THE EFFICACIES OF CBT AND CBT VARIATIONS IN MEDICATED AND MIXED POPULATIONS OF ADULTS WITH ADHD: A META-ANALYSIS

Abstract

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder caused by changes to neuroanatomy and neuronal activity due to genetic and environmental factors during development. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy variants such as Mindfulness-Based CBT and Cognitive Therapy are effective interventions used to treat a myriad of disorders and have historically proven to be effective in treating ADHD patients. CBT is also considered the gold standard of behavioral interventions due to its effectiveness and how much it has been researched. However, previous CBT meta-analyses did not account for potential differences between effect sizes of multiple CBT studies due to the comparison of inconsistent study types, methods, and populations. The goal of this study is to identify a true effect size for CBT in medicated versus a mixed medicated and unmedicated subject population. Additionally, unlike previous meta-analyses, CBT variants were separated from CBT studies and were analyzed for their effect sizes. A total of 17 studies randomized control studies were included in this meta-analysis that examined the effect of CBT and CBT variation interventions on ADHD symptoms in adults. The studies were split into three distinct categories - CBT vs control with ADHD medicated adults, CBT vs control with ADHD medicated and unmedicated adults, and CBT variants (mostly Mindfulness-based CBT) versus control. Results from all meta-analyses indicate that CBT has a small to moderate benefit in reducing ADHD symptoms, regardless of if patients are medicated or not. Results also indicate that CBT variants, particularly those that include mindfulness-based cognitive skills, see the largest benefits from all three categories. These results suggest that CBT and CBTvariant interventions have a moderate to large effect in reliably reducing ADHDsymptoms in adults compared to all controls.