Mental Retardation: Developing Pharmacotherapies

by John J. Ratey (Editor)

In the last few years, psychiatry in the field of mental retardation has begun to reexamine the subtler effects of the medications it employs. This volume is designed to further our understanding of the pharmacologic treatability of the mental illnesses that individuals with mental retardation often display.

The book shows how mentally retarded patients can benefit from pharmacological interventions that are part of a multisystems approach to treatment, the aim of which is to maintain or increase the cognitive functioning of the individual. In this respect, pharmacologic and polypharmacologic approaches are sought to provide more efficacious, less toxic treatment regimens for these patients. New insights into the nature of neurological disturbance in mental retardation are presented, and the book offers a practical guide to the treatment of developmentally disabled people.

162 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 1991

About the author

Dr. Ratey and Dr. Hallowell began studying ADHD in the 1980s and co-authored Driven to Distraction: Recognizing and Coping with Attention Deficit Disorder from Childhood through Adulthood (1994), the first in a series of books that demystify the disorder. Dr. Ratey also co-authored Shadow Syndromes (1997) with Catherine Johnson, PhD, in which he describes the phenomenon of milder forms of clinical disorders.

Dr. John J. Ratey, M.D., is an associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and has a private practice in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

from johnratey.com