Here is more in-depth information from the blog post: ADHD Medication Makes Things Worse
The US National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) funded the Multimodal Treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (MTA). It was designed to evaluate the leading treatments for ADHD,
including behavior therapy, medications, and the combination of the two. Today we know there are many more treatments that research has shown to be effective.
The MTA's primary results were published in 1999 and provide the background for what is considered the generally accepted beliefs and practices regarding ADHD in the United States. They state that behavior therapy combined with medication or medication management alone were both superior to behavioral treatment alone and to routine community care in reducing ADHD symptoms. In other areas of functioning (e.g., anxiety symptoms, academic performance, parent-child relations, and social skills), combination treatment was consistently superior to routine community care.
I used to trust professional journals and would read just the abstract and the conclusion. Not anymore (you'll see why in a later post).
Reading the complete journal article, one finds that the MTA study showed there was no difference between medication and behavioral therapy 80% of the time (12 out of 15 areas). The MTA covered only two treatments for ADHD (medication and behavioral therapy). A more critical analysis of the MTA shows many flaws, but for now, I'll report their own findings from the MTA and two NIMH-funded follow-up studies.
Summary: The MTA study showed there was no difference between medication and behavioral therapy 80% of the time (12 out of 15 areas). The 3-year follow-up showed that medication made things worse. The 8-year follow-up showed that medication made things worse. Medication makes things worse and has many serious side effects.
See a complete commentary about ADHD from my perspective at ADHD Background on this website. Cursor over the booklet pages to see my comments appear.
For a more in-depth account of the above, look at the award-winning book Anatomy of an Epidemic by Robert Whitaker.
