4 ms·
I would love to see a study done comparing the benefits of Ritalin, Adderall etc. to users diagnosed as having ADD/ADHD against users not diagnosed as having it
by dmg_83 17y ago
I would love to see a study done comparing the benefits of Ritalin, Adderall etc. to users diagnosed as having ADD/ADHD against users not diagnosed as having it. If the former group receives significantly greater benefits that would be a strong indicator that ADHD is a distinct condition, rather than a label applied to a set of personality traits. On the other hand, if the benefits were similar for both groups it would call into question why one of them is denied (legal) access to the drug.
- tokenadult 17y agoI have a lot of medical monographs at hand including descriptions of such studies. I'm still reading them. But the summaries I've seen so far in my reading are quite ambiguous as to claimed benefits of taking ADHD drugs (for anyone), especially for the inattentive subtype of ADD. Subjectively reported "this drug really helps me" or third-party observation of "this kid doesn't wiggle around so much in class" is not the same as carefully verified gains in learning from using the drug versus not using the drug.