A solid beginner's guide to ADD, but not really deep or expansive enough to be of great help in one's life. It also has a tendency to get boring with repetitive, simplistic stories that are almost all exactly the same about the people the author has helped. ( )

My son's psychiatrist recommended this book. He has a sub-type of ADHD which regular stimulant medication was only causing bad behavioral side-effects (increased obsessive behavior and explosive temper tantrums). This book based on research and PET scans of kids brains helped me understand why and deal with the ups and downs as we experimented with medication cocktails which would help him with his impulsiveness (under-stimulated parts of the brain) without over-stimulating the parts which were causing trouble (over-stimulated parts of the brain).

I'm giving this book a 'hard' review of less than 5-stars because there was one thing I really found myself wishing for and hope Dr. Amen will add it to the next revision of this book ... a synopsis at the end of each chapter with a list of symptoms to help you differentiate one of the six types of ADHD from one of the other six types outlined in this book. The case studies are excellent, but I was left looking at two types asking 'which one?' (In the end ... the mere fact it's a real physiological illness and not because I'm a bad parent wants to make me send Dr. Amen a dozen roses for writing this excellent book!)

If your kid has ADHD and isn't responding to Ritalin, buy this book! ( )