Parents Guide to ADHD Medications

Today the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the American Psychiatric Association released a parents' guide to ADHD medication. Since it was developed by "mental health professionals and parent advocacy groups, with no drug company funding" I believe it to be a practical, unbiased guide. According to Reuters, "the guide lists some of the most common side effects of current stimulant drugs to treat ADHD including reduced appetite, weight loss, trouble sleeping, headaches, stomach pain and irritability. Rare and serious side effects include heart-related problems, hallucinations and agitation, suicidal thoughts and liver problems, it said." It also "takes on questions about the risk for addiction, and even offers some help on how parents can enlist help from their child's school." Dr. Adelaide Robb, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at the Children's National Medical Center in Washington, stated

"We are not here to medicate children into being zombies in the classroom, we are here to help them focus and pay attention so they are able to learn, and when they are teens, to help them pay attention in traffic."

You can download the free guide here. It is available in English and in Spanish.