Reacción a "Meta-analysis examines efficacy of ADHD treatments in adults"

The most telling findings from this study are that for adults diagnosed with ADHD, the medications usually used (stimulants and atomoxetine):

• have somewhere between very low to moderate impact on symptoms in the short term
• have no positive impact on outcomes at one year follow up
• are not shown to improve quality of life, a more important measure than symptomatic improvement.

The authors rightly point out the quality of evidence is poor, there are harms from medication, and more research is needed about meaningful benefits beyond symptomatic improvement of questionable significance.

The study reinforces the need for clinicians to go beyond oversimplified symptomatic diagnosis to seek understanding of why each individual is experiencing some combination of inattentiveness, overactivity and impulsivity, since merely diagnosing and treating ADHD will have dubious benefit.