Medical Treatment

When medication is used appropriately for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), patients notice a significant improvement in control. Objective observers, such as acquaintances or coworkers, should notice more focus, better concentration, and improved task completion.

Remembering what medicine does and does not do is very important. Medicine, when used appropriately, simply makes a person with ADHD function more like a person without ADHD. As a comparison, using medication is like putting on glasses. It makes the system function more appropriately, just like glasses help a person achieve 20/20 vision. Medication alone will not make a person with ADHD sit down and write a paper any more than glasses alone will. Medication allows the nervous system to send its chemical messages more efficiently, but it does not provide skills or motivation to perform.

Medication is designed to help a person with ADHD be less forgetful and distracted, so that he or she can stick to a plan and achieve daily goals. People with ADHD who are on effective medication can have improved attention span, concentration, memory, coordination, mood, and task completion. At the same time, daydreaming, hyperactivity, anger, and immature or oppositional behavior may decrease. Medical treatment allows a person's intellectual capabilities that were already present to function more appropriately.