Two drugs reduce teacher-rated anxiety, in addition to ADHD, aggression
Now, L. Eugene Arnold and Michael Aman, professors emeritus at the Nisonger Center at Ohio State's Wexner Medical Center, and their colleagues have published a study, available online in the Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology (JCAP) , showing the addition of risperidone to parent training and a stimulant also improves teachers' assessments of anxiety and social avoidance. Improvement in teacher-rated anxiety and social withdrawal also contributed to improvements in parent-rated disruptive behavior. Children who showed reduced anxiety also showed less disruptive behavior. For the "Treatment of Severe Childhood Aggression (TOSCA) Study," 168 children (ages 6-12) who had been diagnosed with ADHD and disruptive behavior disorder (DBD) and displayed severe physical aggression were randomly assigned to two groups: parent training plus stimulant plus placebo (Basic treatment) or parent training plus stimulant plus the antipsychotic drug risperidone (A...