ADHD Study: Reducing the Need for High Medication Doses with Behavior Therapy

Medication treatment and behavior therapy are both considered effective treatments for ADHD; the combination of these treatments is generally regarded as an ideal approach for many children. However, in the Multimodal Treatment Study of ADHD (MTA Study), the largest ADHD treatment study ever conducted, the benefit of combined treatment relative to medication treatment alone — while significant for some outcome measures — was not especially robust. This has led some professionals to question whether behavior therapy is necessary when a child is being effectively treated with medication, i.e., will behavior therapy make a sufficient different to be worthwhile? (For a review of the initial set of findings from the MTA study. One limitation of most prior studies examining combined treatment — MTA included — is that the incremental benefits of behavior therapy have been examined in the context of an optimized medication dose. For example, each child in the MTA Study began medication treatment with an intensive placebo-controlled trial to determine his or her most effective dose. Thus, the benefits of adding behavioral treatment to medication was evaluated in the context of an optimized medication regime. Generally speaking, the incremental benefits of behavior treatment when evaluated in this context are modest at best. However, medication treatment in community settings is rarely delivered in ways to optimize benefits. And, an entirely different but important question is ...
Source: SharpBrains - Category: Neurologists Authors: Tags: Attention and ADD/ADHD Cognitive Neuroscience behavior-therapy medication Source Type: blogs