Strattera (atomoxetine)  is the only non-central nervous system stimulant which is approved by the FDA for the treatment of ADHD in adults.  Strattera has proved its effectiveness in many clinical trials in adults as well as in children.*  However, its effects are subtler than those of the CNS stimulants.  Many patients report that the stimulants [...]
Problems with sleep are common in adults with ADHD. Their most frequent complaint is,  “I can’t get my mind to shut off.”  Here are some suggestions for enhancing sleep:
1. Go to bed and get up at approximately the same time every day.
2. Use bed only for lovemaking or for sleeping, not for TV-watching, eating,  and other [...]
Diagnosing ADHD in adults can be challenging. The criteria specify that for a diagnosis to be made, the patient must have symptoms by the age of 7. Many adults cannot remember much of their childhood experiences. They cannot produce documentary evidence of impairment from early life. Â
One solution has been to describe ADHD in patients who don’t remember symptoms [...]
Arguments about diagnostic criteria in Psychiatry remind me of medieval deliberations about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. Yet, yet….. we do need diagnostic criteria for our patients. We need them to define who does or does not have the disorder. We need them to determine the effectiveness of treatment methods and to [...]
Almost all of us know what anxiety feels like. It’s an uncomfortable mixture of physical symptoms and psychological distress: feeling vaguely queasy, with a sense of impending doom,  that something bad is about to happen.Â
Anxiety is the central nervous system’s alarm mechanism, warning us of real or potential danger. That warning system is valuable, potentially life-saving, in the context [...]
Clinical views on this issue have changed over the years. Originally clinicians felt that ADHD was by definition limited to childhood and adolescence. Then we realized that patients still had symptoms in adulthood. How then to define that group?
Two outstanding experts, Mariellen Fischer and Russell A. Barkley,  have been studying this question by following a [...]
Linda Walker, an ADHD coach in Montreal, wrote to me about my recent  blog entry, “Sleepy?”  She reports that many of her clients have difficulty sleeping. Like mine, her patients struggle to turn off all the thoughts that swirl in their head at bedtime.  Â
Many of Ms. Walker’s clients sleep better if they use a  “white noise” [...]
Even if an adult with ADHD responds well to medication there is usually room for greater improvement. Cognitive treatment, which focuses on how a person thinks, and behavioral treatment, which focuses on behavior patterns, have a lot to offer. These two are often linked as cognitive-behavioral treatment, abbreviated CBT.*
One treatment program involves several modules, each [...]
Are you tired, even after you get a good night’s sleep?  Even worse, are you tired because you can’t seem to get a good night’s rest?  If so,  you are in good company;  sleep disorders are part of the syndrome of ADHD in adults as well as in children.
Clinical researchers in Oregon have demonstrated this by [...]
