Responders and non-responders in ADHD therapy for adults

Abstract

This study investigates the suitability of patient and disorder characteristics as predictors of the success and failure of ADHD training. One hundred and fifty students diagnosed with ADHD participated in a group training program conducted as an intensive six-session course. Therapeutic success was assessed before and after therapy using four criteria: ADHD symptom severity, therapy satisfaction, goal attainment scaling, and improvement in daily functioning. Multiple regression analyses were used to calculate predictors between patient characteristics (as independent variables) and the criteria for therapeutic success. Hierarchical cluster analysis and discriminant analysis were also performed to differentiate between responders and non-responders. Based on the criteria for therapeutic success in group therapy, three groups with varying degrees of success were identified: non-responders (N = 15), responders (N = 85), and responders with very good therapeutic success (N = 15). The first group benefited little, the second moderately, and the third to a great extent from the group training for ADHD patients. Correlation calculations and regression analyses simultaneously demonstrate that there are hardly any direct predictors of therapy success. Age, initial symptoms, social embeddedness (number of close friends), relationship with parents and siblings, gender, education (highest qualification achieved), and insomnia are not associated with the observed therapy success. No person-specific predictors of therapy success were found. This may be related to the selection of characteristics used. Process characteristics also appear to influence therapy success.