Treatment - Attention-deficit and Disruptive Behavior Disorders

Treatment

Given the heterogeneity of the three disorders that make-up the AD-DBDs, the wide ranging effects of the disruptive behaviors, the high rates of comorbidity and the presence of associated fea-tures such as learning disabilities, multimodal treatments (i.e., psychopharmacologic and psychosocial) are almost always war-ranted. Nevertheless, good response can be achieved with either treatment alone in certain instances (e.g., medication treatment for uncomplicated ADHD or ADHD 1 ODD; psychosocial treat-ment for ADHD 1 anxiety disorder) (MTA Cooperative Group, 1999a, 1999b). A diagnosis of ODD without any comorbid condi-tion will usually be responsive to behavioral intervention without medication. Similarly, treatment of children with CD without co-morbidity usually involves psychosocial interventions with the possibility of augmenting treatment with one of several pharma-cological agents. In contrast, comorbid ADHD 1 CD almost al-ways requires medication, and medication response is augmented if psychosocial treatment is offered concomitantly (Jensen et al., 2001).