Disability-and-Health Books

While the author does possess that oh so important journalistic flair (which is why I haven't given this book a single-star), he lacks any sort of proper scientific perspective. The issue has been all but settled amongst medical circles while only a small percent of fringe doctors view mercury in vaccines as the cause of any sort of autism. That's all I've got to say on this text of pseudo-scientific yellow journalism.

This book is amazing. Packed full of information, not boring whatsoever! I cant put it down. Also its written in plain english with footnotes and resoursces so you can verify the information Highly recommend

Since mercury is still present Nov 2008) in some vaccines, this book is essential reading for anyone who uses vaccines for themselves or their children. With an objective eye, reporter David Kirby presents both sides of the mercury-in-vaccine controversy so you can understand each side and see their motivations, experiences and reasoning before making up your own mind. The book is a skillfully told tale of mysteries and secrets, cross-purposes and showdowns. It is a story of passion, determination and struggle on both sides of the fence. It's an interesting, enlightening, and amazing read.

I think this book does a good job of trying to account for both sides of the issue (the author states in the opening section that he still believes the vaccine program is the most important public health initiative). But you cannot overlook the disturbing governmental and pharma coverups for the sake of saving face and benefiting billions of dollars respectively. What these poor parents have suffered with their children and the children themselves! It is no wonder the public has a serious trust issue with the vaccine program as it stands even today.

I don't like how it was written. Very hard to read. I expected more facts rather then a story line. The book makes it hard to focus on the facts because your flipping back and forth between 10 different families and their stories. However, the information provided it very useful. Lots of research and facts. Very interesting.

Lucy's story is a compelling one. Being faced with cancer at a young age is difficult. Being subjected to the treatments is difficult. Adding to that having your face changed in that manner and being able to work through it was a remarkable feat and took strength.

It is a book that helps put many things in our life in perspective in both what we think are events and circumstances that are "too much" to handle when on reflection they are well within being nothing more than a minor annoyance and how we relate to and judge others. It also shows how strong people can be.

The descriptions of what she went through and had to endure are detailed and disturbing and at times extremely unsettling. It still winds up as ultimately being a postive book, albeit sad.

Books about dealing with and/or surviving cancer number in the thousands, as do their recurrent themes of life affirmation, love and mortality. However, none are so concentrated on self-acceptance and the value of physical beauty as renowned poet Lucy Grealy's 1994 memoir "Autobiography of a Face".

Grealy's memoir traces her life from early childhood all the way to her college years and tracks the painful progression, recovery and aftermath of her illness. Grealy was afflicted with Ewing's sarcoma, a rare cancer that is found in the bones or soft tissues. Only six years old when a malignancy began forming in her jaw and nine when she was officially diagnosed, Lucy underwent several procedures as a result, including a radical surgery that ended up disfiguring her jaw. While most girls her age were whispering of their first crushes on the playground, Lucy was frequenting Columbia Presbyterian Hospital and undergoing radiation and chemotherapy treatments, an excruciating process that robbed her of a normal childhood. Plagued by severe nausea, vomiting and extreme fatigue, Lucy lost a significant amount of weight as well as all of her hair. Barely surfing her teens, she was faced with the fragility of her mortality and the weird and embarrassing notion of wigs to cover her naked scalp, concepts to which a healthy pre-teen girl barely gives a thought. Grealy would go through almost thirty operations to reconstruct her face until finally a recommendation from her sister to Dr. Oliver Fenton in Scotland gave her a small semblance of her life back.

Grealy dealt for many years with a warped sense of self, the image reflected in mirrors and her own perceptions of people's reactions to her a platform for severe depression and a depleted self-esteem. The taunts and stares from classmates only made things worse and Lucy got little respite from her misery save for her many retreats to the hospital and her recovery times from numerous surgeries. She says of her physical countenance, "When I tried to imagine being beautiful, I could only imagine living without the perpetual fear of being alone, without the great burden of isolation, which is what feeling ugly felt like." (pg. 177) Grealy more than demonstrates through her retrospection that American culture is utterly consumed by the distortion of female beauty and as a result young girls continuously and methodically fall prey to low self-esteem, poor body image, eating disorders and drug addiction.

Though she found solace in her friendships in college and her work as a writer and poet, Grealy harbored many demons and her problems with substance abuse began with codeine, a painkiller she purposely abused to numb her mind and body. What is not documented here is her eventual dependence and abuse of OxyContin, a painkiller with such a euphoric power that it eventually opened a door to heroin. Grealy met a dark end at the age of 39, her ongoing drug addictions and her underlying depression resulting in an accidental overdose and her subsequent death in December of 2002.

One of the most valuable messages to take from Grealy's memoir is that far too many of us seek perfection on the outside while the inside is forgotten, left behind and veiled by a decorative shell deemed acceptable by society. While the vast majority of us bemoan our dimpled thighs, our cellulite-ridden derriers, our small breasts and sagging complexions, Grealy merely longed for a life unblemished by physical and emotional disfigurement. Too often we need to be reminded of how lucky we truly are and Grealy's poignant and personal account is a significant paradigm for the masses.

Bottom line: A mournful but gripping chronicle of transcendent suffering, "Autobiography Of A Face" will echo long after the grave silencing of Grealy's voice.

Lucy Grealy tells a beautiful story in the autobiography titled Autobiography of a Face. The story begins positively with Lucy's migration from Ireland to the United States with her parents and two obnoxious brothers. Her brother's were disgusted with the American culture while Lucy embraced it. Life seemed to be going extremely well for Lucy until one day at recess. She collided with another student in the middle of recess. She experienced constant excruciating pain in her mouth afterward. The doctors diagnosed her tooth primarily. Once the pain continued and the doctors looked deeper, they found a much larger problem. Lucy had accumulated bone cancer in her jaw. The late detection of the tumor caused difficulty in treatment. The options were so limited that Lucy's face was to endure the worst side effect. The book talks about how Lucy spends the rest of her life in inner turmoil with herself. She loses a lot of self confidence at an early age and even attempts suicide at the age of 30. Lucy talks about how she spent a lot her life hiding, whether it was in the horse barn or in the guidance counselor's office during lunch. It isn't until later in life that Lucy grasps the true meaning of beauty and can live in peace.
I thought the book was extremely well written and definitely enjoyed it. Lucy Grealy's perspective gives a very personal account that intrigues the reader. It had more of an emotional aspect opposed to an informative one. I did however learn a lot about tissue transfer to the face that I didn't know before. When reading the story, you can truly feel Lucy's pain. My favorite part was when she talked about how she reached a point of realization that she was in her sickness alone. She talked about how even though she had so much support around her, she would have to overcome the disease physically and emotionally entirely alone. Once Lucy was able to get over this aspect, she was able to manage her sickness.
I'm glad I picked Autobiography of a Face because it gave me a different outlook on cancer. I had always thought of cancer as a difficult disease, but I had always assumed with such great awareness and technology the treatment was an easy road. The book talked about how when you are first diagnosed everyone comes running to the rescue. It talked about how the months after the shock are actually the hardest. Once everyone is over the shock and moving on with their lives, you are left alone. With the treatment being so expensive Lucy's parents were forced to go back to work. You always think that cancer patients have so much attention and so many people helping them through things. I related this to when my grandmother had cancer. I remember everyone coming to her rescue in the first few months she was diagnosed. After she began treatment and things seemed to be getting better,Grandma fell of the radar. After reading the book, I regret not calling Grandma in the later months that could've been her hardest.

As a child, it is normal to be self-conscious and to examine ones every flaw, even if they appear perfect to others. The world will always hold things better than one's own, and there will always be ways to be envious of others in the search to be perfect or at least "normal."
Diagnosed with Ewing's Sarcoma, a cancer that quickly pecked away at her jaw, Lucy Grealy reveals the internal struggle in all of us to be accepted and loved. Leading the reader into an open-minded yet naïve nine year olds diagnosis, Lucy weaves a spider web of emotions with her language as she grows, and as her jaw shrinks. The reader soon becomes engulfed in a world of hospitals, a child's mind, and a scarred and grafted confidence. In one hospital stay, she describes the cries and movements of Beagles in a testing lab; "desperation saturated the room in those loud, whining cries pacing back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. I was overwhelmed," (Grealy. 51). As I started to become entangled in reading that scene, I became her, clenching her body tightly as she walked down the endless rows of cages.
Grealy artfully sews each chapter of her adolescence into an enthralling memoir, with small, unforgettable memories and obscure details. Instead of cringing at what was to come, she explored it with the tenacity and curiosity of an adolescent. She weaves metaphors and recalls times in which her growing mind went astray. For instance, during radiation treatment, Lucy explains that after she had been told to take a breath, "...as deeply as I could, almost always thinking about a movie I'd seen, a maritime disaster in which the hero had to swim a long distance underwater in order to save everyone else. I held my breath along with him..." (Grealy, 71). Although, hidden underneath these dark, yet clever statements was a person struggling with being not physically "up-to-par" with society's standards. Lucy matures in the novel, and in one later chapter, she elucidates the reality of how self-conscious she really was. Leaving an imprint in how I look at myself, she "...started focusing on the upcoming date, believing that my life would finally get started once I had the face I was `supposed' to have," (Grealy, 179). When she states that, I felt a pang through my own teenage angst. She believed that she could never accept her face, and that no one would unless it was socially acceptable. Lucy Grealy pries open the secret fears in all of us, as she leads a life seeking to just be out of the shadows of society's ignorance.

Lucy Grealy's memoir, Autobiography of a Face follows her story of a young girl starting at about age ten and her struggle with dealing with serious cancer that infected her jaw and the painful surgery that reconstructs her face. Her writing is poetic like and pretty. I was also very amused and found many parts of her writing funny. "I wasn't particularly thrilled with the wired-shut [broken jaw] part, but I was too involved with the idea of venturing off to a hospital emergency room to think much about it. My two absolute favorite programs television programs were Emergency and Medical Center" (20). Grealy manages to keep a pretty light tone throughout her memoir considering her the serious situation that followed most of her life. Her humor kept me chuckling to myself throughout most of the book, even through more serious parts.
That's not to say that at times I did not feel her heartbreaking emotions at certain points in this overall sad novel. "Outside of school I'd catch adults staring at me all the time. I played games with them in stores, positioning myself just so...and trap them as they averted their embarrassed stares. Groups of boys were what I most feared, I ducked into an empty doorway..." (141). When I read this passage I truly felt horrible for Lucy. Throughout the memoir I felt bad for everything her cancer put her through, all the hospital visits and weakening medicine and treatments she went on. But for some reason this passage was truly heart wrenching for me because I saw all the precaution steps and methods she had for just dealing with just a simple trip to a drugstore and walk down a school hallway.
I think that one of the main reasons Lucy wrote this novel was to show that even through her obviously hard and painful battle with cancer, Lucy had a truly exciting and lively life. All though she spent a lot of her childhood in hospitals she still is vibrant and young. She definitely gets her message across that she was a survivor at heart.

You Mean I'm Not Lazy, Stupid or Crazy?! is an all right book for anyone wishing to learn how to deal with AADD or even find out if they do have one, but I could have found out the same by reading some pamphlet from the doctor's office and saved myself the time. Somehow, I think the book is too fluffy, circular, and long-winded, and it almost keeps going back to the old saying, "Seek mental therapy." Yeah, but mental therapy isn't for everyone, and sometimes, it doesn't help. I discovered the anecdotes/vignettes offered by the book to be confusing and jumping in a back-and-forth mode since I was asking myself, "Are we talking about the same person or a different person? Or are we talking about you as the author having this experience?" Apart from that, the seeing-the-positive-side didn't work effectively well enough, and then the authors go back to the same cycle in the following chapters. From time to time, they put the episodes and/or examples well enough into words. Chapter 13 of the book touching on organization is a total waste of time and too excessive that I mostly skipped it. There are many parts of You Mean I'm Not Lazy, Stupid or Crazy?! that are also meandering that I kept being tempted to skimp through. When the authors introduced the drugs, they seem to be saying, "Yes, you should be on drugs. I think you should take this one and with this much of dose." Pretty dangerous, I must say, coming from the two who aren't even M.D.s. All in all, You Mean I'm Not Lazy, Stupid or Crazy?! is not a great book yet not too horrible. It just doesn't help but rather points out the symptoms just like how any ordinary AADD pamphlet would do. Another thing I found the book disappointing is the unclear demarcation between AADD and other disorders such as autism and Asperger's. Pretty much the bottom line of the disorder, as the book says, is that you need to get professional help. If that's the case, why buy the book in the first place? Exactly. I am very reluctant in recommending the book to anyone else who might be suffering the same thing.

This book was given to me a s a gift from my ex-wife as a gift when I got re-married. She said it would help me keep this one, and she was right! I've sonce re-purchased the book many times to help friends with adult A.D.D. learn to survive and turn this misunderstood disorder into a strength, if not at least teaching them to live and work well with others.

I bought this book because I'm always looking for solutions to the problem, not just diagnosis of the problem. This is a very practical, pragmatic, reality based book. With every issues mentioned for ADD, the author gives ways to address it to help the one dealing with ADD. I learned things I did not know, such as the issues dealing with time/space and why this occurs. This is a must read for anyone with ADD or who lives in the same house with an ADD member. Tons of information - once you begin to read, you can't put it down.

This book is great. I now realize what my problem was when I was younger. Everything is finally making sense. It is a great book for people that have ADD people as friends, family and partners to learn what the life is like for a person dealing with ADD.
Really glad I purchased the book. You should too.

this book is nothing but useless fillers. There might be a few acceptable solutions offered somewhere at the end, but you have to look for them hard, because every more or less valuable thought is wrapped into pages and pages of meaningless and boring banalities. In addition to countless personal stories, the book will offer you such "priceless" suggestions like to check the costs of your treatment in case if you're uninsured (wow. thanks!) Imagine 440 pages of that.

I have 2 teenagers, my son has Down syndrome and autism. My typical daughter has had a history of bowel problems from one extreme to the other since she was born, and has had a constant headache for many years.
Doctors have never managed an accurate diagnosis or offered a solution or rx that worked. It has been a long frustrating battle. I read this book thinking I would learn more about my son's conditions. What I learned was what my daughter's problems were about! After years of going to doctor after doctor, I figure out her diagnosis by reading this book! None of those drs were even close!
I was familiar with alot of the information in this book, having been dealing & researching on my son's conditions for 17 yrs. But this book was the key that opened the door to room full of knowledge that I had only previously been peering through a window at! It has been the most helpful and insightful book I have read on my childrens conditions. I took my daughter to the specialist who my son sees and my diagnosis was confirmed with a full range of lab tests.
I am so grateful to have found this book. Finally, answers to my questions, and solutions to our problems! I highly recomend this book! I even bought a copy for our pediatrician!
DeDee Walker

I LIKE THE STYLE OF THIS BOOK. The author keeps it interesting. Its a good Guide. I have a child with Autism and I am starting to use all the interventional approaches and have had blood tests etc for my son and he does need to eliminate certain foods. I have tried supplements and they has shown a positive result. Its all very exciting as I feel that my finger is on the button and I know that if I do certain things my severely autistic child will improve.
Science is very exciting right now on their discoveries and that doesnt just include autism, but aspergers, learning disabilities, asthma, eczema, ADHD, plus supplements are helping alkzeimers, etc. Just visit the Autism Research Institute to find out more information and studies etc.

This is an excellent book with a lot of good detailed information. I like the way the author discusses multiple approaches and views to the treatment of ASD disorders. I can tell she has a lot of experience with treatments in this area.

This is the first book I read when my son was diagnosed at age 3 and I'm so glad I did. Although there are many great books about various therapies available (and I do think therapy is important), the medical problems autistic children have are very real, and with proper treatment can greatly improve their outcome. The GFCF diet is essential and the book explains the science behind it. Read this with an open mind. It may not be a cure for everyone but if you want to do the most you possibly can for your autistic child this will start you in the right direction.

I've just started the GFCF diet, and an attempt to understand what goes on with future treatment, and this book is great!!!

No doubt, Dr. Dalrymple's experiences make for compelling, albeit voyaristic reading about life in one small region of lower class England. It's tempting to find in this book some comforting reinforcement for preconceived notions about poverty and crime.

However tempting that is, I think it is wrong. What's needed for Dalrymple's work to represent a broader slice of the population is for him to actually study and measure what it is that concerns him.

The plural of anecdote is not data, which are the result of measurements and observations. And it takes data, placed into context to make them understandable, to form information - the basis for knowledge.

Is this a gay book - "life at the bottom?" I'm only kidding. I'm black and I don't understand why this English auther has only pictures of white folks on the cover, as if they the only ones who have problems. Why don't they have at least ONE black man on the cover? Or woman? We the experts on strive and trouble.

"Life At the Bottom" is a series of thoughtful essays based upon the experiences of a psychiatrist who works in a hospital serving the British "underclass" as well as serving inmates within prison.

Dalrymple demonstrates through real-life anecdotes what bureaucrats, the judicial system, and idealistic armchair generals deny -- namely, that government policies which reward irresponsibility make life worse -- not better -- for the truly underprivileged.

Being soft on crime means more victims of crime; punishing those who try to progress (out of poverty) -- while rewarding those who milk the system -- trap those who would otherwise rise out of the underclass. Rewarding the guilty punishes the innocent.

Dalrymple's essays deal with everything from gambling to the layout of government housing, from bureaucrats who look the other way to police officers who are instructed to let crimes less than murder go unattended. He addresses tattoos, violence, living in fear, drug and alcohol addictions, and the mentality of living for the moment. I especially appreciated the chapter titled, "The Knife Went In." This explains how criminals view their horrendous acts passively -- as though these things happened without their consent. Enlightening.

As an American, I can see how the British system (unaffected by the American "Reagan Revolution") advanced along the direction of the American mentality of the 1960's and 70's. While America slowed that course and began to hold people more responsible for their behavior and cracked down on crime, Britain went the other way. This is not to say the U.S. has broken free from such liberal mentalities (based upon the idea that criminals are merely misfortunate and cannot help their lot), but rather that the U.S. offers competing viewpoints that are given equal time in the media and even somewhat in academia.

An enlightening book, an interesting read, and especially well-written. Dalrymple's pithy observations leave the reader thinking, "Of course! Why can't everyone see this?"

Life at the Bottom reminds me, in many ways, of Down and Out in Paris and London. It is an author looking at the lower classes from a fairly intimate and not academic view. Like Orwell's book there's not a ton of sociological jargon or academic noodling. That makes the book extremely readable but it also limits it to being a bit more anecdotal than far reaching.

The author is just dripping in self-righteousness. He places 100% of the blame for bad situations on the decisions the poor have made. He shows no grace or empathy. His observations aren't necessarily wrong- but he extends his assumptions to everyone in the same situation.

This is how he explains that abused women choose to be abused:
"At first, of course, my female patients deny that the violence of their men was foreseeable. But when I ask them whether they think I would have recognized it in advance, the great majority- nine out of ten- reply, yes, of course. And when asked how they think I would have done so, they enumerate precisely the factors that would have led me to that conclusion. So their blindess is willful." P40

These sorts of explanations are given for all different types of ailments of the impoverished.

I am a 23 year old adult living with ADHD. In a nutshell, if you are someone who has questions about ADHD, or you are someone who was diagnosed but never given any information, this book is a must read. Even for those knowledgable about their disorder, this book is a great guidebook. For more info, read on :)

When I was a kid, this wasn't something that was talked about much, therefore I lived my life as "that" kid (the hyper, aggressive kid that was somehow so loving and sweet; the kid that never did her homework and failed classes, yet teachers claimed was so amazingly intelligent and above-average; the kid that was goofy, creative, and who everyone loved, yet was controlling and stubborn.)

It wasn't until I was 22 and in my 6th year of college with 2 more to go (that's ADHD for you) that I picked this book up. I always knew something wasn't right; I was diagnosed with depression, bipolar disorder, and struggled with bulimea. When I read this book, on a whim, I literally felt as if I had found "god". It was as if a little man crawled in to my head, and wrote a book about my life.

The authors of this book write it catered to the ADHD adult. The text is broken up in to easy-to-read paragraphs with illustrations and stories and fun lists thrown in sparatically. I found myself laughing hysterically at the -isms that are such a part of my life, and crying with comfort when I read about the same struggles I have always dealt with and never had an answer for (did you know ADHD is often misdiagnosed as depression, and even bipolar disorder?! Or that ADHDers often have severe addictions such as drugs or FOOD?!). I lent this book to my friend (who has been aware of his ADHD for atleast 15 years of his life, and has taken Ridalyn for at least 10) and he was dumbfounded. This man is 35, and has struggled with ADHD his whole life He was diagnosed in college, given Ridalyn, and has been working on his struggles ever since. However, he is one of the many who was diagnosed with ADHD but never given any true informaton on the disorder. ADHD is so, so much more than hyperactivity and inattention. It is an entire personality type, which the author of this book describes so beautifully.

In sum, if you have questions about weather you have ADHD, or are someone who was diagnosed but never given any information, this book is for you. I am aware that there are some people who understand their disorder already, and may need something a little more in-depth. But no matter who you are, if you live with ADHD or live with someone who has ADHD, this book is a great, informative, fun read and will surely serve as a guidebook to your life.

Enjoying this book. It's helping a lot with coping with ADD. Glad I purchased it (and all the other one's by this guy!

I have really enjoyed both of the books I have read by Dr. Hallowell. I first read "Driven to Distraction" and then followed it with "Delivered from Distraction". For parents who are trying to help their children with solutions in dealing with ADHD, they were particularly useful!

Sent this book to my daughter as she is adhd, and she was enthralled with the info it contained and I think helped her in many ways...she found it valuable to her in many areas she said.

This is a very difficult read because it was very boring. The author's...seemed to go and on before getting to the point. They also recommend a lot of tests which I am sure is very expensive. They also want you to see a number of people to help diagnose you. They seem to be into taking a lot of supplements. Some I agree but for the most part not. The part about piles is called not add but hoarders disorder. People who have ADD should not write books. The book was very general. I got very little out of it.

Alphabet Kids is a good resource especially if you are a parent with a child who has mental health issues and/or physical disabilities and you would like a basis from where to start your research. Of course, it isn't all encompassing, but it gives you the highlights of the informations you need, in an orderly fashion. Alphabet Kids is also good for individuals working in social service agencies that provide assistance for kids with mental and physical challenges.

What a great book. I've never written a review before, but I feel like I have to spread the word on this important book. I just received Alphabet Kids for Christmas and I have not been able to put it down. It is fascinating on so many levels: it is incredibly informative and it is a general interesting read like Oliver Sacks's books. The best part is I can get rid of all my other books on this wide and varied subject and just use this as a roadmap. As a former school psychologist and parent of four kids-some of whom are alphabet kids, it is stunning how all of these disorders are getting more prevalent and more and more of our children are becoming Alphabet Kids. What I like best in this book is the riveting introduction where the author talks about how all of these disorders are interconnected, how they are diagnosed and often misdiagnosed, and how girls are so often misdiagnosed. The personal case histories of these remarkable children and the descriptions of all of the disorders and how it is laid out in such a reader friendly way makes this book indispensable. The signs and symptom lists are incredible. The amount of research appears to be massive. My New Year's resolution is to get this book into the hands of every school teacher, administrator and child specialists. For parents like me, it is a no-brainer. Alphabet Kids is invaluable.

I am a retired teacher and I wish I had had this book when I needed it. Not only are Woliver's high quality entries well organized, but his insights into approaching these problems are invaluable. This book should be on every professional bookshelf as well as in the hands of parents no matter what the ages or stages of their children.

Alphabet Kids is a godsend. It is an accessible guide, yet, has substantive information for everyone. This book helped me tremendously, both personally and professionally, in my quest to gain acceptance of the critical challenges we all share in the face of illness. This is the best book out there. It was just what I needed to gain deeper knowledge of the struggles of Alphabet Kids, parents, and caretakers.

After 36 years of teaching I am still excited to find resources in the market place that I can use to expand my knowledge and benefit the students in my classroom. ALPHABET KIDS From ADD to Zellweger Syndrome is one of those must have resource and reference books for every teachers' personal library.
Every classroom teacher can benefit from Robbie Wolivers guide to Developmental, Neurobiological and Psychological Disorders for Parents and Professionals. The information presented for each disorder is in a format that allows for quick access of the material. It is compiled in section subtitles: Sounds Familiar, Did You Know? Signs and Symptoms, Cause, Diagnosis, Treatment, Prognosis and Sources and Resources. This repeated organization for each disorder makes the reading very clear. The real-life accounts presented for each disorder underscores the need for ALPHABET KIDS, so parents and teachers can help with the challenges that face their children and students.
ALPHABET KIDS will be the book I will recommend to the parents-caregivers of those children in need in my classroom.

My doctor required that I read this book. And I am so glad that I bought it. After suffering with this for nearly 10 years I know that my doctor and I are on the right path. I feel hope for the first time in a very long time. Educate yourself because you are the best person to advocate for you. This book will really make that job easier.

If you have Fibromyalgia and want answers to any questions and most of all help from a Doctor who has Fibromyalgia this is the book for you. Written in everyday easy to understand terms. God Bless him it has changed my life from on deaths door to feeling that at 41 I might live many more years!

I am so happy with the amount of imformation provided in these books. I am struggling with chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia, among other things, and it's so incredible to have this kind of support.

I bought my mother this book as she was frightened and depressed at what was happening to her. This book and armed with one other, she was able to take charge of her life, get her energy back, started exercising, and soon she had a new lease on life and is still working on it. I applaud the writer of this great book. My mother thanks you and so do I.

This is the best book I have ever read about Chronic Fatigue. There is so much useful information, and step-by-step directions to heal yourself. He talks about which supplements and/or prescriptions are helpful, and the recommended doses. He also provides free information on his website, including some great lectures.

I haven't read all of this book but what I have read has been very helpful. I highly recommend it to anyone with a child with ADHD. Good luck.

A refreshing look at the symptoms of ADHD. The book makes a convincing case for a drug-free treatment of learning disabilities. The author seems well informed and is very helpful with answering any concerns a reader may have, A must read for parents with children who have a difficult time with school work.

We tried the approach in this book out of sheer desperation. We have two teenagers, one with ADD and one with ADHD. Over a period of 3 years, we had tried every medication available, with marginal results. The meds did help, but they felt like a bandaid on a gaping wound. The dosage we ended up with was too low to really do the job, yet we couldn't go higher and risk more weight loss or slowed growth -- at 14, my daughter was 4'6" and weighed only 62 pounds, and I suspected the meds were keeping her from entering puberty as well. I began searching for an alternative and found Dr. Weathers' book.

Reading his book, I began to feel hope for the first time that maybe we really didn't have to live with this forever. His theories made sense to me, and I saw my kids in them. Admittedly, the book isn't of much practical help by itself. It helps you understand your child, but you can't really implement the theories without going for his treatment. The good news, though, is that the treatment WORKS! We were desperate enough for a solution that we tried it, and it's the best decision we ever made.

It's hard to believe that four days can make such a difference. The kids have now been off their meds for 5 months and we don't miss them in the least. They have each gained 20 pounds, and neither of them exhibits the hyper, distractible behavior that led us to try the meds to begin with. In fact, their behavior, schoolwork, and social interactions are under much better control than they ever were with the meds. I highly recommend Dr. Weathers' book, and I even more highly recommend a trip to Spokane! You won't regret it!

Our son Kyle was diagnosed with ADD in April of 2006. Kyle was in the first grade when we started noticing his behavior with his work. Kyle could not sit still in the classroom and was always very fidgety. You would find him sitting on one leg or tapping his pencil while doing his work. Kyle was very eager to do his work but never really seemed to focus on one particular thing that was going on. He was a very anxious child.
We started Kyle on Ritalin and the teacher saw a change in him instantly. However we also saw the change at home when he was coming off of his medicine. Kyle was not eating and he was very agressive at home toward his familiy. It would even take Kyle one to two hours a night to fall asleep after going to bed. We had a hard time doing homework with Kyle because he was very insistent that he was correct at all times. We ended first grade with Ritalin and used it when needed in the summer. August of 2006 we started Kyle back up again and noticed the same reactions as before. Once again, there was no reasoning with him.It was his way or nothing. September of the same year we switched his medicine to concert. Kyle took 18mg of concerta each morning before going to school. Kyle still continued to have behavior problems at home and was very tense with his studies at school. The medicine made Kyle almost to sadated that he could not be himself around his other peers. Kyle would always sit in the back of the group.
I started doing some research on the computer because my husband and I were certain that there had to be another way to deal with our son. I found Dr. WEathers book "ADHA A Path To Suces", and I started reading it. I am not much of a reader but this book was amazing. When I read the first page of the book, I could not wait to see what the rest of the book had in it. Dr. Weathers is the apple of our eye with our son. His book was all about what was going on in our sons life. As I would read the book, I would share what I had read to my husband and we could see that what he was saying was exactly what we were going through. My husband and I had hope again that we were on the path of finding someone to help make our son drug free.
When I finished the book, I got in contact with Dr. Weathers over e-mail and shared our stories and concerns about our son Kyle. Dr. Weathers replied back to us very quickly and told us he could help our son. We were filled with joy. We called Dr. WEathers and made an appointment with hime over Kyle's spring break.
Dr. Weathers met with us for three six hour treatmetns. It was very intense but a very rewarding three days. Our son Kyle has not been on medicine since March 13th, 2007. We still stay in contact with Dr. Weathers over e-mail and he continues to monitor the success of our son Kyle.
We asked his second grade teacher what kind of differences she saw in Kyle after our trip to Spokane. Her reply was this, "I love watching Kyle make a joke and laughing. He now knows what he is laughing and smiling about." Kyle is now his own person again, he is asleep in five minutes, and has a great appetite. Kyle has improved in all his grades at school and is still continuing to do so. Home life is great with Kyle and we could not ask for a better family. Thank you Lord for letting us fined Dr. Weathers.

I have never read such a load of garbage before encountering this book. If you go to this, (I hesitate to call him this) Doctor's, site you will notice he only accepts patients he is 100% certain he can help. After reading this swill, I can only conclude he accepts patients who he is 100% certain don't have a problem to begin with.
I'm left wondering what his advice would be to a person suffering from bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. "Your not suffering from psychosis! but rather an intricate emotional defense system that I can help you unravel! Oh, and please don't smoke around me I cant stand the way it smells, er I mean it will completely destroy my treatment for reasons I can't begin to explain!"

There is no greater educator or advocate for schizophrenia then Dr. Fuller Torrey. How he finds the time to write all the books that he does while being involved in research and advocacy is astounding but we are all the better for it. Surviving Schizophrenia is truly the bible on the topic of this disease which is thoroughly covered from A right through to Z.

Starting on P 362 (in my edition), he poses the question of whether someone should admit to having schizophrenia and tentatively says yes but with some qualifiers. While I agree with him that society is becoming more open, there is still considerable stigma and misunderstanding. Unfortunately, as I discuss in my own book Schizophrenia: Medicine's Mystery - Society's Shamemuch of that stigma can be found in the medical profession itself. Torrey, however, does recognize that being totally open is not always wise and provides some suggestions from psychologist Fred Frese (who has schizophrenia himself) on how to account for large gaps in one's time on a resume that might raise questions.

All of Torrey's books are necessary readings for anyone truly interested in trying to understand schizophrenia and for those of us who would like to see conditions improved.

Marvin Ross
Author of Schizophrenia: Medicine's Mystery - Society's Shame

Simply put -- this is just another misinterpretation of psychotic thought processes, guided by the overly simplistic medical model. If you need a pacifier, this will do. But in terms of advancing our knowledge of Schizophrenia and psychosis, Torrey presents an antiquated and unsophisticated book that sets us back about 20 years.

We found this book to be quite educational and overall very helpful. Having said that, in places it gives far more medical information than we could grasp / digest.

What an incredible resource!!! This truly is a book for consumers, providers, and families. As a provider, I learned some things that have given me a new way to look at my consumers and their treatment. It is also written in a way that makes it an invaluable resource to both individuals with Schizophrenia, and those close to them. I highly recommend this to anyone looking to learn more about Schizophrenia, it's possible origins, history, prognosis, treatments, and so much more.

This book has a little bit of everything... from history of schizophrenia to progresses in modern treatment. But for someone who wanted a greater insight into how I can better help a schizophrenic, it wasn't very helpful. For example, this book barely touches on how to get those afflicted with schizophrenia to take medication when they deny their illness and refuse their medication. How do you get them to see a doctor when they don't want to? How often should you go to the doctor? Also, how do you best communicate with schizophenics - do you tell them that the voices in their head and the evil man following them aren't real? When they insist they have telepathic powers, do I disagree and explain why it isn't so, shrug it off, or just indulge them? If they don't want to talk about it or deny they have schizophrenia, should I bring it up? How do you help those who tried to commit suicide and failed - should I ask why they did it? Is it safe to bring it up when they seem to have forgotten about the incident? Also, Dr. Torrey, at times, seemed more interested in making the book entertaining than being sensitive to this disease (such as using inappropriate punctuation marks or jumping to conclusions without explaining the factual basis). He also doesn't explain certain terms - such as insight psychotherapy (he explains why it's bad but I read the entire passage 3x but no explanation of what insight psychotherapy is). With the rave reviews, I expected more from this book. If anyone is aware of a book that addresses my questions above (and answers the question of how family members can help and better communicate with schizophrenics other than generically be "supportive", which is a given...), please let me know. I would appreciate a good recommendation.