As parents of ADHD kids know all too well, children with ADHD often have difficulty handling stress, or stressful situations. Now, a team of researchers in Australia may have found a biological reason why this is so. Read more of the article...

Does Ritalin Use Alter a Child’s Brain?

This was a common headline in the media regarding another of the really interesting studies published this summer. The actual name of the study was:

“Methylphenidate Administration to Juvenile Rats Alters Brain Areas Involved in Cognition, Motivated Behaviors, Appetite, and Stress.”

The study attempted to answer questions regarding the consequences of using Ritalin (Methylphenidate) long-term in children. The researcher’s had concerns that no one really knows what long-term use of Ritalin does to a child’s brain, so they studied the impact of Ritalin use on 16 areas of the brains of young male rats, hoping to find clues. Read more of the article...

ABSTRACT

Context Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most prevalent psychiatric disorder of childhood. There is considerable evidence that brain dopamine is involved in ADHD, but it is unclear whether dopamine activity is enhanced or depressed.

Objective To test the hypotheses that striatal dopamine activity is depressed in ADHD and that this contributes to symptoms of inattention. Read more of the article...

Press Release: June 4, 2007

NIMH recently approved funding to test the effectiveness of an early intervention in children at high risk for developing bipolar disorder. Though early in the research process, the long-term goal of this study is to reduce or delay the development of bipolar disorder in at-risk youth, heading off the effects of the disorder before it disrupts healthy development and functioning. Read more of the article...

But Linked Problems Persist Into Adolescence - Major Follow-up Study

Most children treated in a variety of ways for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) showed sustained improvement after three years in a major follow-up study funded by the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). Yet increased risk for behavioral problems, including delinquency and substance use, remained higher than normal.

The study followed-up children who had participated in the Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (MTA). Read more of the article...

Effects of reward and response cost on response inhibition in AD/HD, disruptive, anxious, and normal children.

Author/s: Jaap Oosterlaan
Issue: June, 1998

Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) has been conceptualized as a disorder which arises from a deficit in the capability for response inhibition (e.g., Barkley, 1994, 1997; Douglas, 1989; Newman & Wallace, 1993; Pennington & Ozonoff, 1996; Quay, 1988a, 1988b, 1997; Wender, 1972). That is, a failure to suppress inappropriate responding has been postulated to underlie the inattentive, hyperactive, and impulsive behavior that characterizes AD/HD. Read more of the article...