panorama study on ADHD | ADHD Information

Hi, there has been additional information that the press have misinterpreted the results of this study. You can see one doctor's response on www.youtube.com - search 'do adhd medications work"

As always, we have to take what's in the news with a grain of salt.

 

 

Hard to believe, frankly.  Maybe their initial definition of ADHD was too broad and they captured kids with behavioral issues but without ADHD.  For some families, medication makes a huge difference -- I am sure that it is keeping my son from facing the humiliation and shame that my husband felt going through elementary school.

There was no group without some treatment. The groups were intensive meds, intensive meds plus intensive behavior therapy, behavior therapy alone and standard community treatment (~60% of these kids were placed on meds). All groups had gains that lasted through the study period (compared to baseline). After the initial 14 months, the groups were not controlled for starting or stopping meds and many in the behavior only group started meds.

Here is a link to the findings:

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/science-news/2007/improvement-follow ing-adhd-treatment-sustained-in-most-children.shtml

From the findings:

Most children treated in a variety of ways for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) showed sustained improvement after three years in a major follow-up study funded by the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). Yet increased risk for behavioral problems, including delinquency and substance use, remained higher than normal.

"Our results suggest that medication can make a long-term difference for some children if it's continued with optimal intensity, and not started or added too late in a child's clinical course,"

"These findings underscore the point that ADHD treatment for one year does not prevent serious problems from emerging later,"

"To understand why the initial advantage of medication wore off, the researchers examined medication use patterns that emerged after formal treatment in the study ended. They found that children who had been assigned to intensive behavioral treatment were more likely to begin taking medication, while those who had been taking medication were more likely to stop. For example, among children originally in the behavioral treatment group, the incidence of high medication use increased from 14 to 45 percent."

i haven't been here for a while but i came across this study and i thought it was interesting so i will post the link.

i don't intend to be negative about the positive results that medication can have with children but what i was considering is that parents are generally given the medication with the idea that it is a LONGTERM thing - perhaps lifelong. 

i would say that the medication should be seen as a way of showing children how they CAN be --- and using the medication for the first year to instill the HABITS of self-discipline etc. etc. but perhaps with the idea of coming off it within a year and working in that way with therapy and other options to supplement the better habits gained during that year. 

then the children themselves will be able to remember the positive beneficial feedback they got when behaving in more appropriate manner and because if, as they seem to imply, that after three years there is no discernible benefit to the medication any more then it seems important to take that into account.

anyway here's the study:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7090011.stm

hope it is not too depressing - it reads quite negative but everyone has their own experience and should value that over and above a generalised medical study, i guess.

cj