ADHD Drugs Like Adderall May Work Differently Than Previously Thought

• Researchers say ADHD medications such as Ritalin and Adderall may affect different parts of the brain than previously thought.
• They said the stimulants appear to help reduce ADHD symptoms by interacting with the brain’s reward and wakefulness centers.
• They say the drugs also produce patterns of brain activity that are similar to quality sleep, something many people with ADHD have difficulty achieving.

A new study reports that common medications prescribed for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may work differently than previously thought.

Experts say the findings could alter the way medical professionals treat and manage ADHD.

In the study published in the journal Cell, researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis say prescription drugs such as Ritalin and Adderall may be effective in treating ADHD because they interact primarily with the brain’s reward and wakefulness centers.

In particular, the researchers said these medications produce patterns of brain activity that are representative of quality sleep – something that people with ADHD can have trouble achieving.

The researchers stated that prescription stimulants enhance performance by making individuals with ADHD more alert and interested in tasks, rather than directly improving a person’s ability to focus.

These conclusions counter previous theories that these stimulant medications interacted most directly with the brain’s attention circuitry.

“I prescribe a lot of stimulants as a child neurologist, and I’ve always been taught that they facilitate attention systems to give people more voluntary control over what they pay attention to,” said Benjamin Kay, MD, a co-author of the study and an assistant professor of medicine at Washington University who works at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.

“But we’ve shown that’s not the case. Rather, the improvement we observe in attention is a secondary effect of a child being more alert and finding a task more rewarding, which naturally helps them pay more attention to it,” Kay said in a statement.

Grace Cheney, MD, a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University in California who specializes in ADHD assessment and treatment, says these findings are important.

“This study validates what clinicians have long observed, while clarifying how stimulant medications are actually helping,” Cheney, who was not involved in the study, told Medical News Today. “Rather than directly boosting attention networks, stimulants appear to act on systems involved in wakefulness, motivation, and reward, shifting the brain into a more alert and engaged state.”

“The study corrects the common misconception that stimulant medications simply ‘increase attention’ in a direct or mechanical way,” she added.