ADHD in the News 2025-02-27
Can RFK Jr. Really Take Away ADHD Medications?
The Trump Administration is calling for a report “assess[ing] the prevalence of and threat" of several drugs, including stimulants like Adderall
Snooker Legend Jimmy White Reveals His ADHD Diagnosis – Therapists Explain How to Manage It
Jimmy White, the 62-year-old snooker legend, has opened up about his ADHD diagnosis, saying he wishes he had known about it sooner. He believes that if he had, he could have had an even more successful snooker career.
Speaking of Psychology: Why are more adults being diagnosed with ADHD? With Russell Ramsay, PhD
Episode 321: For many years, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) was seen as a disorder of childhood. But in recent years, an increasing number of adults have been diagnosed with it as well. Clinician and researcher Russell Ramsay, PhD, discusses what’s driving the rise in adult diagnoses, what ADHD looks like in adults, how it affects people’s lives—including their work, relationships, and health—and what treatments are available.
How Tufts Is Helping to Develop the First U.S. Guidelines for ADHD in Adults
A School of Medicine expert is part of a panel tasked with shaping guidelines for diagnosis and treatment of the condition
Co-prescribed stimulants, opioids linked to higher opioid doses
The combination of prescribed central nervous system stimulants, such as drugs that relieve ADHD symptoms, with prescribed opioid medications is associated with a pattern of escalating opioid intake, a new study has found. The analysis of health insurance claims data from almost 3 million U.S. patients investigated prescribed stimulants’ impact on prescription opioid use over 10 years, looking for origins of the so-called “twin epidemic” of combining the two classes of drugs, which can increase the risk for overdose deaths.
Who Are the Youth With Undiagnosed ADHD Symptoms?
Key Takeaways: Children with higher cognitive abilities and social skills often face delayed or missed ADHD diagnoses, especially females, indicating potential sex bias in diagnosis. Emotional and behavioral difficulties, emotional dysregulation, lower cognitive ability, and poorer prosocial skills increase the likelihood of earlier ADHD diagnosis. Emotional dysregulation is gaining recognition as a key ADHD symptom, despite not being included in current diagnostic criteria. Undiagnosed ADHD can undermine development, highlighting the need for assessments if symptoms and functional impacts are present, regardless of academic and social abilities.
Transcranial direct current stimulation yields some positive effect in pediatric ADHD
Key takeaways: Transcranial direct current stimulation significantly improved interference control but not working memory accuracy. No serious adverse events were reported in the sham or treatment groups.
Researchers show how humans learn to optimize working memory
Working memory is what allows humans to juggle different pieces of information in short-term scenarios, like making a mental grocery list and then going shopping or remembering and then dialing a phone number. While scientists agree that the capacity of working memory is limited, they offer competing theories about how and why this is true. But new research from scientists at the Carney Institute for Brain Science at Brown University shows why limits on working memory exist.
Rice-based baby food linked to lower ADHD risk in Taiwan study
An analysis of data from the Taiwan Birth Cohort Study found that complementary feeding with rice-based solid food was a protective factor against the development of ADHD, reducing the hazard of the disorder by 27%. Male sex, low family income, low birth weight, and advanced maternal age were among risk factors for ADHD.
Can chili peppers improve ADHD symptoms? Scientists explore their gut-brain connection
In a recent review article in the journal Frontiers in Nutrition, researchers described what is currently known about the potential application of chili peppers in treating attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) through its impacts on the gut microbiome.
Should You Use Caffeine to Treat Your ADHD?
Key points: Some people who want to avoid medication for ADHD turn to caffeine, thinking it is more natural. Caffeine has some important similarities to ADHD stimulant medications and could be considered a medication. However, like medications, it can also have side effects, and it does work differently from ADHD medications.
Connecting Biology to Behavior in ADHD: The Amygdala’s Role
Key points: Individuals with ADHD experience big emotions that are difficult to manage. Disrupted connections between the amygdala and frontal cortex play a role in emotional dysregulation. Amygdala hijack is when the emotional brain takes over the thinking brain, preventing goal-directed behaviors.
Is your child’s 504 plan at risk? What to know about the lawsuit targeting disability protections.
A section of federal civil rights law that protects individuals with disabilities from discrimination — and through which students with disabilities such as ADHD and dyslexia are afforded additional classroom support — may be at risk. That’s because a group of conservative states is suing the US government over Section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act.
New research calls for updated definition of dyslexia
A new definition of dyslexia is needed to more accurately describe the learning disorder and give those struggling with dyslexia the specific support they require, says new research. Dyslexia has had several different definitions over the years and this murky and complicated history means it can be a postcode lottery for children who may have dyslexia, or those who have been diagnosed but can't access the support they need.