Getting inside the mind of Dr. Melillo. Past, Present and Future of the Melillo Method.

Robert Melillo (0:05)

Okay, we're back for another episode of the Melillo Method Podcast, Everything Brain with Dr. Peter Scire and I.

Really, the reason why we're here is because Peter had this idea where he said, hey, you know, we should do something like a podcast. And one of the reasons is because I'd like to kind of interview you, meaning talk to me about, ask me questions and kind of bring out information. So that's kind of the impetus to it, and this is kind of that episode. So I'm going to now kind of leave it off and you take the lead.

Peter Scire (0:37)

Well, thanks. I mean, I think for me, it's always been this situation where I watch you for 20 years, lecture to audiences and lecture to clinicians and other therapists and so on.

And these concepts that you throw out are so mind blowing, but yet probably the general public doesn't get to realize all these concepts. And even though you've written numerous books and they've been bestsellers and everything, but they've been concentrated concepts. They haven't been like these huge concepts that you talk about in the class. So I thought that this would be the greatest opportunity to do that. So thank you for that opportunity.

Robert Melillo (1:14)

Well, thank you for bringing this out. Because again, I've been doing this for a long time and very few people have really appreciated it at the level that you have. And so you're the right person to do this. And I really do want to get this out there to people so that they understand the full scope of what we do.

Peter Scire (1:35)

Yeah, so I guess for me, the starting point would be, I meet you in 2004, and the reason why I met you in 2004 was I learned about your formal textbook that you wrote. And it was a mind-blowing textbook that had numerous medical references that you made for your statement of, this is what I believe these developmental disorders are. So, can you walk the audience through, like how did that concept come about, and at that particular time for you to sit there and say, hey, I'm going to write this textbook, and I'm going to lay down my theory?

Robert Melillo (2:11)

Well, it started really with around 1995 I mean, my background was neurology and rehab, and that was my focus of my clinical practice.

But I really hadn't looked into things with the kids, and I was even teaching clinical neurology, and there was a lot of new information coming out about the brain, the decade of the brain. This was the 90s and all brain imaging. So there was a lot of cool things going on, and I was looking at it and starting to teach it. And in the rehab world, you're looking at things that have a lot to do with balance.

But really, because of my own kid and some other children that were diagnosed with ADHD, I started really going down that road, really trying to understand. Because for me, the question was, what is it? What's actually happening in the brain? At that point, I knew a decent amount about the brain, more than probably most, and had all these different tools in which to kind of do it, but hadn't really started looking at a lot of behavioral issues at that point.

And so really, you know, kind of started to dive in, really with the passion of a father trying to help his son and somebody who, you know, really early on saw the parents that were struggling with their kids and trying to find an answer. You know, what is happening in the brain in someone with ADHD? What is it? No one can answer that for me. And it was frustrating. I went to different doctors and therapists and people that I was friends with, pediatricians, pediatric neurologists, and said, you know, what's happening in the brain in ADHD? And they looked at me and said, well, you know, I don't know.

I said, somebody's got to know. And they're like, well, somebody may know somewhere, but I don't know it. And they said, well, you can't really change it anyway. And I said, that's kind of stupid. Like, how do you tell me that you just told me you don't know what it is, but you're absolutely sure you can't change it. And this is still the thought today.

Peter Scire (4:06)

Could they even give you like an area of the brain that they thought and hypothesized at the time?

Robert Melillo (4:11)

They talked, it's something to do with dopamine and something to do with the frontal lobe. That was it. That's the only thing they could say. And why did they know dopamine? Because at the time, Ritalin was the choice.