Aug. 25, 2010 Adding cognitive behavioral therapy -- an approach
that teaches skills for handling life challenges and revising
negative thought patterns -- to pharmaceutical treatment for
attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) significantly
improved symptom control in a study of adult patients. The
report from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers
appear in the August 25 Journal of the American Medical
Association. "Medications are very effective in 'turning down
the volume' on ADHD symptoms, but they do not teach people
skills," explains Steven Safren, PhD, ABPP, director of
Behavioral Medicine in the MGH Department of Psychiatry, who led
the study. "This study shows that a skills-based approach can
help patients learn how to cope with their attention problems
and better manage this significant and impairing disorder." More
than 4 percent of adults in the U.S. have ADHD, and while
stimulants and other psychiatric medications are the primary
first-line treatment, the study authors note tha