Psychobiotics: An Emerging Concept in Mental Health Care

Psychobiotics are a recently characterized class of probiotics that affect brain function via immune, neural, and metabolic pathways…This post is offered as a concise review of essential concepts and recent research findings in the broad area of psychobiotics. (Readers can find a more in-depth discussion in Cheng et al 2019.)

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Sleep apnea in children may cause ADHD-like symptoms

Symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) may also be a sign of asleep apnea in children according to experts. An estimated one to four percent of children experience sleep apnea, according to the American Sleep Apnea Association. Many of the children who deal with this disorder are between the ages of two and eight.

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School Is Here: Helping Kids With ADHD Start Out Right

It’s back-to-school time. Helping kids with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) start the year right and do well both at home and at school usually requires the combined efforts of school professionals and primary care providers. We asked Thomas Power, PhD, ABPP, a psychologist and director of the Center for Management of ADHD at the Children’s Hospital…

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Driving for teens with ADHD: What parents need to know

For all parents, it’s a scary time when their teen starts to drive. For parents of teens with ADHD, it can be–and should be–even scarier…In a 2019 study published in Pediatrics, researchers looked at information about accidents, violations, and suspensions over the first four years of licensure for about 15,000 adolescent drivers. About 2,000 of…

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It Matters Which Romantic Partner Has ADHD

In heterosexual couples, it matters which partner has ADHD. According to new research that I have recently published, when the woman has ADHD, the two romantic partners are a little bit happier than when it is the man who has ADHD. More notably, they have sex 25% more often–73 vs 59 times per year. That…

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ADHD Medication Associated With Reduced Unintentional Injuries in Youth

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medication is associated with a reduction in unintentional injuries in children and adolescents of both sexes, according to research published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry…Researchers used deidentified inpatient, outpatient, and filled prescription claims data from the Truven Health MarketScan Research Databases.

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Merck Manuals Survey Reveals 70% of Americans Think ADHD is Over-Diagnosed in Today’s Culture

More than half of Americans (52%) say they personally know someone who has been diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to a recent survey from the Merck Manuals…seven in 10 Americans overall (70%) somewhat or strongly agree that ADHD is over-diagnosed in today’s culture. Moreover, 30% of Americans believe that prescription medication is the only…

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Teacher training needed to help students with ADHD

Better training for teachers to understand ADHD and how to deal with it in the classroom is more important than targeted funding to support the student at school, ADHD experts say. Parents overwhelmingly believe teachers and key staff need professional development and training to better support children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to…

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Emotions, Not Nutrition Classes, Are Key to Behavior Change

New research presented by the European Society of Cardiology suggests that we have been going about addressing childhood obesity all wrong. Instead of focusing on nutritional knowledge, we should be teaching children self-regulation and emotion management skills…parents frequently ask about how to help ADHD children remain committed to goals like healthy eating when their neurology…

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Asking the Wrong Questions About Coping With ADHD

There are different phases of learning to cope with ADHD, and one of the phases that many of us pass through is the phase of wishing we were like people who didn’t have ADHD…Part of learning to cope more effectively is learning how to replace the wrong questions with the right ones.

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Got ADHD? There’s a Coach for That

I recently got a call from a mother who was looking to hire an ADHD coach for her teen daughter. She told me that a friend of hers suggested she find an ADHD coach to which she responded, “An ADHD coach? What the heck is that? Is there such a thing? What do they do?…

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