People should become as informed as they can about what ADHD is, what the treatment options are, and how the medicines work.

I think the advice that I can give is that people should become as informed as they can about what ADHD is, what the treatment options are, and how the medicines work. I think the more informed and the more people understand it as a medical condition the easier it is to do the treatment, to understand the treatment, and to understand what the choices are, so that they can better make informed decisions. I think that really the decisions do have to be based on understanding about the medicine and what ADHD is.

Frances Johnson, Advanced Practice Nurse

 

Looking for a remarkable positive response…

What we look for when we treat ADHD with medication is a remarkable positive response. We seek a remarkable positive response with essentially no negatives– that’s the objective. If there is a subtle positive response, then it’s probably not a response at all. If everyone scratches their heads during a trial of medicine and says “it seems a little better,” that’s not a positive response. That means the medicine, for one reason or another, is not working. Either it is not the correct diagnosis, or it’s not the right dosage of medicine, or it’s not the right medicine.

Leonard Rappaport, MD, MS, Director, Developmental Medicine Center