Benefits and Risks of ADHD Medications - Side-Effects of Medications for ADHD

Written by HealthyPlace.com Staff Writer

Overuse

As cultures become more fast-paced with increasing time pressures on parents, children, and teachers, the use of ADHD medications seems a fast fix for a complex problem. Long-range effects on the developing brain are not known. Even when medications are advised, they should never be used as the exclusive treatment for ADHD. Additional interventions (such as behavior management, parenting skills, and classroom accommodations) must also be incorporated.

Age of children

Originally, ADHD medications were prescribed for school-age children, and use was generally discontinued at adolescence. In recent years, these medications have been prescribed at younger ages, and have been extended through adolescence and into adulthood. In some cases, doctors are diagnosing ADHD and prescribing medications for children as young as age 2, even though the controlled studies on these medications were not done on pre-school children. Understanding of normal child development and family behavioral management skills might be a more appropriate intervention for such young children.

Misdiagnosis of ADHD

ADHD is defined by behavioral symptoms. There is no specific test for ADHD. Behaviors that are common to ADHD may be caused by a variety of other sources, such as domestic violence, alcoholism in the family, inadequate parenting, ineffective behavior management, poor attachment to a stable caregiver, or a number of other medical conditions. The symptoms of ADHD are on a continuum that could be interpreted differently by any particular parent, teacher or physician. What one person would consider normally active for a child might be seen by someone else as hyperactive. What one adult can tolerate or handle might be seen by another adult as impossible behavior.

Sources:

• DSM-IV-TR, The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.
• ADHD, Wikipedia
• Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder publication by NIMH, June 2006.
• FDA Warning on Antidepressants
• The MTA Cooperative Group. A 14-month randomized clinical trial of treatment strategies for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Archives of General Psychiatry, 1999;56:1073-1086.

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