Using stimulants to treat ADHD-related emotional lability - PubMed (original) (raw)

Review

Jonathan Posner et al. Curr Psychiatry Rep. 2014 Oct.

Abstract

Emotional lability, or sudden strong shifts in emotion, commonly occurs in youth with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Although these symptoms are impairing and disruptive, relatively little research has addressed their treatment, likely due to the difficulty of reliable and valid assessment. Promising signals for symptom improvement have come from recent studies using stimulants in adults, children and adolescents. Similarly, neuroimaging studies have begun to identify neurobiological mechanisms underlying stimulants' impact on emotion regulation capacities. Here, we review these recent clinical and neuroimaging findings, as well as neurocognitive models for emotional lability in ADHD, issues of relevance to prescribers and the important role of psychiatric comorbidity with treatment choices.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Barkley R. Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: A Handbook for Diagnosis and Treatment. 3. New York: Guilford Press; 2005.
    1. Sobanski E, et al. Emotional lability in children and adolescents with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): clinical correlates and familial prevalence. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. 2010;51(8):915–923. - PubMed
    1. Posner J, et al. The attenuation of dysfunctional emotional processing with stimulant medication: An fMRI study of adolescents with ADHD. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging. 2011 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Sobanski E, et al. Emotional lability in children and adolescents with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): clinical correlates and familial prevalence. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. 2010;51(8):915–923. This was one of the first papers to estimate the prevalence of emotional lability. It also related ratings of emotional lability to clinical features. - PubMed
    1. Wehmeier PM, Schacht A, Barkley RA. Social and emotional impairment in children and adolescents with ADHD and the impact on quality of life. Journal of Adolescent Health. 2010;46(3):209–217. This paper highlighted the impact of emotional impairments in ADHD on children and adolescents’ quality of life. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

LinkOut - more resources