Hyperactivity Hoax

These numbers make some experts uneasy, because, like Sydney Walker III (psychiatrist and author of The Hyperactivity Hoax), they believe that Ritalin is a powerful and potentially addictive drug that masks symptoms without treating the disease and whose long-term effects on the brain are completely unknown. 1 Others, on the contrary, consider methylphenidate a mild stimulant that calms children and helps them concentrate. 

Sydney Walker III illustrates the difference between a symptom and a diagnosis in the following example from his book The Hyperactivity Hoax ... 

Walker III, Sydney. The Hyperactivity Hoax. How to Stop Drugging Your Child and Find Real Medical Help. New York St. Martin s Press, 1998, p. 249. 

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