What does the MTA study tell us about effective psychosocial treatment for ADHD?

ABSTRACT

Discussed the initial findings from the recently published, National Institute of Mental Health-sponsored Multimodal Treatment Study (MTA) of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). These findings can be summarized as follows Medical management alone was found to be significantly more effective for the core symptoms of ADHD as compared to behavioral treatment alone and routine (community) care, and behavioral treatment did not significantly improve outcome when combined with medical treatment. In discussing these findings, it is important to be explicit about the research questions the study was and was not designed to answer. The MTA study provided useful information regarding the question, "Does a very intensive form of behavioral treatment deliver greater benefits than the less intensive forms of behavioral treatment investigated in prior studies?" but little insight on the question, "What type of treatment by what type of therapist is most effective in dealing with what specific problems among specific children with ADHD?" It is suggested that the clearest finding from the MTA study is that the effectiveness of psychosocial intervention for ADHD hinges on the degree to which a broad range of treatment ingredients are considered, carefully selected, matched, and tailored to the individual needs of each child with the disorder, and implemented and monitored over the long term.