ADHD Drugs Have Wider Life Benefits, Study Suggests (bbc.com)
- Reference: 0178695444
- News link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/08/15/2040240/adhd-drugs-have-wider-life-benefits-study-suggests
- Source link: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crr2j792drro
> Drug treatment can help people newly diagnosed with ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) to [1]reduce their risk of substance misuse, suicidal behavior, transport accidents and criminality , a study suggests. These issues are linked to common ADHD symptoms such as acting impulsively and becoming easily distracted. Some 5% of children and 2.5% of adults worldwide are thought to be affected by the disorder -- and growing numbers are being diagnosed. The findings, [2]published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), confirm the wider potential benefits of drug treatment and could help patients decide whether to start medication, the researchers say.
The researchers found taking ADHD medication was linked to reductions of first-time instances of:
- suicidal behavior - 17%
- substance misuse - 15%
- transport accidents - 12%
- criminal behavior - 13%
When recurrent events were analyzed, the researchers found ADHD medication was linked to reductions of:
- 15% for suicide attempts
- 25% for substance misuses
- 4% for accidental injuries
- 16% for transport accidents
- 25% for criminal behavior
[1] https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crr2j792drro
[2] https://www.bmj.com/content/390/bmj-2024-083658
False positives (Score:3)
With vague symptoms such as acting impulsively and becoming easily distracted and so many ads (liven AI app) for ADHD I see on YouTube how can there not be a huge amount of false positives from people doing self diagnosising.
Re: (Score:2)
Unless the people running the study were total lunatics or exceptionally hard up for data(which seems unlikely for a fairly common condition); I suspect that they'd just ignore self-diagnoses.
Since you can't get the required prescription otherwise the 'medication' group is going to be essentially entirely people with formal diagnoses(almost certainly of varying quality; a GP mostly being willing to take your word for it and trying to get you out in under 30 minutes counts as much as 20+ hours over a peri
Re: (Score:2)
There will be false positive diagnoses from professionals and there will be bad self diagnoses. But that is true of many psychological issues. What is the rate of false diagnosis? What harm comes to the person who is wrongly diagnosed? I think those are important questions.
it's not the drugs (Score:3)
Weirdly written summary.
Let's be clear: the summary repeatedly talks about the drugs being the thing that's giving all these beneficial results.
It's the suppression of ADHD that is giving these results -the drugs are apparently successful in their job.
Re: it's not the drugs (Score:3)
Yeah... the headlines I've been seeing fail to mention that the test subjects all had ADHD to qualify to get the meds in the first place.
ADHD had a high correlation with depression and the many results that can come from depression.
Hopefully articles like this don't result in it being even more difficult for the people who need them to get access to their meds, because it's a royal PITA to have CVS not willing to tell you who actually has it in stock, so you have to go from store to store... then have your
Re: (Score:2)
I've had good luck with Amazon Pharmacy.
Re: (Score:2)
I suspect that the medical ethics of this would be...fraught; but it would be very interesting to know whether that's pretty much entirely the mechanism; or if there's some combination of "reduction in ADHD severity is good for you" and "psychostimulants are useful for certain tasks" at play.
'Transport accidents' jumps out as the one that probably isn't unrelated to ADHD, attention is pretty critical on the road; but where there's a fairly obvious group of tired but otherwise normal drivers who would pro
Re: (Score:2)
People have eaten grains for well over 170,000 years, if they caused issues among the general population we would have abandoned them millennia ago. Gluten sensitivity seems to be a recent phenomenon.
Lies and False Narrative again from BBC (Score:2)
The "symptoms" listed wont be "Fixed" by ADHD meds, once again a false narrative from the nations most experience propagandist the BBC ( AKA British Bullshit Corporation )
The symptoms listed are not caused by ADHD and therefore cannot be cured with meds.
These symptoms are caused by the fact that neurodivergent people see and experience the world
in a different way to nuerotypicals. This makes us more suceptable to bullying, abuse, being misunderstood and our peers having misguided expectations.
Sick bastards
Faulty reasoning that turned ADHD into a disease (Score:2)
[1]The Faulty Reasoning That Turned ADHD Into a Disease [madinamerica.com]
“The descriptive classification Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is often mistaken for a disease entity that explains the causes of inattentive and hyperactive behaviors, rather than merely describing the existence of such behaviors,”
[1] https://www.madinamerica.com/2018/02/scientism-attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder/
...with ADHD (Score:2)
Why start with a group "diagnosed" with ADHD at all? Why not compare randomized drugged vs non-drugged in general population?
The term "diagnosis" could be misleading. If you check my anti-bodies there is a positive result. If you look with a microscope you can see pathologies. But a list of behavior symptoms is totally different. And committing suicide is of a different order from becoming easily distracted. The drugs and the "outcomes" are "real" (the outcomes are not focused on behaviors, but on "facts")
Get help (Score:2)
For my fellows with ADHD, it's important to realize there is a type of ADHD that meds don't work for. It's called [1]cognitive disengagement syndrome [wikipedia.org].
As for the other comments here, it definitely goes without saying that it is difficult to understand unless you have it. All I can say is that I wondered my whole life how people could visualize the days of the week and what they had to do during the week so easily. For me I have one appointment that isn't normal and I can't deal with it. I can't visualize
[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_disengagement_syndrome
Off-Lable Human Experimentation (Score:2)
Did these people volunteer? "Cognitive Derangement Syndrome" is not in DSM 5tr. Also, I am concerned about the calling people with ADD deranged, when likely, they just need to do physical actives.
I can't tolerate the side effects. (Score:2)
The drop in criminal behavior from these ADHD medications severely affects my tech C-suite role and totally blocks me off from starting a political career.
Say that again? (Score:2)
Superb editing.
Re: Say that again? (Score:2)
The drugs that give people increased heart rate, mood changes, anxiety, trouble sleeping, dry mouth, stomach pain, nausea, loss of appetite, bladder pain, and hallucinations may also offer some slight benefits for depressed people.
Re: (Score:2)
I take a non stimulant medication. It works fine with none of those side effects. In fact I now have fewer of the symptoms you have listed, except loss of appetite. I've lost thirty pounds and no longer seek comfort in food as I once did. Life changing for me. I didn't start taking it until a few years ago and everyday I seem to discover something that I've missed my entire life because of anxiety and volatility. I quit smoking pot. I have drank alcohol three times in five years. I used to drink wee