Margaret Vainner

Stimulant therapy and risk for subsequent substance use disorders in Male adults
with ADHD: a naturalistic controlled 10-yeah follow-up study.

In this journal they went through and described a longitudinal study that was
preformed on a group of subject between the ages of 6 to 17 years old. These individuals
were tracked over a period of 10 years. They were selected based on their presence of
ADD symptoms and also their IQ scores. They had to be between 140 and 80. All of the
subjects were prescribed to stimulant medications for 6-10 years. They were all
interviewed 10 years later. Some of the subjects were thrown out because they couldn’t
be reached. The result of this study was inconclusive they couldn’t prove that there is a
relationship between ADD stimulant medication prescription and substance abuse
disorders.
This journal is relevant to my topic because they are testing the theory out that
there is a relationship between ADD stimulant medication prescriptions and substance
abuse disorder later in life. They discovered that they could not find a relationship or a
strong enough relationship in this study to prove that there is a relationship. They
however did find that the time of alcohol abuse for the subjects with a prescription to
stimulant medication is longer than that of someone who isn’t prescribed.

Stimulant Treatment as a Risk Factor for Nicotine Use and Substance Abuse
In this journal the hypothesis of if ADD prescriptions actually lead to substance abuse
and they theories as to why this happens. It discusses how longitudinal studies have
proven that tobacco use is higher among individuals that are prescribed to stimulant
medications. They also discussed they different ways that stimulant medications lead to
the possibility of different substance abuse problems. It discussed also the severity of the
ADD symptoms that are necessary for these substance abuse problems to occur. It
discusses studies that were done on rats using cocaine and other substances. They were
testing the sensation hypothesis. It was discussed also that marijuana and alcohol are not
part of this sensation definition of substances.
This journal applies to my topic because they are testing the hypothesis that there
is a relationship between the prescription to stimulant medications and later substance
abuse in life. They found that the severity of the add symptoms are directly related to the
age of onset of regular smoking. The more severe the symptoms the earlier smoking is
started. This journals findings prove that people with sever ADD symptoms tend to seek
out substances that will give them relief from their symptoms, substances such as
cocaine.

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorders and Early-Onset Substance Use disorders

It has become more and more suspected that there is a comorbid relationship
between attention deficit/hyperactive disorder and substance use disorder. This is
prevalent in adolescents and also adults. It has been proven that the monitoring the
symptoms of ADD can prevent the development of Substance abuse disorder later in life.
Also it has been showen that if they do have ADD and SUS that the treatment of the
ADD with help prevent a relapse of the SUS. This article discusses in depth the
relationship between the diagnosis of ADD and also the diagnosis of SUS.
It is relevant to my research topic because in this article “the food and drug
administration warns against the abuse liability of stimulants”. It is discussed that the
treatment of ADD with these drugs may aggravate substance use disorders. It is
associated with many other diagnosis’s that also may predispose these individuals to
using substances. It also shows that in substance abuse center as much at 25% of the
individuals there suffer from attention deficit disorder.

Interactive effects of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and conduct disorder

on early adolescent substance use.
This study looks at the effects of ADD on early adolescent substance use. It also
discusses the effects that conduct disorder have on early adolescent substance use. It
details a cross sectional study of 202 students. When looking at students diagnosed with
just attention deficit disorder they did not show a greater risk for substance abuse. When
attention deficit disorder is combined with conduct disorder they showed a higher risk for
developing problems with the use of tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, and other drugs. The
hyperactivity diagnosis is the one that showed the most prevalence with the substance use
problems.
This article is relevant because it discussed the idea that the hyperactivity and
impulsivity as the reason for some kids with ADD developing substance use or abuse
problems later in life.

Age of Methlyphenidate Treatment Initiation in Children with ADHD and Later

Substance Abuse: prospective Follow-up into Adulthood.
Many studies that have been done on animals have shown us that the age when stimulant
exposure starts is related to the later drug sensitivity. The goal for this study was to
determine if the age that a child was started on stimulant medications to control their
ADHD influences their chances to develop substance abuse disorders later in life. This
study looked at 176 Caucasian male children. They also included 186 others that were
comparison subjects. There was a statistically significant relationship between the
development of antisocial disorders and ADD and also the development of substance
abuse disorders later in life of non-alcoholic substances. Even when they accounted for
substance use disorder, treatment with stimulant medications was significantly positively
related to the development of substance use disorder and antisocial personality disorder.
This article was relevant because it discussed the positive association between the
early treatment with stimulant medications and the development of substance use
problems later in life.

Does childhood treatment of ADHD with stimulant medication affect substance

abuse in adulthood?
It discusses the controversy over the treatment of ADHD with stimulant medications and
also the consequences that it can have on the child later in life. It talks about how the
drugs has some of the same qualities of the substances that we fear may be abused some
day. These ingredient have the ability to increase dopamine concentration in the nucleus
accumbens, this is the part that is crucial for reinforcement effects. They also talk about
the potential points that may make these conclusions false. The first is that the samples in
all these studies may not have been randomized and the second is the samples were small.
It is concluded that is has not been proven that stimulant treatment in adolescents has not
been clinically proven to cause substance abuse problems later in life.
This article is relevant because it discusses the science behind the possibility that
stimulant treatment at a young age could cause substance abuse problems later in life.

Relation between childhood disruptive behavior disorder and substance use and
dependence symptoms in young adulthood: individuals with symptoms of attentions
deficit/hyperactivity disorder and conduct disorder are uniquely at Risk.

The theory that is discussed is the one that people who suffer from attention
deficit disorder and also conduct disorder are at a higher risk for substance abuse
problems later in life. They took a sample of 481 young adults and looked at their use of
marijuana, alcohol, tobacco and other harder drugs. They looked at the parts of their
personality and the symptoms that they all shared in hopes to find a predictor type of
behavior for substance abuse later in life. It was found that the subjects that had the
greater level of symptoms for ADD and for CD had the highest risk for substance use
later in life. This study proves that CD is not the only reason for substance abuse later in
life but the presence of it heightens an individual’s risk if they also have ADD.
This is applicable for my study because it shows through a study that there are
some relations between ADD and substance use later in life.

Stimulant Treatment as a Risk Factor for Nicotine use and substance abuse
This article goes through the severity of ADHD as a predictor for
substance abuse disorder later in life. It is discussed that tobacco is the gateway drug of
sorts for most individuals that suffer from this form of Substance abuse disorder. It goes
through the role according the DSM-IV. In this study they had 399 participants that had
central nervous system problems that lead to ADHD. They found that the severities of
ADD symptoms were directly linked to the age of regular smoking. The results of this
study show support for both the self-medicating theory and also a sensation seeking
hypothesis. They found that a significant source for predicting a predisposition to drug
abuse is the severity of the ADD symptoms. It was found that regular smoking in subjects
that also had ADD at a young age seems to be a gateway drug to use of cocaine as an
adult.
This discusses a study that proves that ADD and substance abuse problems are
linked together.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and substance use disorders.

This article is all about a clinical interview of a man that reveals this drug use and his
suffering from ADD. The name of the individual is Mr.J in this specific clinical
interview. He discusses how he sometimes uses marijuana to self medicate so he can
relax. He discusses how he noticed that it took him longer than others to finish homework
and he also noted that he finds himself day dreaming a lot. He admits that he drinks
socially, experimented with cocaine, amphetamine, and Ecstasy in college. He talks about
self-medicating with his friend’s dextroamphetamine and how it helped him focus and
maintain concentration in class. Then it goes into bunch of statistics on the prevalence
rate of substance use in people that have ADD. It then goes through the breakdown of his
motivations for possible use and why he searches for the sensations that he does.
This is relevant because it goes through a real life situation in which self-
medication for ADD symptoms actually occurred.

PET study examining pharmacokinetics, detection and likeability and dopamine

transporter receptor occupancy of short and long acting oral methylphenidate.
It goes through all of the scientific portions of what the oral drugs for ADD
actually do to your brain. It is a study that if the dosage is changed and if it is designed to
last for hours or go through your system fairly quickly if it changes the affect that is has
on your brain. They also measured the ability of your dopamine uptake receptors in your
brain when you are on the medication. They measured this at hours 1, 3, 5 and 7. The
results of this just further explained the affects of methylphenidate in humans and also
identified a potentially less abusable form of this drug.
This journal is applicable to my topic because it goes through how the dopamine
up take is affected by stimulant medications. This is what individuals seeking a sensation
are looking to fix after they have been on stimulant medications for ADD for years.