[k0n2ad]

No matter how you look at it, Ritalin, Adderall, Concerta and similar drugs are amphetamines or amphetamine analogues. You can take them (at a threshold dose that is unique to your body), and you will feel more focused, concentrated and on top of things. Take too much of it (this includes people with "ADHD") and you will have manic symptoms.

Do the medications help people with problems concentrating, impulsiveness and attention (collectively known as ADD)? Yes. Are there healthier ways to change your brain? Most definitely. I'd like to see a kid who is on ADHD get prescribed an exercise/meditation/therapy routine and compare the results to someone treated with medication. I'm sure the results would surprise a lot of people. Our body is a feedback-oriented system. "Chemical Imbalances" in the brain are often remedied with lifestyle changes. This includes "diseases" such as depression, anxiety and adhd. The corporations that research these conditions are quick to jump to conclusions based on limited scientific information if it means they have a good chance of success. It's been scientifically proven that exercise and diet play an enormous role in helping you concentrate and pay attention. But you know what? Advertising exercise won't make Shire Pharmaceuticals any richer. It's way easier for parents to resort to a medication as well. Who has time to monitor their kids anymore? Advertisements would have you believe that it's your only choice. AND they make everything sound all scientific, when in reality they are picking and choosing data. It's really a sad situation, but I hope there are enough people out there who know about the alternatives. It sucks being so dependent on these stimulants that you can't focus without them - you are bound to used them for the rest of your life. And who even knows what the long term effects are? The results are just starting to come in...

[blueben]

Actually, the results won't "surprise" a lot of people. For most ADHD sufferers: Exercise and therapy are somewhat effective, medication is even more effective, and combining the two approaches is the most effective. Big surprise.

The results are not "just starting to come in", though that's a common claim for folks who aren't actually familiar with the field. Ritalin has been studied for over 70 years. People have been taking it for decades on end. The long term results are that people with ADHD lead better lives. How horrible.

[k0n2ad]

No doubt, there are plenty of cases when medication is the right option. However, there are many more cases where it's not.

How we do psychology? We take a bunch of symptoms that seem to coincide with a group of individuals and we label it as a disorder : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adhd#DSM-IV_criteria

The fact that these symptoms exist and cause problems for many individuals is of no question - that's why we have a "disorder" label associated with it. There is no dispute that medication is effective in treating these symptoms, either.

However, the claim that medication "even more effective" is flimsy, if not flat out wrong. The problem is that there are many more studies devoted to the "effects of ritalin on ADHD" than there are to the "effects of exercise and ADHD." Or meditation, or biofeedback, or eating 7 lbs of celery a day, or whatever. To make the claim that "drugs are more effective" is easier because studies of this nature are more prevalent - but it doesn't make it right. That would be a total confirmation bias.

A difficulty in comparing medication to other methods is that medication = instant gratification and instant results. You eat a pill. A half hour later, you are focused, less scattered and more attentive. In the similar way to how coffee wakes you up if you are tired. It's easy to make an experiment out of such results. Exercise, in contrast, isn't instant. Exercise increases levels of nor-epinephrine and dopamine... but not nearly as rapidly (or with as little work) as an amphetamine compound. Steady and healthy levels of serotonin (which is now being studied as another player in the ADHD game) don't begin to rise until weeks of daily exercising. It may be slower, but our bodies are capable of changing, and for quantities of any given chemical being pumped out to increase, you need to keep doing things that keep causing it to be released. You need to form habits that make your body more effective at producing it's own chemical cocktails. Take a basic course in human physiology or neuroscience if you don't believe how amazing and capable our bodies and brains are at adapting and improving.

Furthermore, a disorder label can easily be misconstrued by a young individual with ADHD. They might think to themselves, "Wow, finally, a word to describe all the problems I'm having. It's not my fault after all, I'm sick, and I need medicine." It sucks because instead of really trying to go beyond the condition by using their will, they may give up and go the route of altering their minds externally - just to keep up with their peers. Is that a bad thing? Well, I'll leave that up to the reader.

It is my personal opinion that that overcoming challenges of ADHD is not only possible through other, healthier methods (exercise, meditation and learning/coping strategies), but is more rewarding as well (speaking from personal experience).

However, no one can do this by themselves - and it sucks that some people do not have the support, and that schools don't have a 15 minute exercise break every 3 hours, and that they don't let you eat snacks in class, and that we are constantly exposed to electronic stimulation from a very young age, that some of us don't learn how to control our intake of these things. Television, video games and other forms of electronic stimulation have been proven to release dopamine (Jeez, what doesn't?). A person with ADHD can easily focus to a show on TV with quickly changing camera angles, loud sounds, constant dialogue and continuous novelty. We grew up with this. But, when we are in class, we fidget, and daydream and blurt things out because this stimulation is not present, so our bodies are attempting to mitigate the dopamine withdrawal through the constant production of activity, of both the mind and the body.

Finally, Ritalin hasn't been studied for 70 years. It's been about 40. It didn't start being used for ADHD until The late 60s, and wasn't in widespread use until the 90s - which is when the more serious studies began to come out.

There's much more to say, but I'm getting tired :)

Sources: http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-03-26-adhd-treatmen... http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/12/041220013546.ht... http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/565830

[Imprecate]

What do you think are some effective lifestyle changes for people with ADHD? When I was a child, my parents tried all sorts of things since they didn't want to medicate me: talk therapy, activities, spending more time on organization, dietary changes, etc. I don't think they were especially helpful, but I'm always interested in trying new things.

One thing that did work for me was changing jobs. I was working a pretty traditional programming job, then moved to go work on an automated trading desk. I was on medication before but never got around to finding a psychiatrist in my new city for quite a while. I was doing short projects where you could see an immediate P&L impact; if I had buggy code it needed to be fixed immediately since money was on the line; I had a lot to learn since the culture there just expects you to know things.

I think finding a line of work with a tight effort-reward loop and frequent, interesting challenges works wonders. Unfortunately for me, I got good quickly and have to work on larger projects now.