PASIEKA/SPL/Photo Researchers, Inc.
Key Concepts
- Stimulant treatments for ADHD are effective; they can improve attention, concentration and productivity and suppress impulsive behavior, producing significant improvements in some people’s lives.
- Over the past 15 years doctors have been prescribing stimulants for a rapidly rising number of patients, who also increasingly take the drugs for many years. With the expanded and extended use of stimulants comes mounting concern that the drugs might wreak silent havoc on the brain over the long run.
- A smattering of recent studies, most of them involving animals, hint that stimulants could alter the structure and function of the brain in ways that may depress mood, boost anxiety and, in sharp contrast to their short-term effects, lead to cognitive deficits.
More from this issue of Mind
July
2009 Issue- Illusions Seeing in Stereo: Illusions of Depth
- Facts and Fictions in Mental Health What Do We Know about Tourette's?
- Perspectives What Your Choice of Words Says about Your Personality
- Buy the Digital Edition
A few years ago a single mother who had recently moved to town came to my office asking me to prescribe the stimulant drug Adderall for her sixth-grade son. The boy had been taking the medication for several years, and his mother had liked its effects: it made homework time easier and improved her son’s grades.
At the time of this visit, the boy was off the medication, and I conducted a series of cognitive and behavioral tests on him. He performed wonderfully. I also noticed that off the medication he was friendly and playful. On a previous casual encounter, when the boy had been on Adderall, he had seemed reserved and quiet. His mother acknowledged this was a side effect of the Adderall. I told her that I did not think her son had attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and that he did not need medication. That was the last time I saw her.
Read Comments (76) | Post a comment
Innovation is the key to a better future. 
RSS Feeds
Blog
Podcasts
Mobile
Widgets
