Contributed by Lawrence Diller
The Healing Power of Play
Helping the traumatized child find safety againThe child therapist approaches the child who can't play by introducing play activities one step at the time. Read more
Pathologizing for Dollars
The rise of the ADHD diagnosisIn twenty-seven years as a behavioral pediatrician, I’ve asked more than 2,500 children, “Why are you here?” when evaluating them for... Read more
Bitter Pill
Ritalin and the Growing Influence of Big PharmaResearchers and practitioners alike have long been concerned that Ritalin use in childhood could lead to later drug abuse. But when a University of California... Read more
Running on Ritalin
Is It the Drug of Choice or the Drug of Convenience?It's midday at an elementary school in a comfortable American suburb. The lunch bell has just rung, and the kids are noisily pouring out of classrooms to enjoy... Read more
Lawrence Diller
Lawrence Diller, MD, is a behavioral/developmental pediatrician and family therapist. He has evaluated and treated more than 3,000 children and their families over the past 30 years. His book Running on Ritalin: A Physician Reflects on Children, Society and Performance in a Pill, published in 1998, was featured in a Time magazine cover story on Ritalin. He has also written Should I Medicate My Child? Sane Solutions for Troubled Kids With – And Without – Medication (2002) and The Last Normal Child: Essays on the Intersection of Kids, Culture and Psychiatric Drugs (2006).