An interview with Timothy Wilens, M.D., psychopharmacology expert and director of the Center of Addiction Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital talks about the intersection of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and substance use disorders (SUDs) “Adolescent Substance Use and Psychiatric Comorbidity: Real-World Clinical Practice Essentials.”
Q. How prevalent is ADHD and comorbid SUD diagnoses in the United States?
A. The rate of ADHD is 6 percent to 9 percent in children; and 3 percent to 4 percent in adults. If we look at the clinical samples, over half of the adults with ADHD will have a SUD. If we reverse this and began our study observing people with addiction, we will see that 25 percent of people with a substance addiction will have ADHD.
Q. Why is there such a strong association with ADHD and SUD?
A. We have been trying to search for the answer to that question. It could be three things:
Emotional deregulation associated with ADHD.
Underachievement and demoralization associated with ADHD.
It may be overlapping biological systems.
Q. Which biological systems?
A. Dopamine, a catecholamine, has been implicated in both ADHD and SUD. . . . Neurocircuitry may account for ADHD and SUD. It is not just one system that is associated [with the two disorders], and there has been literature showing that.
We investigated whether executive-function deficits [which occur in the prefrontal cortex] predicts subsequent risk for SUD in individuals with ADHD in our 2011 Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry study. We were shocked to find out that executive-function deficit [a common symptom of ADHD] did not predict an increase in substance use outcomes, but ADHD [itself] was a predictor.
So to answer your question, we don’t know right now, but we are trying to figure it out. This is why we do research.
Q. Are individuals with comorbid ADHD and SUD more prone to abuse a particular type of drug?
A. Our data suggest that no specific drug is “preferred” and that marijuana and alcohol seem to be the most abused agents suggesting that it is the availability of these substances that is driving abuse in this group. One notable finding we had, however, is that among substance abusers, ADHD tended to abuse drugs plus alcohol more frequently than those without ADHD—suggesting a more serious form of a substance use disorder [such as] polysubstance abuse.
Q. Will treating ADHD reduce the probability of adolescents’ initiating drug use?
A. Yes. This is a tricky question. In our 2003 meta-analysis in the Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, we showed a stiff reduction and misuse of substances and alcohol [in individuals with SUD] under ADHD treatment. However, the effect associated with ADHD treatment was lost into adulthood. Most of the people stop ADHD medication. [Also,] a Swedish study followed children with untreated ADHD for substance abuse. Drug use in this study was decreased when ADHD treatment was administered.
Written by: Vabren Watts
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