ADHD in the News 2017-12-14

ADHD and Adults: How to Use Your Strengths to Succeed

For years, clinicians and doctors have hyper-focused on the problems of ADHD. They viewed ADHD from a deficit-based model, versus seeing positive traits or strengths...But here’s the thing: You have strengths. Plenty of them. The key is to identify them and learn to harness them.



How Having ADHD Can Impact Your Sex Life

Do you feel as though you desire sexual intimacy more frequently than your non-attention deficit hyperactivity disordered partner? Then again, if you're dealing with ADHD, who wants to think about sex? It’s yet another activity that involves focus and planning, which is enough of a challenge for someone with ADHD. Experts say these situations – and others – are common: In short, having ADHD can certainly impact your sex life.



Study Links Tendency to Undervalue Future Rewards With ADHD and Obesity

Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have found a genetic signature for delay discounting — the tendency to undervalue future rewards — that overlaps with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), smoking and weight. In a study published December 11 in Nature Neuroscience, the team used data of 23andme customers who consented to participate in research and answered survey questions to assess delay discounting.



Ritalin During Pregnancy May Raise Risk of Heart Defect in Baby

If you take Ritalin or Concerta for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and you plan to become pregnant, you might want to talk to your doctor about switching your medication first. A new study found a small increased risk of having a baby with a heart defect if Ritalin/Concerta (methylphenidate) was taken by the mother-to-be. However, taking amphetamines for ADHD did not carry the same risk, researchers said.



ADHD Meds During Pregnancy Appear To Have Low Risk Of Birth Defects

Taking stimulant medications to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) during the first trimester of pregnancy is unlikely to cause major birth defects with one possible exception, suggests a new study. Researchers found no increased risks for amphetamines medication, but they found a small increased risk for congenital heart defects in newborns exposed to methylphenidate in the first trimester.



Preconception Paternal SSRI Use Linked to ADHD in Offspring

Paternal use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) before conception is associated with increased risk of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in offspring, according to a study published online Dec. 11 in Pediatrics.



Depressed High School Students More Likely to Drop Out

Older teens struggling with depression are more than twice as likely to drop out of high school as peers without that mental illness or those who recovered from a bout of depression earlier in life, Canadian researchers say...rates of conduct disorders and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were higher among the dropouts...But ADHD was not a factor significantly distinguishing dropouts