The most comprehensive review to date of ADHD treatments found that medications for children and adults, as well as cognitive behavioral therapy for adults, remain the most effective approaches, supported by the strongest short-term trial evidence.
Pills – illustrative photo. Image credit: Pixabay (Free Pixabay license)
Researchers led by Université Paris Nanterre (France), Institut Robert-Debré du Cerveau de l’Enfant (France), and University of Southampton (UK) analyzed more than 200 meta-analyses covering different treatment types, participant groups, and clinical outcomes in a recently published study [27 November 2025] in The BMJ.
The research was funded by public and peer-reviewed research grants from the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (France), the France 2030 program (France) and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (UK).
To help people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and their clinicians make shared, more informed decisions, the team created an interactive website that clearly presents the findings and evidence behind each treatment based on the analysis (ebiadhd-database.org).
“We know that people with ADHD and their families are often overwhelmed by conflicting messages about effective treatments,” says Professor Samuele Cortese, NIHR research professor at the University of Southampton and lead author of the paper.
“We believe this study and accompanying website provide the most reliable, evidence-based and accessible advice currently available.
“The Evidence-Based Interventions for ADHD website provides freely available, evidence-based and continually updated information in an easy-to-understand manner. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first platform in the world to do so based on such a rigorous synthesis of the available evidence.”
Overall, five medications for children and adolescents, as well as two medications and one cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in adults were found to be effective, while being supported by a relatively strong evidence base. It is important to note that all of this evidence was limited to the short term, although long-term treatment is common in clinical practice.
Treatments such as acupuncture, mindfulness and exercise have shown promise, but the evidence supporting their use was of low quality due to small numbers of participants and risk of bias. Limitations applied to studies evaluating cognitive behavioral therapy in children and adolescents, as well as research on the long-term effects of mindfulness in adults, although mindfulness was the only intervention to demonstrate significant beneficial effects over extended follow-up.
Dr Corentin Gosling, associate professor at Paris Nanterre University and first lead author of the study, says: “Long waiting lists for mental health services are a major problem. Having incorrect information about treatments can make people’s journey even more difficult, wasting time and money on non-evidence-based approaches, for example.”
“In contrast, taking the time to consider all treatment options in a shared decision-making process using the web application we developed can empower people with ADHD, leading to better treatment adherence, better outcomes and a better overall patient experience.”
The results generally complement current international clinical guidelines, not only by providing convenient access to current high-quality evidence, but also by covering interventions that are not typically mentioned in clinical guidelines.
The team hopes this new project will have a similar impact by influencing clinical guidelines and practice. previous project (ebiact-database.com), which studied treatments for autism.
Advantages and Disadvantages of ADHD Interventions: A General Review and Shared Decision-Making Platform is published in The BMJ and is available online.
Source: University of Southampton
Originally published in The European Times.
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