One-year follow-up of two novel CBTs for adolescents with ADHD

Long-term effects of two CBTs for adolescents with ADHD are explored: One aimed at improving planning skills (Plan My Life; PML), the other a solution-focused therapy (SFT) without focusing on planning skills. In a RCT, adolescents with ADHD (n = 159) were assigned to PML or SFT and improved significantly between pre- and posttest with large effect sizes Boyer et al (Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. doi:10.1007/s00787-014-0661-5), with marginal differences in favor of PML. One-year follow-up data were gathered. Initial improvements remained stable or continued to improve from posttest to 1-year follow-up. 25.9 % of adolescents showed normalized functioning. However, no treatment differences were found. These results are consistent with the finding that treatment of ADHD improves long-term outcomes, but not to the point of normalization. Earlier found differences at 3-month follow-up in favor of PML disappeared, indicating that focusing treatment on planning skills is not necessary for improvement or that a more prolonged planning-focused treatment is needed.