ADHD treatment reduces comorbidities

In addition to reducing the symptoms of ADHD, treatment of people with ADHD also reduces symptoms of comorbid stress in many areas.

• 1. Normalization of comorbid mental disorders by ADHD medication
• 2. Normalization of personality style and disorder inventory (PSSI) symptoms with ADHD medication

1. Normalization of comorbid mental disorders by ADHD medication¶

The symptoms in these areas, which were clearly comorbidly elevated before treatment, are returned to normal ranges within 4 to 6 months of methylphenidate treatment.¹²³ The description is consistent with our experience, although we do not believe that these are merely subjective improvements due to therapeutic expectations, but rather we consider this to be a direct therapeutic effect.⁴

ADHD treatment brings about improvements in terms of

• Compulsiveness (sharp decline)⁵
• Depressiveness¹⁶
• Anxiety⁷
• Phobic anxiety⁷
• Aggressiveness⁷³
• Social introversion (here: indicated shyness, introversion, etc.) - strong decline, insecurity in social contact, social inhibition⁷⁸³
• Social orientation³
• Excitability³
• Hypomania⁶
• General life satisfaction (here: positive basic mood, confidence, etc.)³
• Feeling of strain (tense, overwhelmed, stressed)³
• Emotionality³
• Extraversion³
• Openness³
• Somatization⁵
• Physical complaints (less significant decrease)³
• Paranoid thinking⁵
• Psychoticism (here: feelings of isolation, distorted experience, etc.)⁵
• Hypochondria⁶
• Hysteria (conversion disorder)⁶
• Paranoia⁶
• Psychasthenia (neuroses)⁶
• Schizophrenia (here: strange ideas, unusual feelings, etc.) - sharp decline⁶

There were deteriorations in the following areas

• Performance orientation³
• Health worries (even if only minor)³

Psychopathy remained unchanged.⁶

After 4 to 6 months of methylphenidate therapy, over 80% of the test subjects no longer met the diagnostic criteria for ADHD.⁹

2. Normalization of personality style and disorder inventory (PSSI) symptoms with ADHD medication¶

People with ADHD develop all 14 personality areas of the PSSI positively with methylphenidate therapy, i.e. away from the pole of a possible personality disorder of the trait, towards the area of normal personality characteristics.¹⁰ This description is in line with our experience, although we do not believe that these are merely subjective improvements based on therapeutic expectations,⁴ but rather we consider this to be a direct therapeutic effect.

• Headstrong - paranoid¹¹
• Reserved - schizoid¹¹
• Clueless - schizotypal¹¹
• Spontaneous - borderline¹¹
• Amiable - histrionic¹¹
• Ambitious - narcissistic¹¹
• Self-critical - self-confident¹¹
• Loyal - dependent¹¹
• Carefully - compulsively¹¹
• Critical - negativistic¹¹
• Silent - depressive¹¹
• Helpful - selfless¹¹
• Optimistic - rhapsodic¹¹
• Self-assertive - antisocial¹¹

At the start of the test, the symptoms were already below the threshold at which a personality disorder would have been considered. However, the positive development documents the development towards more balanced personality traits. These are of great subjective benefit to the people with ADHD.