Ratey, John J(oseph) 1948-

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RATEY, John J(oseph) 1948-

PERSONAL: Born April 7, 1948, in Rochester, PA; son of Stephen J. Ratey and Vern Ann (Kuran) Dyer; married; wife's name Nancy; children: Jessica, Kathryn. Education: Colgate University, A.B., 1970; attended Northeastern University, Harvard University, Boston University, and Boston College, 1970-72; University of Pittsburgh, M.D., 1976.

ADDRESSES: Office—Psychiatry-MMHC Department, Harvard University, 328 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02138. E-mail—john_ratey@hms.harvard.edu.

CAREER: Massachusetts Mental Health Center, Boston, MA, psychiatric attendant, 1970-71; DARE, Inc., Boston, halfway-house parent, 1971-72; St. Francis General Hospital, Pittsburgh, PA, rotating intern in neurology, 1976-77; Massachusetts Mental Health Center, psychiatric resident, 1977-80, chief resident in Inpatient Service, 1979-80, supervisor of residents, beginning in 1980, assistant director of residency training, 1982-88. Harvard Medical School, clinical fellow in chronic care program, 1978-79, instructor, 1980-86, associate clinical professor, 1986—; Tufts University, assistant clinical professor, 1980-81; Colloquium Internationale Neuro-Psychopharmacologicum, Munich, Germany, guest lecturer, 1988. Clinton Child and Family Center, chief psychiatrist, 1978-82; New England Psychiatric Consultants, director, beginning in 1978; Medfield State Hospital, clinical director of Developmental Disabilities Unit, 1986-89, director of research, beginning in 1986, acting executive medical director, 1989-91. Boston Center for the Study of Autism, founder and member of steering committee, 1986; Clinical Aggression Research Group, founder and developer, 1990; Children with Attention Deficit Disorder, member of advisory board, beginning in 1992; consultant to City of Boston, CAMARY Corp., and Wheat Ridge Developmental Center.

MEMBER: American Psychiatric Association, Society for Psychophysiological Resources, Massachusetts Psychiatric Association, American Association for Group Therapy.

AWARDS, HONORS: Washburn scholar, Colgate University, 1968-70; Rock Sylvester Memorial scholarship, American Medical Association, 1975-76; T. W. Earley Memorial prize, University of Pittsburgh, 1976; Falk fellow, American Psychiatric Association, 1978-80; grants from National Institute of Mental Health, 1984-86, and E. R. Squibb and Co., 1984-88; Harry C. Solomon Award, 1985; grants from Sandoz Pharmaceuticals, 1987-88, State of California, 1988, Mead Johnson Pharmaceuticals, 1988, Solvay-Duphar Pharmaceuticals, 1990-92, Abbott Laboratories, beginning in 1993, and Lilly Research Laboratories, beginning in 1993.

WRITINGS:

(Editor and contributor) Mental Retardation: Developing Pharmacotherapies, American Psychiatric Association Press (Washington, DC), 1991.

(With Edward Hallowell) Attention Deficit Disorder, Fourth Estate (London, England), 1994.

(With Edward Hallowell) Driven to Distraction: The Emotional Experience of ADD, Pantheon (New York, NY), 1994, published as Driven to Distraction: Recognizing and Coping with Attention Deficit Disorder from Childhood through Adulthood, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1995.

(Editor and contributor) The Neuropsychiatry of Behavior Disorders, Blackwell (Malden, MA), 1994.

(With Edward Hallowell) Answers to Distraction, Pantheon (New York, NY), 1994.

(Editor) Neuropsychiatry of Personality Disorders, Blackwell (Malden, MA), 1995.

(With Catherine Johnson) Shadow Syndromes: Recognizing and Coping with the Hidden Psychological Disorders That Can Influence Your Behavior and Silently Determine the Course of Your Life, Pantheon (New York, NY), 1997.

A User's Guide to the Brain: Personality, Behavior, and the Four Theaters of the Brain, Pantheon (New York, NY), 2001.

(With Edward Hallowell) Delivered from Distraction: Getting the Most Out of Life with Attention Deficit Disorder, Ballantine Books (New York, NY), 2004.

Contributor to ADD Success Stories: A Guide to Fulfillment for Families with Attention Deficit Disorder, Underwood Books (Grass Valley, CA), 1995. Work represented in books, including Manual of Psychiatric Emergencies, edited by S. E. Hyman and G. E. Tesar, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1994; Neuropsychiatry: A Comprehensive Textbook, edited by B. Fogel and R. Schiffer, Williams & Wilkins (Baltimore, MD); and A Comprehensive Guide to Attention Deficit Disorder in Adults, edited by Kathleen Nadeau, Brunner-Routledge (Philadelphia, PA). Contributor of articles and reviews to medical journals.

SIDELIGHTS: John J. Ratey has written several bestselling medical books about mental health. Driven to Distraction: The Emotional Experience of ADD provides a number of case studies of patients with attention deficit disorder (ADD), a condition in which a person suffers from such symptoms as impulsiveness, underachievement, and the need for frequent mental stimulation. As psychiatrists on the faculty of Harvard Medical School who suffer from ADD, Ratey and coauthor Hallowell are considered experts on the subject. The authors contend that ADD, which affects an estimated fifteen million Americans, shares symptoms with a number of related disorders and must not be diagnosed without sufficient examination of the patient. They also discuss the various drugs and other treatments prescribed for the condition. Writing in the New York Times Book Review, Karen Leggett called Driven to Distraction "a very readable, highly informative and helpful book."

While Driven to Distraction is helpful for people wanting to learn about ADD, Answers to Distraction, a sequel, provides useful answers to complex problems associated with ADD. Ratey and Hallowell compiled the book from questions they were asked by actual audience participants in their many lectures. Another work written with Hallowell, Delivered from Distraction: Getting the Most Out of Life with Attention Deficit Disorder, continues the authors' efforts to provide individuals afflicted with ADD practical methods to achieve personal goals despite the illness.

In Shadow Syndromes: Recognizing and Coping with the Hidden Psychological Disorders That Can Influence Your Behavior and Silently Determine the Course of Your Life, Ratey teams up with Catherine Johnson, a Los Angeles writer for women's magazines. The authors claim that most major mental illnesses have much milder forms—"shadow syndromes"—that often go unnoticed and untreated. The authors discovered a link between the gifted intelligence of people often called "nerds" or "geeks" and a lack of physical coordination and social grace. They suggest that such people are actually autistic, afflicted by a very mild form of the disorder. Furthermore, they believe that women stressed out from family demands may actually suffer from masked depression, men unable to love may suffer from mild ADD, and overachievers may have mild mania. "Everyone will recognize someone in this cast," remarked a critic for Publishers Weekly.

Writing in the Social Service Review, Stuart A. Kirk acknowledged that other psychiatric researchers have suggested biochemical causes for mental disorders, but explained that "Ratey and Johnson push the thesis further—much further—in claiming that not only severe disorders but shadow syndromes as well are the result of brain malfunctioning." Kirk pointed out, "There are no comprehensive or balanced reviews of the literature and suggestive studies are used to launch grand speculative leaps" and that a good deal "of the book relies on anecdotal illustrations and testimonials." However, Kirk maintained that in all fairness "the book is not intended for the experts but for the general public, and it is worth considering how such a book might become popular." The Publishers Weekly contributor also reflected that many things about the brain are yet unknown, comparing the organ "to the weather, in which small changes can have large, unpredictable effects."

In A User's Guide to the Brain: Personality, Behavior, and the Four Theaters of the Brain, Ratey interweaves research, personal experience with patients, and opinions to produce a book about the complex workings of the brain that can be understood by nonspecialists. In this lengthy study, Ratey organizes his material by category—development, perception, attention, memory, emotion, language, and socialization. Recent studies suggest that many psychological problems are rooted in the brain's physiology, which determines how the outside world is perceived and interpreted. In addition, areas of the brain long believed to be concerned solely with the body's movement or coordination have recently been found to be responsible for such things as image recognition as well. In a review of the book for January Magazine, Margaret Gunning noted that Ratey strongly believes human behavior stems from biology. "His ideas contrast sharply with the old Freudian notion that psychological dysfunction must stem from faulty toilet training or an Oedipus complex," she observed. While Gunning admitted that the book is filled with unavoidable scientific terms, David L. Wilson, writing in the Quarterly Review of Biology, commented that because the book contains patient stories in addition to scientific discussions, it appeals to several audiences: "brain scientists, health care professionals, and their patients." Concluded Booklist's Bryce Christensen, "Far more than a map of the brain's exotic jungles, this study can serve as a life-enriching guide for keeping the richest mental fields in cultivation."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

periodicals

American Journal of Psychiatry, September, 1996, review of The Neuropsychiatry of Personality Disorders, p. 1226.

Booklist, December 15, 2000, Bryce Christensen, review of A User's Guide to the Brain: Personality, Behavior, and the Four Theaters of the Brain, p. 771.

Choice, July, 2001, review of A User's Guide to the Brain, p. 1984.

Kirkus Reviews, December 15, 2000, review of A User's Guide to the Brain, p. 1747.

Library Journal, January 1, 2001, Mary Ann Hughes, review of A User's Guide to the Brain, p. 136.

New York Review, September 26, 2002, Sue Halpern, "Heart of Darkness," pp. 16-22.

New York Times Book Review, April 3, 1994, Karen Leggett, review of Driven to Distraction: The Emotional Experience of ADD.

Publishers Weekly, March 20, 1995, Daisy Maryles, "Behind the Bestsellers," p. 19; January 6, 1997, review of Shadow Syndromes: Recognizing and Coping with the Hidden Psychological Disorders That Can Influence Your Behavior and Silently Determine the Course of Your Life, p. 70.

Quarterly Review of Biology, June, 2002, David L. Wilson, review of A User's Guide to the Brain, pp. 228-230.

Social Service Review, March, 1999, Stuart A. Kirk, review of Shadow Syndromes, p. 119.