Pharmacotherapy for Preschool Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): Current Status and Future Directions.

In this review, we consider issues relating to the pharmacological treatment of young children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). ADHD in preschool-age children has a profound impact on psychosocial function and developmental trajectory. Clinical studies on pharmacotherapies for ADHD in young children have expanded rapidly in the past 2 decades, providing some evidence of efficacy for both psychostimulant and non-psychostimulant medications.

ADHD, Religiosity, and Psychiatric Comorbidity in Adolescence and Adulthood.

Objective: Religiosity has been repeatedly proposed as protective in the development of depression, sociopathy and addictions. ADHD frequently co-occurs with these same conditions. Although ADHD symptoms may affect religious practice, religiosity in ADHD remains unexplored.

Trajectories of Religious Change From Adolescence to Adulthood, and Demographic, Environmental, and Psychiatric Correlates.

Studies of religiosity and mental health largely characterize religiousness as stable over time. However, research shows that religiosity likely changes significantly with development. It is unclear whether associations of religiosity with mental health also change over the lifespan.

An exploratory study of the combined effects of orally administered methylphenidate and delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) on cardiovascular function, subjective effects, and performance in healthy adults.

Methylphenidate (MPH) is commonly prescribed for the treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and is often used illicitly by young adults. Illicit users often coadminister MPH with marijuana. Little is known about physiologic and subjective effects of these substances used in combination.

Methylphenidate does not influence smoking-reinforced responding or attentional performance in adult smokers with and without attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Individuals with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) smoke cigarettes at rates higher than the general population and questions have been raised about how stimulant drugs-the frontline pharmacological treatment for ADHD-influence smoking risk and behavior in those with ADHD. In the present study adult regular smokers with (n = 16) and without (n = 17) ADHD participated in 3 experimental sessions in which they completed a Progressive Ratio (PR) task to measure the relative reinforcing effects of cigarette smoking and money after oral administration of placebo and 2 active doses of methylphenidate (10 mg and 40 mg). We also measured attention and inhibitory control via a Continuous Performance Test (CPT).

Religious and spiritual factors in depression: review and integration of the research.

Depressive symptoms and religious/spiritual (R/S) practices are widespread around the world, but their intersection has received relatively little attention from mainstream mental health professionals. This paper reviews and synthesizes quantitative research examining relationships between R/S involvement and depressive symptoms or disorders during the last 50 years (1962 to 2011). At least 444 studies have now quantitatively examined these relationships.

A pilot survey of clergy regarding mental health care for children.

Collaborations between healthcare and faith-based organizations have emerged in the drive to improve access to care. Little research has examined clergy views on collaborations in the provision of mental healthcare, particularly to children. The current paper reports survey responses of 25 clergy from diverse religious traditions concerning mental health care in children.

A pilot study of lis-dexamfetamine dimesylate (LDX/SPD489) to facilitate smoking cessation in nicotine-dependent adults with ADHD.

Objective: The goal of this study was to assess the efficacy and tolerability of lis-dexamfetamine dimesylate (LDX) as an adjunct to nicotine replacement therapy in adult smokers with ADHD who were undergoing a quit attempt.

Methods: Thirty-two regular adult smokers with ADHD were randomized to receive LDX (n = 17) or placebo (n = 15) in addition to nicotine patch concurrent with a quit attempt.

Results: There were no differences between smokers assigned to LDX versus placebo in any smoking outcomes.

Lisdexamfetamine dimesylate: a new option in stimulant treatment for ADHD.

Importance Of The Field: Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a prevalent disorder in children and adults, presents a substantial societal burden in both monetary cost and human suffering. Characterized by significant difficulties in maintaining attention, completing tasks, motor control, and appropriate social engagement, the disorder begins early in life and results in significant impairment across domains of functioning, including social, educational, and occupational achievement. The condition also carries heightened risk of substance use and dependence, and criminal activity.

Alpha-2 adrenergic receptors and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Pharmacologic management of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has expanded beyond stimulant medications to include alpha-2 adrenergic agonists. These agents exert their actions through presynaptic stimulation and likely involve facilitation of dopamine and noradrenaline neurotransmission, both of which are thought to play critical roles in the pathophysiology of ADHD. Furthermore, frontostriatal dysfunction giving rise to neuropsychological weaknesses has been well-established in patients with ADHD and may explain how alpha-2 agents exert their beneficial effects.

A pilot study on religiousness/spirituality and ADHD.

Background: The phenomena of religiousness and spirituality bear on issues of personal behavioral control and interpersonal relationships. Behavioral control and social relationships can be affected by attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Aim: The object ofthis pilot study was to explore possible connections between religiousness/spirituality and the clinical diagnosis ADHD.

Religion, spirituality, and depression in adolescent psychiatric outpatients.

This study examines in a preliminary manner the relationship between multiple facets of religion/spirituality and depression in treatment-seeking adolescents. One hundred seventeen psychiatric outpatients aged 12 to 18 completed the brief multidimensional measure of religiousness/spirituality, the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), a substance abuse inventory. Controlling for substance abuse and demographic variables, depression was related to feeling abandoned or punished by God (p < 0.

Impulsive and premeditated subtypes of aggression in conduct disorder: differences in time estimation.

Research aimed at identifying and studying subtypes of aggression have historically dichotomized aggressive subtypes, although specific nomenclature has varied; one approach has been to classify aggressive behavior as predominantly impulsive or predominantly premeditated. There are a number of behavioral and cognitive differences between those exhibiting these different forms of aggression. This study was designed to extend understanding of the impulsive/premeditated aggression dichotomy by comparing time estimation among adolescents exhibiting predominantly impulsive or predominantly premeditated forms of physical aggression who have a psychiatric diagnosis of conduct disorder (CD).

Adequacy of antidepressant treatment by psychiatric residents: the antidepressant treatment history form as a possible assessment tool.

Objective: Facility in psychopharmacology is a major goal of psychiatric residency. This study assesses the adequacy of pharmacotherapy provided to depressed patients in a resident clinic.

Methods: Charts of all 285 patients seen in an outpatient triage clinic during 2000 were reviewed.

Aripiprazole for agitation in a 13-year-old girl with neuroleptic malignant syndrome.

Unlabelled: Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome (NMS) rarely results from atypical antipsychotic therapy. To date, no information is available on the incidence of NMS with aripiprazole, a newer neuroleptic.

Objective: To examine the results of a trial of aripiprazole administered to a 13-year-old Mexican-American girl during the course of NMS.

Seizure length and clinical outcome in electroconvulsive therapy using methohexital or thiopental.

Seizure duration is an extensively studied and controversial indicator of treatment quality in electroconvulsive therapy. Previous research comparing the effect of the barbiturate anesthetics methohexital and thiopental on seizure duration has yielded conflicting results. A recent period of unavailability of methohexital in the United States allowed for retrospective comparison of seizure length as well as clinical improvement in treatment using each agent.

Efficiency of outpatient ECT.

Objective: To compare the efficiency of acute-phase outpatient electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), maintenance ECT, and inpatient ECT regarding completion of scheduled treatments.

Background: Psychiatric research suggests a trend toward greater use of outpatient ECT and that this modality may offer certain advantages over inpatient ECT. Possible concerns about outpatient ECT may be uncompleted treatments due to transportation problems, forgotten appointments, noncompliance with NPO status, or other variables more easily controlled in the inpatient setting.