For years clinicians focused attention on boys with ADHD, with their disruptive behavior patterns. Girls (and then women) were assumed not to suffer from ADHD. A second assumption was that if girls or women had the disorder that it was likely to be mild. A recent study highlighted at www.psychiatrictimes.com shows not just that girls (and therefore [...]
I’m always looking for and hoping for new treatments for ADHD and other psychiatric disorders. The current medications, for example, help some adults but not all of them. The current medications, like any medications, have side effects which can significantly interfere with their effectiveness. The side effects can make people feel that they are having to [...]
A recent posting on USATODAY.com ( 9/27/06) points up what I have seen in my practice: that ADHD is increasingly treated in more than one generation of a family. In fact, “parents of children taking ADHD are about nine times more likely to also use the drugs than parents of children who aren’t on these [...]
The search goes on for the biological basis of ADHD in the brain. Several sites in the central nervous system have been suggested as those responsible for the symptoms. Our technology gets more and more sophisticated, but the complexities of brain function remain elusive.
An obvious suspect has been the frontal lobes of the brain, the [...]
Many of my patients complain that they can’t stick with novels. They’re too long. My suggestion? Try short stories. The best ones are fabulous, vivid slices of life. You can read one at a time and feel like you have really gotten something worthwhile.
Two recommendations: First is a collection called  ”Dancing after Dark,” by Andre Dubus. [...]
A patient yesterday was glowing about the good results she was getting with her adult ADHD by taking the right amount of a CNS stimulant. It had taken us a while to find the right amount of the right medicine, but that is typical. A highly intelligent woman, she’s delighted that she has lots of ideas. “I’ve [...]
Daytrana, the latest product formulation for methylphenidate (better known as Ritalin), is the newest enry in the sweepstakes for the treatment of ADHD. So far it has been approved by the FDA only for the treatment of children aged 6 – 12 with the disorder, but I expect that the makers (Shire) will look for approval [...]
I knew I was taking a risk when I started “Jack” (not his real name, for obvious reasons) on stimulant medications for his ADHD. Jack had a long history of alcohol abuse, but he insisted that he had been completely clean for nine months Smart, funny, he had severe ADHD. The combination of the ADHD [...]
A few patients recently have intrigued me with this diagnostic dilemma. Certainly ADHD in full swing: with the person going madly in all directions, bursting with energy, intensely engaged, can look like he or she is in the “up” or manic phase of bipolar disorder (what used to be called “manic depressive disorder”). [...]
“Will this medicine mess with my creativity?”
That’s a question I hear from a number of my adult ADHD patients. The answer is, “It depends.”
My goal, naturally, is to help patients maximize their life — and that includes their being able to fulfill their creative potential. Many of my patients are creative. Some have [...]
