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Stepped treatment: Stimulants may be adequate to treat comorbid aggression
Author(s) -
Knopf Alison
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
the brown university child and adolescent psychopharmacology update
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1556-7567
pISSN - 1527-8395
DOI - 10.1002/cpu.30604
Subject(s) - stimulant , aggression , risperidone , methylphenidate , placebo , psychiatry , pharmacotherapy , randomized controlled trial , psychology , medicine , atomoxetine , adverse effect , attention deficit hyperactivity disorder , clinical psychology , pharmacology , schizophrenia (object oriented programming) , alternative medicine , pathology
The first‐line treatment for attention‐deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is pharmacotherapy with stimulants, but children with coexisting aggressive behavior receive additional medications despite lack of evidence for the benefits of these adjuncts. Furthermore, the adverse effects of some of the adjuncts are well‐established. So, researchers looked at the comparison of stimulant monotherapy, risperidone, and divalproex sodium in reducing aggressive behavior in children with ADHD whose aggression persisted after the stimulant monotherapy was optimized. The monotherapy was judged by giving the children a placebo in this small randomized controlled trial.