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Backfired: Attention Deficit
- Narrated by: Leon Neyfakh, Arielle Pardes
- Length: 5 hrs and 32 mins
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Backfired: Attention Deficit
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Publisher's summary
ADHD may be the defining diagnosis of our time. According to the latest data, more than 10 percent of American children (that’s 7.1 million kids) have been diagnosed with ADHD. And the number of stimulant prescriptions for adults in their 30s has shot up nearly threefold since 2012, hitting 15.3 million in 2021. It’s increasingly common to hear people who haven’t been diagnosed at all say they’re “so ADHD,” as if it’s more of a personality trait—or a zodiac sign—than a medical condition. In recent years, this explosion in demand has combined with other factors—including federally mandated limits on production—to create a widespread stimulant shortage in the US.
In the second installment of Backfired, cohosts Leon Neyfakh and Arielle Pardes look at the unintended consequences of the ADHD industry and trace the surprising path that brought us here.
Backfired: Attention Deficit is the latest podcast from Prologue Projects, the award-winning team behind Slow Burn, Fiasco, and Think Twice: Michael Jackson, and the second season of the Backfired franchise, a show about what happens when solving one problem inadvertently leads to a host of new ones. Backfired: Attention Deficit follows the acclaimed first season Backfired: The Vaping Wars.
For a list of books, articles, and documentaries used to research Backfired: Attention Deficit, please visit bit.ly/backfiredbib.
Backfired: Attention Deficit was hosted and produced by Leon Neyfakh and Arielle Pardes. The executive producer was Andrew Parsons. The senior producer and story editor was Madeline Kaplan. Producers were Dustin Desoto and Danielle Hewitt. Fact-checking by Maggie Duffy. Research by Frank Zhou. Archival research by Francis Carr. Theme song and score composed by Emma Munger. Audio mix by Aman Sahota. Backfired was co-created for Prologue Projects by Kim Gittleson.
Interview: ADHD—and its meds—are everywhere. Has that "Backfired" for sufferers?
- Backfired: Attention Deficit
- By:Leon Neyfakh, Prologue Projects
- Narrated by:Leon Neyfakh, Arielle Pardes
- Backfired: Attention Deficit
- 'I think ADHD is unique in that the boundaries that we can draw around it are so porous and so unstable.'
About the Host
About the Host
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What listeners say about Backfired: Attention Deficit
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Marilou
- 10-11-24
Enlightening!
It was informative backed by extensive research, credible interviews, and timelined history. It left me wondering about the possible ripple effects of profit-driven drug proliferation, social media misinformation over credible facts. I hope this audible will be heard and accessed by many to increase awareness.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- lilnic
- 10-10-24
Thurough & well rounded research
The piece was well researched and presented multiple points of view, leaving The Listener to draw their own conclusions. A fascinating history of ADHD.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Lorelle Becton
- 10-10-24
Fair and Balanced Information
I feel like the makers of this program gave respect to all sides of the story. I have a better understanding now of how we arrived at the present situation of ADHD.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Erica G. Reiff
- 10-11-24
Nuanced
I am a psychiatric nurse practitioner and dealing with the surge of ADHD diagnosis requests and stimulant shortages has been the most challenging work of my career. This comprehensive overview of the culture and history of ADHD and stimulants should be required for any psychiatric provider who strives to provide the best possible care for their patients. We cannot practice in a vacuum.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Alexandra Geraets
- 10-05-24
Complex Second Volume of Backfired
Volume One of Backfired focused on vaping, while Volume Two confronts ADHD, its origins as a diagnosis, the creation, use, abuse, and misuse of medications, and concludes with an uncomfortable feeling that there is a lot more to discuss about the reality of mental health care and treatment and the "TikTokification" of the same.
The cast of characters is a complex one, too, featuring everyone from the psychiatrists and psychologist who first coined the terms that evolved into ADHD, the drug manufacturers who embraced and profited from a societal conviction that children are simply small adults that need to be "modified," to former students who admit to abusing others' medications simply to stay "focused", and more, including an appearance from a Church of Scientology and a psychiatrist who dismisses concerns over her affiliation with them. Even so, the most disturbing stories allege that school districts and administrators in the 1970s ordered parents to medicate their "overactive" children or the school districts would take action. These allegations proved to be the most upsetting, especially when the now-grown children of those parents realize the fear their parents experienced.
The most engaging interviewee might be 8-year-old Jericho, whose energy and enthusiasm, even as he keeps playing with the audio equipment, just made me smile. He seems like a normal, engaging kid. Meanwhile, his father sounds saddened as he describes how his son's enthusiasm and energy were viewed as a problem that only went away when he was medicated. I'm glad they got to finish their interview and go to the beach. I hope they had fun, because the program overall, while informative and interesting, isn't what I'd call 'fun.'
That said, I'm very curious to see what might lie ahead for "Backfired" and hope they release a third volume next year.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Stefanie
- 10-10-24
muy bueno
es una muy buena investigación en la historia del ADHD. el formato de entrega esta muy bien adaptado al formato de audiolibro. la posibilidad de revisar las referencias (libros, artículos, etc) en una pagina aparte es sumamente útil
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Yani
- 10-15-24
Title a bit misleading
I thought the series was going to be about ADHD itself, but really it was about the misuse and abuse of ADHD stimulants, and overly irresponsible diagnosing. Most of the information about stimulants here is about people who don’t really have ADHD, but for those who do, stimulants can be life changing. There wasn’t much talk about that except for a couple sentences here and there. For me I spent 5 hours waiting to hear the positive sides, so I felt a bit shorted.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jessica Stansbury
- 10-14-24
Very informative
Interesting listen on the cycle of ADHD and makes you wonder where we are headed with this diagnosis.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Beverley
- 10-05-24
Tears of Pain
I thought this was a very interesting discussion on ADHD and the drugs used to treat it.
My son was diagnosed with ADHD in 1983 and I was eventually forced by the schools to put him on Ritalin. I was really unimpressed with the way the schools (in Toronto and London Canada) seemed to be using it as a means to make their jobs ealier and I really didn't like giving drugs to a 6 year old to help the schools. I think schools should be looking at alternative teaching methods, not just for ADHD but for all students so we don't rely so heavily on the personality of individual teachers
I'd be interested to hear about how ADHD was socialized in the 80's affected the children who were pegged as having ADHD. My son suffered from the way other students treated him as though he was 'retarded". And I mean no offence to people with mental retardation, but if a child is not retarded then being treated like one is absorbed and affects his personality and self esteem for life.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Starlet
- 10-07-24
The history of public and medical sentiment
What a fascinating history! I ended up listening to the entire book — I think many of us think we have Adult ADD now in the past but reading this I realize perhaps not enough to warrant the medication. Although I would risk that in order to now have more energy & focus. At age 77 tho I’ll finally let go of this notion for me.
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