Mindfulness Training for Patients with Attention-deficit/hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): a Descriptive Review

Abstract

Introduction and Objectives: The attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders in childhood and often persists into adulthood. Behavioral and pharmacological treatments are the most effective interventions. To overcome some of their deficiencies there has been an interest in new treatments. Mindfulness has emerged as a promising approach to address core symptoms of the disorder and other related conditions. The aim of this work is to perform a descriptive review to investigate evidence of mindfulness-based treatments for people with ADHD.
Method: A search was performed in Pubmed electronic database, using the keywords “mindfulness”, “ADHD”, “Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity”. Inclusion criteria were: articles in English that study mindfulness-based treatments for patients (children and adults) with ADHD. Seven publications met the criteria to be part of the final sample.
Results: Positive results were obtained in all the works referring to the reduction of attentional and hyperactive/impulsive symptoms (in some cases reductions over 30% of symptoms) as measured by self-report. The results obtained with neuropsychological tasks were not as favorable or consistent.
Discussion: Mindfulness-based interventions to treat ADHD patients have shown promising results. Future research will need to incorporate methodological improvements; increase the size of the samples, control groups, clinical evaluations, neuropsychological tests and examine the long-term effects of treatment.