title: Psychosocial treatments for adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
abstract: This article discussed some ways in which a history of failure experiences can enhance negative affect and cognitive avoidance and further impair attentional and organizational abilities associated with ADHD. Accordingly,psychosocial interventions have two targets: providing training in organizational and attentional skills while addressing patterns that motivate demand-related distress and avoidance of these skills. The authors conceptualized these interventions as creating the conditions where patients best can use existing abilities and the benefits offered by medication treatment. As rep-resented by a small but growing literature, there are encouraging signs that structured skill-building treatments of this kind offer benefit to adults with ADHD. Further research on these strategies in the context of well-controlled trials is an essential step for helping reduce disability and distress among this cohort of patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA. ssafren@partners.org
authors.forename: Steven A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Safren
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sprich
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chulvick
authors.forename: Michael W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Otto
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000628:therapy*; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D011584:Psychology; D011613:Psychotherapy / Q000379:methods*