Protocol for a proof of concept randomized controlled trial of cognitive-behavioural therapy for adult ADHD as a supplement to treatment as usual, compared with treatment as usual alone.

What Was Tested

Researchers studied the intervention named in the title in this randomized controlled trial publication.

The primary analysis will include all participants for whom data is available and will use longitudinal regression models to compare treatments.

Why It Was Studied

While medication is often the first line of treatment a high proportion of people with the condition are not fully treated by medication alone, cannot tolerate medication or do not wish to take it.

There is a need for more RCTs to be carried out in order to replicate these results in different sites, to further investigate the acceptability and feasibility of CBT in this population and to further develop CBT approaches based on a psychological model.

Who Took Part

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were teenagers, young adults, adults, middle-aged adults and older adults.

Sixty patients with a diagnosis of adult ADHD attending a specialist clinic are randomly allocated to 1 of 2 treatments, 'Treatment as Usual' (TAU) or TAU plus 16 sessions individual CBT (TAU + CBT).

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized study.

Because people in this study were split into groups at random, differences between the groups are less likely to reflect who happened to join each one.

Outcomes are assessed at 30 weeks and 42 weeks following randomization.

The two primary outcomes are self-rated ADHD symptoms and functioning (occupational and social).

Secondary outcomes include distress, mood, ADHD-related cognitions, ADHD-related behaviours and informant-rated ADHD symptoms.

Secondary outcomes will be analysed similarly.

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Affect, Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Patient Compliance, Patient Satisfaction, Psychiatric Status Rating Scales and Self Report.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized study.

Results are reported in around 1 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 2014 (BMC psychiatry), a journal based in England.

More context: all human trials.