By Guest Author Rory Stern Psy.D.

There I was watching television one afternoon, and a commercial came on that reported, "X% of people who suffer from depression and take medication, continue to experience symptoms of depression."

I was on the edge of my seat... I couldn't believe it! Were they finally going to suggest other treatment besides medication? Was someone going to finally blow the lid on treatment and actually suggest the importance of therapy and better understanding the behaviors?

All that excitement was suddenly lost the moment I heard the commercial recommend the need and use of additional medications. I felt deflated. It just didn't make sense. "Treat ongoing symptoms of depression with more medication instead of going after the root cause," I asked myself? That was the last straw.

What does this mean for ADHD?

Like depression, ADHD is thought to be biologically based. Research has suggested, and theorists believe, that there are abnormalities with the absorption of chemicals and neurotransmitters in the brain that lead to behaviors like we see in ADHD and depression. This is one major reason why prescribing medication is often a first step for the individual diagnosed with ADHD.

This full article can be found at: http://www.newideas.net/adhd/is-medication-always- the-answer

There's been a lot of talk in recent years about attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, also known as ADHD. And with all the talk has come a lot of misinformation. Is this a real disease? If so, what are the causes? And how is it diagnosed? Join our panel as they help us separate fact from fiction.

Our Favorite ADHD Myths

Here are the Top 10 "ADHD Myths" that are popular on the internet or on talk radio. Follow the links below for our discussion on each of these "ADHD myths."

• ADHD does not really exist at all. It was created by psychiatrists, or drug companies, or psychologists, or the media, to create more business.
• ADHD does not really exist at all. It was created by psychiatrists, or drug companies, or psychologists, or bad parents, to create an excuse for children who act like "brats."
• Psychiatrists are all evil. Therefore if they say there is such as thing as ADHD, they must be wrong, and ADHD must be evil.
• ADHD does not really exist at all. It is just a sign of exceptional intelligence, or exceptional creativity that is misunderstood by teachers, parents, doctors, and researchers.

This article can be found at: http://www.newideas.net/adhd/adhd- information/adhd-myths

We have long held the opinion that the symptoms of ADHD could be lessened, and perhaps fully treated, by the use of amino acids and the help of specific ADD diets. Now two studies, one from Italy and the other from Norway, give more support for our position that prescription medications, particularly stimulants, are not the only effective ADHD treatments available.

The study from Italy looked at the effectiveness of just one amino acid in a population of ADHD children are well known as poor responders to stimulant treatment - children with Fragile X syndrome and ADHD.

Fragile X syndrome is the most common hereditary form of mental retardation, and many children with the condition also have ADHD, or at least the symptom inventory of ADHD. Over the years stimulants such as Ritalin have been used to treat these ADHD symptoms with these children, but with mixed or poor response. Stimulants often caused the children to be more irritable, to be less verbal, and often more withdrawn, so the researchers explored the possibility that the amino acid L-Acetyle Carnitine (LAC) might be helpful in reducing the ADHD symptoms, but without the side-effects.

The research team from the Università Cattolica in Rome studied 51 boys, ages 6 to 12, diagnosed with both Fragile X syndrome and ADHD. It was a double- blind study, so the boys were divided into two groups, one to get the amino acid treatment and the other a placebo. They study lasted for one year, with the boys evaluated at the beginning (baseline), at six months, and after a year.

This full article can be found at: http://newideas.net/adhd/alternative- treatment/carnitine-cows-milk-two-studies