Hope for the Violently Aggressive Child: New Diagnoses and Treatments that Work Paperback – January 7, 2014

This book is confirmation of the incredible success that my daughter Liesl, who has high-functioning autism, has experienced with the effectiveness of the medications prescribed by Dr. Ralph Ankenman over a span of nearly 20 years. When my husband and I first took Liesl to see Dr. Ankenman in March 1993, she was nine years old. She was having adrenaline rages on a regular basis, characterized by pinching, scratching, biting, hitting, kicking, spitting, throwing things and breaking things. Physical restraint was usually required. Today, at 28 years old, Liesl enjoys paid employment, singing in our church choir and participating in numerous community and social activities. Adrenaline rages are a thing of the past thanks to Dr. Ankenman's medication regimen. Beta blockers, as mentioned in Dr. Ankenman's book, have been major players in dealing with Liesl's adrenaline rages. However, Demser (generic name: metyrosine; antipsychotic; noradrenalin and dopamine depleter), although not a beta blocker, has been a key component--if not the key component for Liesl--in addressing Liesl's adrenaline rages, as there was a period of time when Liesl was not on a beta blocker. Last summer, when Demser became unavailable due to a recall, we had a forced opportunity to monitor Liesl's behavior on lower doses and then ultimately, when available once more, we did a trial of taking her off it altogether to see how she would do. Liesl's behavior was okay for nearly six weeks, but then she crashed, having two major meltdowns in one evening, something that had never happened before. Back on Demser the day after the meltdowns, she did fine and has been on it successfully to this day. I am well aware that the information in Dr. Ankenman's book is "outside the box" thinking (his use of Risperdal in the 90s was also "outside the box" at that time), but I also know that what he knows works. Speaking professionally as an autism consultant, I have never referred a client to Dr. Ankenman who didn't show improvement after having seen him. As a parent, I'm not sure my daughter could have continued living in our home had it not been for Dr. Ankenman. Dr. Ankenman's book, Hope for the Violently Aggressive Child: New Diagnoses and Treatments that Work is the wish come true for me to have a way to share the research that Dr. Ankenman has done so that other families may not have to go through the difficult times we experienced before connecting with him. Thank you, Dr. Ankenman, for changing our lives and giving Liesl the opportunity to realize her potential for a stable, happy and productive life!

This book helped us address my 7 yo sons sudden raging episodes (he damaged property, self harm, eloping) - extreme behaviors. He is very intelligent, autistic with ADHD, anxiety, Developmental Coordination disorder. He became a loose cannon.The author describes the child’s symptoms with a clear check off list and discusses pharmaceutical meds that work on the adrenergic pathways. Our MAPS pediatrician was open to it and we started at 10mg BID, but my son felt weird, so we cut it down to half of the recommended dose - Propranolol 5mg twice a day has shown great results.Along with counseling & Oxytocin homeopathic pellets given by our pediatrician.Also, during this time he was diagnosed with Celiac disease, depleted- very low Vit C & Clostridia overgrowth which releases toxic metabolites to the brain. We began a 100% gluten free/dairy free diet and added Supplements.My kid looked like he was possessed while in these rages.Now- All is good & calm now for almost 6 weeks.

I feel like this book was an answer to our prayers. We were at a place where we no longer believed our 10 year old son could live at home with us. He was violent, dangerous, and full of rage. At other times, he was so loving, but we have always believed he had a heightened fight or flight response. After trying many psych meds with limited results, we came across this book. It described our son exactly. It took at few adjustments to find the medication that worked for him, but we have a new child who says himself he is so much happier now. If you are in a similar situation, this book is worth a read. FYI, It is difficult to get psychiatrists to prescribe the meds as they aren’t used to this treatment protocol. We finally had luck with our pediatrician after he agreed to read the book.

It is refreshing to find information about treating a child with violent and aggressive behaviors that doesn’t immediately delve into psychotherapy. This book treats the topic of aggression as a biomedical problem which can be directly addressed using standard medical practices. While there are the usual case studies that one would expect in this type of book, it also goes into some of the diagnostic criteria and possible corresponding treatments.One of the questionnaires in the book helps identify the underlying condition that can lead to aggression, and provides a great starting point for a conversation with a doctor. The idea that a “problem child” can be treated medically and not turned into a little zombie provides hope and solutions for a difficult situation. It is also a good book to give to school administrators and IEP coordinators to give them a different point of view on the children that they are serving.

Dr. Ankenman's description of adrenaline system over-reactivity fits our child to a T. We are so thankful to have come across this book as it describes with such accuracy the behaviors we have witnessed in our child. This book has definitely been worth reading and has by far been the most helpful resource to us as we seek to better understand the issues and needs of our child. We have passed along a copy to the doctors we work with and they have been willing to read it and agree that the treatment suggested in it is worth pursuing. Thank you, Dr. Ankenman, for the time, energy, and thought you have put into your practice of medicine, and for sharing that information with us through this book.

This approach to treating our 13 year old autistic granddaughter saved this girl from being institutionalized. Every other drug treatment was ineffective or even made the behaviors much worse. We read the book many times and found a naturopathic doctor who was willing to try Dr Ankenman's method and in a very short time we had a girl who was not having many violent episodes daily and could live in peace with her family.I have purchased about six copies of this book and given them to medical professionals to spread the word.