- John Rosemond — writes syndicated newspaper columns and books on parenting. His style is about using the power differential to control children and seems out of the 40’s and maybe a little sadistic at times. He recently had a column denying the existence of ADHD. I wrote a letter to the editor:
“John Rosemonds‘s column against ADHD is full of dangerous misinformation and bad advice. He denies the existence of a well proven serious disorder which usually responds well to treatment. An out of date far right conservative, Rosemond advertises himself as a psychologist, although he does not have a PhD. He is a licensed psychological advisor in North Carolina. Parents would do well to avoid his columns as would the New Mexican.
Douglas A Puryear MD
Psychiatrist, Santa Fe, New Mexico
ADHDer
Possibly Rosemond’s approach is good for a particular combination of parent type and child type, but there is no excuse for his attack on ADHD.
2. Genetic Testing to Choose Medication
This holds great promise, but my reading is that it is not ready for clinical use. It will sometimes predict which medicines are most likely to cause a person side effects, but that alone isn’t very useful.
Strategies:
1.Hold onto your wallet.
2. Write letters to the editor (within limits).
doug
Notice that the links in favor of genetic testing are from companies selling the test, not scientific studies.
Personal Notes O the Day:
- In my opinion, there are a lot of people out there trying to get a hold of your money.
- Some parents say they spank children to teach them respect. I was spanked, a lot. It taught me some things. Respect was not one of them.
- Some people say that they were spanked and it didn’t harm them . How would they know?
- My letter sparked several more letters complaining about Rosemond and a couple endorsing him, tho not his ADHD denial.
- Please always scroll all the way down to see the comments (I love the comments). And please check post 945, the previous one, and offer suggestions to Joan. Thanks.
ADHD causes confusion
ADHD Meds
You think What about ADHD ?!?
ADDadultstrategies 
Love your remarks! And all the little comeback stickies, or are they little posters or …? Whatever they are, they’re good. Sincerely yours, Liz
On Mon, Mar 8, 2021 at 6:10 PM ADDadultstrategies wrote:
> doug with ADHD posted: ” John Rosemond — writes syndicated newspaper > columns and books on parenting. His style is about using the power > differential to control children and seems out of the 40’s and maybe a > little sadistic at times. He recently had a column denying the e” >
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lisa
my apologies. i thought I’d replied, but my whole blogging thing is messed up. either I missed it or this is a duplicate. Anyway, thank you so much for the support. made my day. the stickies i think you mean are the images, or memes, from various places on the net.
thank you for commenting
best wishes
doug
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Good one!😍
Sent from my iPad
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Doug — thanks for this. I’m writing a second book on ADHD (I wrote a tiny book “Help for Women with ADHD: My Simple Strategies for Conquering Chaos” and am trying to come up with a short few sentences people can memorize to say when someone says they don’t believe in ADHD.
Any suggestions anyone? I know so much about ADHD and I should be able to easily write these simple sentences to both educate the ignorant and defend us when we meet people who don’t know anything about it, but I keep avoiding getting to it!
thanks,
Joan
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joan- i wrote a recent post on options to respond to the deniers, “goodbye” is probably my favorite. but I didnt say much about how to make one small effort to educate without getting tangled in a fruitless argument. Maybe “I wish it didnt exist, because it causes me a lot of trouble, but you might find some interesting information if you google it.” (probably soon followed by, “goodbye”.)
but i am hoping you get some more ideas from our tribe here.
good luck with your new book.
best wishes
doug
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This is a great idea! what comes to mind for me is something a bit sneakier than I an comfortable with, but it keeps turning up.
“Oh, so your personal opinion counts as much as the experiences of millions, over decades, and negates hundreds of studies done my trained professionals?”
I know there is a less offensive way to say it, perhaps more succinct too?
Also, I don’t really know the numbers I was tossing out, though logically, they make sense to me.
I think you are SO right in attempting this. Like when the phrase ”I’m sorry for your loss” suddenly appeared, and millions of people had a decent response to another’s tragic loss. We, who go blank, or into overload, can really benefit from a simple, yet accurate response.
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not sneaky!! Snarkier! s.n.a.r.k.i.e.r.
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Nothing wrong with a good snarky remark every now and again when warranted.
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dear dough, thank you for your posts – I have already wasted too much time on people like mr. rosemond and dr. amen
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gert-
some of the hucksters are persuasive, so we need to be alert and cautious. i don’t read rosemond anymore – ugh.
thank you for contributing
best wishes
doug
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I have ADHD and so do all 5 of my son’s. They enjoyed fighting. I decided it didn’t make sense to hit them for hitting each other. I told them we are a non-violent household. We would have love circles (group hugs). They hated that because it made them feel silly. It worked!
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Susan
brilliant!
i believe that rosemond advocates spanking but i’m not sure. i used to read his disturbing columns but not anymore, but his headline attacking ADHD caught my eye.
thank you for contributing.
best wishes
doug
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Thank you for addressing this man’s uninformed opinion. He, and others of his ilk, seem to think nothing of causing lasting damage in already less than ideal situations that we ADHDers face. This persistent denial of decades of concentrated research can completely derail someone from adequately addressing their ADHD. Additionally, this type of proclamation bolsters those folks who like to bully us, the ones who criticize us, and the ones who shame us. I am sick and tired of feeling randomly attacked when I reveal my ADD. It is nothing short of rude, hurtful, and damaging. I started out with a double whammy of shame, and frankly do not appreciate being triggered by someone with an inflated view of their own intelligence. And, some high handed loud mouth has no right to treat me poorly, or you poorly, or those poor folks who are recently diagnosed. Your advocacy is greatly appreciated, my fellow ADHDer. thanks again.
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I guess I don’t really know if the guy actually is a high handed loud mouth. Actually, is that even a thing? High handed loud mouth… Sounds like I made that up in the heat of my defensive moment! My apologies, I hit it a little hard! But the rest of my rant stays! Ahem… ’nuff said!
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mag
i think you may have nailed it. creative.
thank you for contributing this.
best wishes
doug
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mags
right on! we combat stigma when we speak up, not to change their opinions but to show how many of us there are and that we are not ashamed.
thank you for your contribution
best wishes
doug
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