Medication — especially medications that one expects to take daily, long-term — can be a big step.
As parents, we worry about whether diagnoses and labels stigmatize our kids and even more about how meds might affect them. There’s the fear that our child will never learn to cope without their medications and there side effects.
However, researchers say that one of the long-term benefits of medicating kids for ADHD is reduced depression.
ADHD Is Strongly Associated With Depression
By adulthood, as many as half of individuals with ADHD will also be diagnosed with depression. Science has examined the link, and the data suggests multiple reasons for this. To some degree, depression is a genetically linked disorder, and family history can be a good predictor of the risk of an individual suffering from depression.
However, depression can also be the result of lived experiences, and the Attention Deficit Disorder Association believes that ADD/ADHD can actually cause depression in several ways.
ADHD makes school and work harder, affects self-image, and affects relationships, and all of this can make life as a whole more complicated and more tumultuous. As the ADDA says:
“Ultimately, problems with work, school, and relationships can contribute to depression. This can be frustrating or distressing, especially for those with undiagnosed ADHD, consistently struggling with things that appear easy for others.”
Medications May Help With Those Same Categories Of Struggle
Long-term medication may not be a good solution for every child with ADHD, and every family has to make those decisions based on a plurality of circumstances.
However, the latest meta-analysis of data from dozens of past studies showed that medication was one factor that reduced the risk of depression in kids with ADHD. The study, published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research, examined links between ADHD and other struggles, including social phobias and depression.
They found that kids with ADHD were five times more likely to suffer agoraphobia, the fear of situations in which one might feel ‘trapped’ outside the home or in social experiences with the risk of embarrassment or feeling helpless to escape, than their non-ADHD peers. They’re also more likely to suffer major depressive disorder, panic disorders, general anxiety disorder, and various specific social phobias.
The one factor that seems to alleviate much of this is stimulant-type medications.
Two Classes Of ADHD Meds
Your child with ADHD may be given a non-stimulant medication, but this, according to the Cleveland Clinic, is only likely if stimulant medications have been ruled out or found to be ineffective or have troubling side effects for your child.
The most common medications for ADHD, though, are stimulants. These get a bad rap because they can be habit-forming and can be abused, but for kids with ADHD diagnoses, they are the medication that is most likely actually to be effective.
These include the names you’ve likely heard — Concerta, Ritalin, Adderall. They work by helping the brain release the neurotransmitters that help one to pay attention, retain information, and have motivation.
As it turns out, giving a child’s brain back the ability to carry out those functions may help reduce the risk of depression, too.
The Risk Reduction Is Significant
The study did not find a reduction in depression from non-stimulant meds or a decrease in anxiety from any medications but saw a significant difference in depression for those taking stimulant meds.
Children with ADHD who took stimulant-type medications were 20% less likely to suffer depression, the meta-analysis discovered. Overall, kids with ADHD are more than twice as likely than those without to be diagnosed with depression, according to the meta-analysis, so reducing that by 20% could mean saving a lot of kids from lifelong struggles with self-worth and depressive emotions.
This Has The Potential To Be Life-Saving
Let’s be clear: depression can be deadly. As a 2017 data analysis published in the World Journal of Psychiatry found, suicidal ideation is at least doubled in patients with ADHD, and those with ADHD are 1.5 to 2 times as likely as their non-ADHD peers to attempt or complete suicide.
As The Atlantic reported just this week, life expectancy for those with ADHD is significantly shorter (about 7 years for men and 9 for women) than for their non-ADHD peers. Suicide is a factor, as are drug abuse and other lifestyle choices that can increase health risks.
It’s unclear whether medication reduces all of these risks, at least from the current data. Further studies could provide more information.
However, the information we have so far strongly suggests that stimulant medications could at least be a significant factor in reducing depression, and that should be a consideration for any parent making decisions about treating their child’s ADHD.