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Behavioral therapy is only needed to make people feel better about taking amphetamines. It takes only a very cursory review of published reputable papers to rea

Behavioral therapy is only needed to make people feel better about taking amphetamines. It takes only a very cursory review of published reputable papers to realize there's nothing behavioral therapy can do to improve ADHD because as Russell Barkley says ADHD is a disability of doing, not knowing what to do.

freetime2 11mo ago
If medication alone has worked for you, that's great! But I don't think your opinion matches the medical consensus. > For children with ADHD younger than 6 years of age, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends parent training in behavior management as the first line of treatment, before medication is tried. > For children 6 years of age and older, the recommendations include medication and behavior therapy together—parent training in behavior management for children up to age 12 and other types of behavior therapy and training for adolescents. Schools can be part of the treatment as well. AAP recommendations also include adding behavioral classroom intervention and school supports. [1] [1] https://www.cdc.gov/adhd/treatment/index.html https://www.cdc.gov/adhd/treatment/index.html
- skywhopper 11mo ago
  This makes sense for very young children, for various reasons, mainly that it’s hard or impossible to diagnose ADHD with reliability at such a young age, and because medication is hard to dose properly to a rapidly growing child. But these recommendations are honestly more about helping the parents cope than about treating the child’s ADHD. Behavioral therapy is more about learning how to fit in than addressing the actual problems (which are often exacerbated by the inevitable failure of such behavioral treatment and its corresponding expectations in folks with genuine ADHD).
  - boat-of-theseus 11mo ago
    [dead]
wisty 11mo ago
Not true. CBT works pretty well for adhd, studies are clear on this. But medication seems even better, as does a combination of therapy and medication. ADHD isn't unusual as far as the effectiveness of therapy, it's unusual in how well the medication is proven to work.
- cyberax 11mo ago
  > CBT works pretty well for adhd No, it doesn't. It _barely_ works and mostly consists of teaching people some coping mechanisms. Medication works _much_ better, especially when using in addition to the CBT.
- raducu 11mo ago
  > CBT works pretty well for adhd. I want to share my counter example -- no amount of therapy could help me not almost loose it every time I drove my daughter in heavy traffic or deal with her just being a toddler. But after 2 weeks being on concerta made lasting changes even months off the drug. It was the best type o therapy -- you just do the thing that triggers you minus the bad part and learn it's not so bad and you can do it, it has profound implications.
  - gishh 11mo ago
    Can we chat? You struck a chord with me.
- jon-wood 11mo ago
  CBT is effective in treating people whose problems mostly stem from an inaccurate view of themselves or the world around them, because CBT is training people to take a step back and reassess what they're seeing. If you're suffering from some forms of OCD for example it can be incredibly effective, it helps to reframe things. It is not effective, and I would argue actively worsens, situations where you're feeling bad about your accurate view of things, such as when you're depressed because you're unable to ever get any of the things you need to do done despite knowing they need to be done. CBT is unable to help in that situation because most people can't simply go "oh, well its ok, its a mental health condition" - employer, while sometimes supportive, aren't going to continue employing someone who doesn't do the work they're being paid for, and reframing that would eventually result in losing their job.

freetime2 11mo ago

If medication alone has worked for you, that's great! But I don't think your opinion matches the medical consensus. > For children with ADHD younger than 6 years of age, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends parent training in behavior management as the first line of treatment, before medication is tried. > For children 6 years of age and older, the recommendations include medication and behavior therapy together—parent training in behavior management for children up to age 12 and other types of behavior therapy and training for adolescents. Schools can be part of the treatment as well. AAP recommendations also include adding behavioral classroom intervention and school supports. [1] [1] https://www.cdc.gov/adhd/treatment/index.html https://www.cdc.gov/adhd/treatment/index.html

skywhopper 11mo ago
This makes sense for very young children, for various reasons, mainly that it’s hard or impossible to diagnose ADHD with reliability at such a young age, and because medication is hard to dose properly to a rapidly growing child. But these recommendations are honestly more about helping the parents cope than about treating the child’s ADHD. Behavioral therapy is more about learning how to fit in than addressing the actual problems (which are often exacerbated by the inevitable failure of such behavioral treatment and its corresponding expectations in folks with genuine ADHD).
- boat-of-theseus 11mo ago
  [dead]

wisty 11mo ago

Not true. CBT works pretty well for adhd, studies are clear on this. But medication seems even better, as does a combination of therapy and medication. ADHD isn't unusual as far as the effectiveness of therapy, it's unusual in how well the medication is proven to work.

cyberax 11mo ago
> CBT works pretty well for adhd No, it doesn't. It _barely_ works and mostly consists of teaching people some coping mechanisms. Medication works _much_ better, especially when using in addition to the CBT.
raducu 11mo ago
> CBT works pretty well for adhd. I want to share my counter example -- no amount of therapy could help me not almost loose it every time I drove my daughter in heavy traffic or deal with her just being a toddler. But after 2 weeks being on concerta made lasting changes even months off the drug. It was the best type o therapy -- you just do the thing that triggers you minus the bad part and learn it's not so bad and you can do it, it has profound implications.
- gishh 11mo ago
  Can we chat? You struck a chord with me.
jon-wood 11mo ago
CBT is effective in treating people whose problems mostly stem from an inaccurate view of themselves or the world around them, because CBT is training people to take a step back and reassess what they're seeing. If you're suffering from some forms of OCD for example it can be incredibly effective, it helps to reframe things. It is not effective, and I would argue actively worsens, situations where you're feeling bad about your accurate view of things, such as when you're depressed because you're unable to ever get any of the things you need to do done despite knowing they need to be done. CBT is unable to help in that situation because most people can't simply go "oh, well its ok, its a mental health condition" - employer, while sometimes supportive, aren't going to continue employing someone who doesn't do the work they're being paid for, and reframing that would eventually result in losing their job.