Image: The Recovery Village Ridgefield
As ADHD diagnoses continue to hit record highs across the US, many leading researchers are seeing a disconnect between scientists’ evolving knowledge of the condition and the way it’s being treated, per a New York Times Magazine report from child development expert Paul Tough.
In 1999, the first large-scale scientific study of how the stimulant Ritalin affects kids with ADHD published its initial results. This study, known as “MTA,” revealed strong evidence that children aged 7-9 with ADHD who took Ritalin every day had significantly fewer symptoms compared to a control group.
However…As scientists continued to follow the ~600 children in MTA, they realized newer data was telling a different story about Ritalin’s effectiveness. While children taking the stimulant did show improved behavior compared to other groups after 14 months of treatment, that advantage faded completely by 36 months.
Despite the newer data, stimulants remain the preferred ADHD treatment for most doctors. And the market for those stimulants has expanded rapidly in recent years in step with the growth of the condition.
Bottom line: These millions of stimulant prescriptions rest on certain assumptions, including that ADHD has a largely biological basis and is diagnosed on a categorical model (either you have it, or you don’t). But many experts are beginning to question those assumptions, especially after the latest MTA study—published last October—found most subjects’ ADHD symptoms had fluctuated substantially over the years, mostly due to environmental factors.
🇺🇸 On Wednesday, President Trump unveiled a flat 10% tariff on all imports, with higher rates for certain nations the White House considers “bad actors” on trade.
But how did his administration come up with the exact percentages for each nation?
🩸 West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey last week signed a bill into law that bans artificial dyes from food items sold statewide, representing the latest success for a growing nationwide movement.
🏛️📲 Yesterday, The Atlantic released additional messages from top national security officials within the Trump administration—including VP JD Vance—that were inadvertently sent to its editor-in-chief on encrypted messaging app Signal.
Let's make our relationship official, no 💍 or elaborate proposal required. Learn and stay entertained, for free.👇
All of our news is 100% free and you can unsubscribe anytime; the quiz takes ~10 seconds to complete