Backfired: Attention Deficit
Backfired: Attention Deficit Audiobook By Leon Neyfakh, Prologue Projects cover art

Backfired: Attention Deficit

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Backfired: Attention Deficit

By: Leon Neyfakh, Prologue Projects
Narrated by: Leon Neyfakh, Arielle Pardes
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About this listen

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.

©2024 Prologue Projects (P)2024 Audible Originals, LLC.
Medicine & Health Care Industry Politics & Government Public Health Public Policy Sociology

Interview: ADHD—and its meds—are everywhere. Has that "Backfired" for sufferers?

'I think ADHD is unique in that the boundaries that we can draw around it are so porous and so unstable.'
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  • 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

Leon Neyfakh is a journalist best known as the co-creator of Slow Burn, the host of Fiasco, and the co-host of Think Twice: Michael Jackson. Before starting Prologue Projects, a podcast production company based in New York, he was a reporter for Slate, The Boston Globe, and The New York Observer. He is the author of the book The Next Next Level.

About the Host

Arielle Pardes is a Bay Area-based journalist who specializes in stories about technology and business. Before launching the Backfired podcast, she was a features writer for The Information and a senior writer for WIRED Magazine. She has reported on some of the most influential companies in Silicon Valley, including Google, Facebook, Twitter, Tinder, Airbnb, and WeWork. She was previously a co-host of WIRED's Gadget Lab podcast.

What listeners say about Backfired: Attention Deficit

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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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Informative and personal

A diverse set of views, conflicting motivations and corporate profiteering, Enjoyable all the way through.

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Background of ADHD meds

It was insightful. A bit more science behind other literature. Something very useful in a disorder is : it’s only a disorder if you can’t manage it.

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I appreciate that the full investigative story was given.

I like hearing all sides of the story. I don't like that this review has a 15 word minimum. why is this box still red and says '15 word minimum'

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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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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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Insightful!

This audiobook is a balanced overview with insightful interview and history on ADD and ADHD... definitely recommend.

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Excellent research

I was diagnosed with adult ADHD when I was 26 years-old. While the medication helped me a lot in some ways such as with focusing and understanding as in reading, comprehension there were negatives, such as it made me feel very jittery. I know I have some symptoms of ADHD, but don’t know if I was really on the spectrum that I should have been diagnosed with it, and given drugs. I didn’t like the idea of being dependent on drugs, and I went off of the medication after less than a year. I think the book offered important research, and insights into how influenced by corrupt pharmaceutical companies, doctors and even non-medical individuals are irresponsibly misdiagnosing ADHD and prescribing drugs for it.

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All sides

All sides of many issues were covered. I really liked the original tapes of many interviewees. Very thorough.

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Good Historical View of ADHD

“Backfired: Attention Deficit” was a good podcast series. I like that they showed the good of ADHD and associated medicines for those who truly have ADHD. It also revealed the dark side of those who abuse the medications related to ADHD. I appreciate the history behind the schools and past research practices. As an educator, it is good to understand why there are certain things we can’t “recommend” or “advise,” but understanding how the families choose to support their child with amazing ADHD will help you know the areas you can empower the student. My advice is to discover what areas of executive functioning and social skills the child is lacking, teach them those skills, and give them many opportunities to choose from. And… if you see a child is very wiggly at or around their desk, they are most likely a child who processed information through movement. Help that child by getting the class up and moving while learning to help support all your students’ academic success.

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