Efficacy of Non-pharmacological Treatments on Emotional Symptoms of Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: A Meta-Analysis.

Abstract

BACKGROUND\nThe present meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the efficacy of various non-pharmacological interventions on comorbid emotional symptoms such as depression, anxiety, and emotional dysregulation (ED) in children and adults with ADHD.\n\n\nMETHOD\nForty-four randomized controlled trials (23 studies with ADHD children and 21 studies with ADHD adults) were included. Risk of bias, heterogeneity assessment, and subgroup analyses were conducted.\n\n\nRESULTS\nWe found that therapies targeting the relationship between children and others (i.e., parent-training [on ED and depression] and social skills training [on ED]) were efficacious in the treatment of emotional symptoms in children with ADHD at post-intervention. As for adults with ADHD, cognitive behavioral therapy was found to be effective for the improvement of emotional symptoms at both post-intervention and follow-up.\n\n\nCONCLUSION\nOur findings demonstrate that the efficacy of non-pharmacological interventions varies substantially across children and adults with ADHD. These results provide important implications for the selection of non-pharmacological interventions for children with ADHD.