The other day in a clinical interview with a patient,  I responded to him differently, and  my whole view of him changed. I understood him and his life dilemma better.  Sometimes that understanding happens rapidly, but sometimes it  takes months or years. Patients let me know them at their own rate.  Psychotherapy is much more intimate [...]
What are “study drugs?”  In college slang, that term refers to  central nervous system stimulants.  These are ADHD medications which students use, misuse and abuse.* Â
Most college students with ADHD who use them do so to feel normal and function at their best.  However, in one study eleven percent of ADHD students reported selling or “diverting”  their medication.** Such [...]
Ethnic and racial factors are explosive issues in the treatment of mental health disorders, including ADHD.  My clinical practice continues to support the impression I wrote about in my book, Understanding and Treating Adults with ADHD. It is harder for persons identified as Afro-American or Hispanic to get a diagnosis of and treatment for ADHD than [...]
Yesterday I listened to a dad who has ADHD as he worried about his son, who also has the disorder.  He made me think, strangely enough, about Johann Sebastian Bach and his talented son, Carl Phillip Emanuel (CPE) Bach. Let me explain.
It took a long time for my reluctant brain to process the music of Johann [...]
Last night by luck we channel-surfed into the Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin.” What a thrilling musical experience!  “La Divina,”  Renee Fleming, was Tatiana, Dmitri Hvorostovsky sang the part of Onegin, and Jose Vargas took the part of  Lenski.  Leading the orchestra was the great Russian conductor Vasily Gergiev. With his haunted eyes, unruly gray hair and stubble, he [...]
In past blog entries I’ve quoted William W. Dodson, MD, a Denver psychiatrist  who always has sensible ideas about ADHD and its treatment.  Here are more tips, or clinical “pearls,” from Dr. Dodson.Â
You can find clinical practice guidelines about treatment for free. These are the best current thinking about treatment of ADHD. Download guidelines for adults as well as [...]
I thought that headline from the 1960s and 1970s might catch your attention. “Speed” of course refers to abuse of stimulants– not just driving too fast. Problem is, the phrase still applies. Â
If I prescribe medications to patients,  I have to disclose fully the dangers of their use, as well as the benefits. A new study highlights just how dangerous the central [...]
These bright spring mornings as I roar up Eighteenth Street NW  to my office in Washington, DC, I delight in a light-hearted competition between businesses. Standing on the concrete sidewalks I speed past are trees, planted  several feet apart. At the foot of each tree is a little rectangular patch of earth, often surrounded by a low, decorative iron rail.  Here’s [...]
“Unimaginable.” That’s the word that comes to mind about the tragic deaths of dozens of students and the wounding of many more at Virginia Tech University. The killer, Cho Seung Hui, was a deeply disturbed 20-year-old who went on a rampage, apparently motivated by envy and resentment and isolation.
I live in Virginia, across the Potomac from the District [...]
A patient came to me after many years of treatment for her ADHD by other doctors.  She was doing satisfactorily on her medication regimen.  A sensible, highly intelligent woman, she has had a distinguished career.  Over the years she learned, largely on her own, how to manage her ADHD. She’s resourceful.   However, she sighed and [...]
