ADHD and Cognitive Behavior Therapy

Personally, I never used Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). But, I recently read an article reviewing recent research indicating that cognitive and behavioral therapies help young people reduce impulsivity and cultivate good study habits. My interest was peaked. I decided to do some more research and bring you information about potential benefits of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to minimize ADHD symptoms.

There have been a hand­ful of CBT tri­als for adults withADHD. In gen­eral, these stud­ies indi­cate that CBT can help with core ADHD symp­toms in addi­tion to ben­e­fits pro­vided by med­ica­tion. How­ever, the ben­e­fits of CBT on co-occurring dif­fi­cul­ties that adults with ADHD often have, e.g., depres­sion, anx­i­ety, rela­tion­ship prob­lems, etc., have not been clearly demon­strated. This is dis­cour­ag­ing and some­what sur­pris­ing given that CBT is an effec­tive treat­ment for depres­sion and anx­i­ety in adults who do not have ADHD.

It is useful to look at all potential ADHD treatments. Stimulant medications do not work for everyone. For some, ADHD medications do not work at all. Consider the quote below:

“I have used both the stimulant and non-stimulant kinds and nothing seems to work. I have eight projects at work, three from a previous position that I am always almost” done with, and two new ones outside of work but within my field. I have such a hard time keeping things organized that it takes me hours sometimes to find the data I am looking for. I am constantly oscillating between genius and foggy just enough to put more work on my plate, which I love, but I love my husband more and I have no time (or energy) for him. I would love a natural proven alternative to meds as well as an ADHD boot camp type intervention. Unfortunately, meds are the only thing I can afford.”

It is important to consider many different types of ADHD treatment. We must always consider multiple factors - psychological issues that result from years of struggle with ADD (ADHD), problems of executive functioning related to ADD (ADHD), and the possibility of multiple comorbid conditions that are common in adults with ADD (ADHD) if treatment is to be really effective.

Behavioral interventions are a proven method to help ADHD symptoms.

They proved effective whether combined with ADHD medications or not. A recent review of studies found that behavioral interventions help many children and adolescents with autism and anxiety. Some studies suggest that cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) can be particularly helpful for high-functioning adolescents and adults with autism and anxiety.

Cognitive rehabilitation focuses on helping people with neurological problems to improve many aspects of cognitive functioning. Although most techniques were designed for people with more serious cognitive deficits, these approaches can be adapted very well to the needs of those with ADD/ADHD (ADHD). Ending each session with a brief summary wrap-up and reminder of goals to focus on during the interval before the next session.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is also being combined with Neurocognitive psychotherapy. Neurocognitive psychotherapy is a treatment model that has been developed, combining aspects of cognitive/behavioral therapy and cognitive rehabilitation that addresses both the neurocognitive and psychological aspects of ADD (ADHD). You can learn more about this in the article about video games and ADHD. It shows how video games are being used to treat ADHD symptoms.

In sum­mary, results from this study high­light that although medication treatment provides important benefits to many adults with ADHD, the addition of a well-conceived and struc­tured group CBT treat­ment can yield significant incremental improvements. These gains appear to extend beyond alleviating core ADHD symp­toms to include many of the impor­tant comor­bid prob­lems that adults with ADHD often strug­gle with. Making such treatment more widely available to adults in the community, in addition to conducting additional research on treat­ments for adults with ADHD, should thus be an important priority.