A recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, indicates that adults with ADHD might benefit from CBT also referred to as talk therapy.About 4.4 percent of adults in the United States have ADHD, 85 % are estimated to be undiagnosed. The most common treatment for adult ADHD is medications like Adderall and Ritalin. But medication isn’t always enough.
Dr. Steven Safren, the lead author on the study from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston told Reuters Health: “Meds are effective in turning the volume down on symptoms, however usually they don’t do everything.”
A recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, indicates that adults with ADHD might benefit from CBT also referred to as talk therapy. Dr. John Piacentini, a psychiatrist at the University of California, Los Angeles who was not involved in the study, told Reuters Health: “CBT is based on the idea that what we think and how we interpret our environment affects our behavior (and) affects how we act and how we feel.”
The research team led by Dr. Safren divided 86 adults into two groups who had ADHD symptoms that had persisted despite medication.
Patients in one group went to sessions for 3 months or 12 individual CBT sessions, while patients in the other group focused on relaxation techniques, education about ADHD, and support during 12 scheduled sessions.
Two thirds of the first group that participated in the 12 CBT sessions improved during their program and one-third of the second group receiving educational therapy and relaxation techniques improved during the course of their program.
The improvements made in both groups were maintained 9 months after treatment ended.
“That shows that teaching people with ADHD to change their way of thinking and their behavior can help them make real changes in their lives,” Piacentini said.
“The medication only works while you’re taking it,” he explained. “The benefits of CBT are that the patients in the study were learning techniques that they can use lifelong.”
The findings “represent a huge step forward in the psychosocial treatment research for adults with ADHD,” Dr. J. Russell Ramsay, the associate director of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine’s ADHD Treatment and Research Program, told Reuters Health.
Posted by David Giwerc on 08/31 at 11:43 AM
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Sunday, August 29, 2010
3rd Annual ADHD Conference-Register Now
David Giwerc will be a guest speaker at the 3rd Annual Virtual AD/HD Conference™ which will take place on October 4-6, 2010
This Virtual AD/HD Conference is an Opportunity to Interact with many of the Experts, Get Your Questions Answered, Connect with the Community, and Get the Tools and Resources You Need to Succeed… Without Ever Leaving Home!
A full conference agenda can be found on the conference website - Click Here
This event is for everyone affected by AD/HD, including adults, parents, spouses, and professionals. You can choose to attend sessions live via telephone or webcast, or just listen to the recordings later on. There will also be plenty of opportunities to interact with others like you in dedicated discussion forums.
This unique event is always both informative and fun! Register today
Lately, I have been observing people in conversations more than I ever have before;
and what I have noticed is most people are very uncomfortable with silence.
Whether you are at a restaurant with friends, listening to a lecture or simply having
a conversation with a friend, I sense there is an underlying pressure that most people
feel to fill the space of silence. You perceive a void and feel responsible for creating
some sort of response because the silence makes you squirm in your mind and body.
We as a human race are very uncomfortable with silence. Just check it out for yourself.
Sit in a quiet room, with a clock or watch that has a second hand. Of course the clock
must be clearly in view, with no distractions and don’t say anything for thirty seconds.
Just listen and be present with the silence permeating your presence. Notice how long
that small duration of time feels when there is total silence. How did it make you feel?
What did you notice? Where did your mind and thoughts go? What would happen if you
extended it to one minute of silence?
People who regularly meditate often do it for thirty minutes to one hour a day. They
claim it clears the fog in their mind and creates renewed energy. After doing this
exercise, I think it will be come increasingly clear to you it takes discipline to sit still
in silence.
I think the benefits to people with ADHD can be significant but learning to sit still with
a physically and/or cognitively hyper active mind is quite challenging. You might want
to start with learning to feel comfortable with silence.
Also, for those of you who have difficulty doing any kind of sitting in a traditional
meditation style, there is always moving meditation which for me is a daily regimen of
diverse, fun physical exercises where I often become hyper-focused.
Meditation does not mean you have to sit in with your legs crossed in a lotus position
with your palms upright resting on your knees with a rigid posture. That simply did not
work for me no matter how hard I tried. However, once I gave myself permission to open
up my mind to other possibilities for accessing my silence, I found ways to use movement
and exercise to access the creativity and energy located inside of me.
What’s your relationship with silence? How do you access it? Is your process helpful? How
are you going to access your own silence?
Posted by David Giwerc on 08/27 at 10:46 AM
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