Just across the street from my office in the Dupont Circle area of Washington, DC, stands a gnarled old plum tree. It’s not graceful; it’s all elbows and knees, rather like an adolescent who hasn’t grown into his spindly body yet. It’s dark and scraggly, looking as if it’s an effort just to hang on to life. [...]
If you have ADHD, you may have an advantage in life because of how your brain works.  For too long, say some thinkers, life in our society has been under the sway of our “left brain.” That’s the part of the brain which is logical, operates in sequence, and is analytical. Now, says author Daniel [...]
As medical students and then as graduate physicians my friends and I always were looking for “pearls.”  These are precious little bits of medical wisdom which give you fresh insight into a problem.   The “inside scoop,”  which helps you contend better with a clinical issue or difficulty.
With that in mind, here are more pearls from Dr. Biederman (with [...]
If you have ADHD, you are right to be concerned that your children have it.     Increasing numbers of patients come in to see me because their child has been diagnosed and treated for the disorder.  They realize that the diagnosis applies to them as well as the children.   The same medications useful for children [...]
Recently I was lucky to be at a conference where Joseph Biederman, MD, was talking about ADHD in an informal setting.   Dr. Biederman is the head of the ADHD group at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and an acknowledged leader in the field.Â
He made some provocative  comments:
“ADHD is one of the costliest of psychiatric disorders.  The economic [...]
Controversies swirl around the ADHD medications, especially the CNS stimulants. Are they helpful? Are they dangerous? Are they abused?
The Federal Drug Administration is getting more and more active in its stance about these medications. The drugs can transform the life of patients, and I’ve seen them help greatly. [...]
ADHD is strongly genetic. Clearly ADHD runs in families. Close relatives of persons with ADHD are 2-8 times as likely to have ADHD as relatives of persons who don’t have it. If one fraternal twin has ADHD, the chances are at least one in three that the other will have [...]
We know that having ADHD increases the chance that someone will have other psychiatric disorders: mood disorders, anxiety disorders, and substance abuse disorders (SUD).   Along with ADHD, patients often have abuse of substances such as alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine.  If someone has untreated substance abuse, it is hard to treat their  ADHD effectively.
Substance abuse is common in [...]
At the recent ADHD conference in Boston I overheard a participant talking with Dr. Timothy Wilens, one of the organizers of the meeting.
“I have this adult patient who doesn’t remember symptoms before the age of 7, but he has some symptoms now that could be ADHD. But do I treat him if he doesn’t meet [...]
It sounds as if the genetic dice are loaded, when it comes to ADHD. 75 to 80% of the likelihood that someone will have ADHD is genetic.  Still, other factors come into play.  Influencing these can change the likelihood that someone will get ADHD.
A prime example of a preventive cause of ADHD is maternal smoking [...]
