.  Indeed, the book, stylistically, has been
brewed using a predominantly plain English. 
In a related vein, prospective readers are forewarned that they may be
happily drenched by the emotional intensity soaking the pages of the text.

  
The gamut of particular topics falling within the reach of the net of
Hallowell and Ratey is wide.  Tests of
brain function, bipolar disorder, the dyslexic brain, knotty genetic roots
possibly entangled with ADD, and environmental related factors which may be
tied to ADD are some of the areas covered, within the over arching context of
diagnosing ADD.  In the kindred realm of
treatment, potential interlinkages binding ADD and nutrition, omega-3 fatty
acids, physical and mental variants of exercise extending to cerebellar
stimulation, stimulant medications and nonstimulants, the phenomena of
"spinning" and "SLIDE-ing", and intrafamily tension (the
"big struggle") possibly associated with ADD are some of the
engrossing, treatment centric strands craftily knitted together by the skilled
hands of  intellectual artisans
Hallowell and Ratey.

  
Critics may carp that the anecdotal snippets which suffuse the textual
body deplete, at least to some degree, its academic strength and scientific
discipline; and that the manner of writing, of Hallowell and Ratey, is tinged
with a palpable measure of seeming indifference to academic formality.   Moreover, even though Hallowell and Ratey
exuberantly proffer a panoply of ideas, germane to the diagnosis and treatment
of ADD, which may evince plausibility, there is no acceptable substitute for
solid scientific research, and it is simply not known, at this time, whether
the postulations of Hallowell and Ratey will meet the exacting demands of
unfolding scientific data and scrutiny, tethered to ADD.

  
This reviewer’s trenchantly held view, however, is that the assiduous
efforts, of Hallowell and Ratey warrant praise.  The multitude of subjects have impressively and instructively
resulted in the constructing of a roadmap, designed very helpfully for persons
with ADD aspiring to navigate the challenging labyrinth of life and to optimize
the quality of their lives.  The body of
medical scientific research on ADD is far from being fully developed, and is
being fed, on an ongoing basis, vital morsels of significant new information,
such a roadmap, if it is to retain its timeliness, must necessarily be
periodically reworked.

 Readers intent on learning about ADD, perhaps especially if they
approach the book with open mindedness accompanied, as well, by traditional scientific
skepticism, will likely be quite enriched 
by the multitudinous insights, suggestions, and  ideas offered by Hallowell and Ratey.

The body of prospective readers who
may profit greatly, in an intellectual sense, from the book’s immense richness,
is actually quite expansive, and extends to: child and adult psychiatrists,
psychologists and neuropsychologists, neuroscientists, general and
developmental pediatricians, pediatric neurologists, internists, family
practitioners, geneticists, nutritionists, and social workers.

©
2006 Leo Uzych

Leo Uzych (based in Wallingford, PA) earned a law
degree, from Temple University; and a master of public health degree, from
Columbia University.  His area of
special professional interest is healthcare. 

Categories: SelfHelp, MentalHealth