Showing posts with label ADHD. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ADHD. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

New Disorder Identified By Some Mental Health Professionals; Issues Of Validity And Treatment Implications

Idea Of New Attention Disorder Spurs Research, And Debate by Alan Schwarz.  The New York Times.  April 11, 2014.

The new disorder is called sluggish cognitive tempo and could result in treatment for perhaps two million children.

Monday, December 16, 2013

Seven Viewpoints On The Role Of Drug Companies

Room For Debate:  Developing Cures Or Hyping Up Demand?  The New York Times.  December 16, 2013.

Overview of issues involved in drug company role in healthcare.  Be sure to look at the reader comments.

Monday, April 8, 2013

A Theory For the Rise In the Rate Of ADHD Diagnosis

Why Not Just Put All The Kids On Medication?  by Leonard Sax MD, PhD.  Psychology Today.  April 8, 2013.

A board-certified family practitioner who is also a PhD psychologist takes a look at CDC statistics and notices some unusual patterns and based upon those patterns proposes a cause and possible solution to the rise in ADHD.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

"Neuroenhancement Drugs" For Study Improvement Is Subject Of Neurologists Warning

Neurologists Warn Against Prescribing ADHD Drugs To Kids As "Study Drugs"  by Ryan Jaslow.  CBS News.  March 13, 2013.

Increasingly students are using drugs appropriate for ADHD for purposes of attaining focus before test. Parents are requesting the drugs to assist their students achieve better results on tests.  The American Academy of Neurology has created a primer for the ethical, social, legal, and developmental issues surrounding prescribing ADHD drugs to children.

Monday, March 4, 2013

ADHD Often Lingers Into Adulthood Along With Risk Of Other Disorders

Childhood ADHD Often Can Linger Into Adulthood by Michelle Healy.  USA TODAY.  March 4, 2013.

According to the lead researcher the "risk for persistent ADHA is considerable, and the risk for at least one mental health condition including ADHD, is extraordinarily high." Among the most disturbing of the statistics found in this article was that the risk of suicide was nearly five times higher among those diagnosed with ADHD than in the comparison group.  This was a large study drawing from 5,718 individuals born at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. between 1976 and 1982.

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Five Mental Disorders Share Common Genetics

5 Psych Disorders Have Common Genetics by Michael Smith.  MedPage Today.  February 27, 2013.

Autism, attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, and schizophrenia may share single nucleotide polymorphisms in two genes involved in calcium-channel activity.  The study that uncovered this link was the largest-ever genetic study of psychiatric illness.  This genetic link will have an impact on the diagnostic boundaries of psychiatric diagnoses such as found in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Losing Focus By Seeking It: Tragic Story of Addiction

Drowned In A Stream of Prescriptions by Alan Schwarz.  The New York Times.  February 2, 2013.

The tragic story of Richard Fee, college class president and aspiring medical student, is told in the context of the national problem of abuse of Adderall, an amphetamine-based medication for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.  The article points out that nearly 14 million monthly prescriptions for ADHD were written in 2011, two and a half times what was prescripted in 2007.