A lot of teenagers, and even children, are prescribed antidepressants, somewhere from 1% to 1.5% of the population. At one point studies estimated that as many as 1.66% of children or adolescents were prescribed antidepressant medication, but after the FDA required a "black box" warning label for the medications in 2005, the prescription rate has dropped. The warning label states that the use of antidepressants among children and teenagers is associate with an increased risk of suicial thoughts, and suicial behaviors. So physicians have backed off of prescribing the medications.

However, the estimated suicide rate among American adolescents is about 16%. Read more of the article...

Tourette's Syndrome is very close, in terms of genetics, to ADHD. As a result, those with Tourettes and those with ADHD may share a lot of symptoms, and it is common for children or teens with Tourette Syndrome to be misdiagnosed as having ADHD. When this happens, typically the child or teen is started on stimulant medication, and sometime within 18 months the tics associated with Tourettes will begin.

Here are our thoughts on this from our reply to a letter from a reader:

Dear Dr. Cowan, Read more of the article...

Let’s begin by pointing out that we have recently written about ADHD and Depression in Teenage Girls, and have even produced a brief internet video on the topic. As reported in that article, females with ADHD tend to have the “inattentive” type of ADHD (what we refer to as Winnie the Pooh type), where males tend to have the “impulsive-hyperactive” type or a “combined type” of ADHD (what we refer to as Tigger type ADHD). Read more of the article...

Recent Study on Milk and ADHD

Changes in our diets can be used as a treatment intervention for ADHD. And according to a recent study from Norway, it seems that at least a sub-group of children with ADHD have a particular type of protein imbalance that may be contributing to a child’s ADHD symptoms, or may be causing that child’s ADHD problem entirely.

The study began back in 1996 as a group of researchers and educators in Norway began a study of 23 children with ADHD. They placed the children on a milk free diet and have followed the performance of the children since. The researchers wanted to see if the ADHD symptoms in the children, particularly hyperactivity and impulsivity, would improve by avoiding milk, or more specifically the casein in the milk. Read more of the article...

Depression and ADHD in Teenage Girls

Several studies in recent years have looked into the impact of ADHD on the lives of teenage girls. MRI studies report that teenager’s brains are rapidly maturing, but that they are not fully mature until the early 20’s in females, and perhaps the early 30’s in males. Long-term studies on behavior and emotional health report that girls with ADHD may struggle through the teen years. And other studies report that depression is common among teens with ADHD, and is so common among adolescents that the use of medications for ADHD, antidepressants, anti-psychotics, and even sleep medications, is up sharply with adolescent girls. Read more of the article...

By Guest Author Rory Stern Psy.D.

There I was watching television one afternoon, and a commercial came on that reported, "X% of people who suffer from depression and take medication, continue to experience symptoms of depression."

I was on the edge of my seat... I couldn't believe it! Were they finally going to suggest other treatment besides medication? Was someone going to finally blow the lid on treatment and actually suggest the importance of therapy and better understanding the behaviors? Read more of the article...

Amino Acids and Diet: Two Recent ADHD Studies

We have long held the opinion that the symptoms of ADHD could be lessened, and perhaps fully treated, by the use of amino acids and the help of specific ADD diets. Now two studies, one from Italy and the other from Norway, give more support for our position that prescription medications, particularly stimulants, are not the only effective ADHD treatments available.

The study from Italy looked at the effectiveness of just one amino acid in a population of ADHD children are well known as poor responders to stimulant treatment – children with Fragile X syndrome and ADHD. Read more of the article...

Don sent a message using the contact form at http://newideas.net/contact.

Hi, I have been using the Attend Strategy Pack for about three weeks now and have seen significant improvements; however, will the benefits subside when I quit using Attend...and if so how much? I plan to take it for at least three months, but will it be necessary to take it longer than that?
Read more of the article...

ADHD Stimulant Medication and ER Visits for Heart Problems in Children

Are the risks of heart problems greater in children who are prescribed stimulant medications for ADHD than for children who are not taking such medications? The University of Florida researched this question and published their results in the journal Pediatrics in December, 2007.

What they found was that the use of stimulant medication for ADHD in children and teenagers may be the cause for an increased number of emergency room visits, or visits to the doctor’s office, because of cardiac symptoms such as a racing heart or increased blood pressure. But the study also found that deaths, or serious heart complications, are rare. Read more of the article...

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...

For those of you parents, especially those who have children taking ADHD medications, we want you to be aware of the following information.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) just startled everyone by reporting on a study that estimates that each year cough and cold medicines send about 7,091 children to hospital emergency rooms, which accounts for 5.7% of all emergency room visits for medications in this age group. Read more of the article...

The Associated Press is reporting that the Center for Disease Control (CDC) is estimating that each year cough and cold medicines send about 7,091 children to hospital emergency rooms.

Of these 7,000 cases, about two-thirds of the cases were children who took the medicines unsupervised. Of the remaining 2,600 cases, about 1,600 were were children under the age of 2 years old who were given over-the-counter cough and cold medicines that the FDA considers to be too dangerous for such young children.

However, about one-quarter involved cases in which parents gave the proper dosage and an allergic reaction or some other problem developed, the study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. Read more of the article...

Just as 2006 and 2007 saw an increase options for delivery systems of medications for ADHD, the next generation of medications for ADHD may be just around the corner in 2008 and 2009. These NextGen medications are known as ProDrugs, and they have the potential to change the way medications are prescribed to individuals with ADHD.

Since there has been a recent explosion of new ADHD drugs such as Strattera, or new delivery systems such as Daytrana, or “old drugs in new dresses” such as Concerta, why in the world is it necessary to develop any more new drugs for ADHD? Why should we care? Read more of the article...

My 12 y/o son has been treated successfully with Concerta and Omega oils for about 3 years - in an inclusive behaviour management classroom - there is no other way to help kids here in Canada - you either stick them full time in a class with other kids that present all types of behaviour issues - or if you are lucky and have a son or daughter that does no present out of the ordinary behaviour you might be able to find a spot in a class where if and when he needs behaviour modification a youth worker will, away from his daily environment, help him modify his behaviour. This is not like home, it works, it tough, but he has learned a lot in the past two years. Read more of the article...

Communicate Clearly With Your Teen

By Christine McGogy

How would you like to have a closer relationship with your teen again? Your ability to communicate effectively with your teen is one of the most precious skills you can develop to achieve this goal.

When we think of communication, we tend to think only of the way we can express ourselves. This is certainly important, but listening is the single most crucial of all communication skills. Read more of the article...