United States: ADHD stimulant meds do not raise the risk of psychosis among children, a new study says.
Study Debunks Fears of Psychosis Risk from ADHD Medications
Researchers saw no signs that stimulants used in 8,400 near kids suffering from attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder led to psychosis, analyzing stimulant prescription in a study published May 12 in the journal Pediatrics, as reported by HealthDay.
“Previous observational research has suggested that stimulants may play a causal role in the development of psychotic experiences in young people with ADHD,” wrote the research team led by senior investigator Dr. Ian Kelleher, chair of child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of Edinburgh in the U.K.
Underlying Severity May Be the True Driver
However, that perceived association is probably due to the fact that children who are more likely to receive the treatment for ADHD also share the risk factors for experiencing psychotic episodes, researchers said.
Such factors include worsened ADHD conditions and a greater number of other mental health problems, researchers discovered.
“Our results do not support a causal relationship between stimulant prescription and psychotic experiences,” the study concluded. “Rather, the association appears to be confounded by factors that both increase the probability of stimulant prescription and lead to psychotic experiences.”
A new research finds no link between #ADHD stimulant medications and increased #psychosis risk in children. https://t.co/3rMiBYiym3
— HealthDay News (@HealthDayTweets) May 13, 2025
For the study, the researchers followed the health of children who participated in an adolescent brain development study in the United States. Kids between 9 and 10 years of age were enrolled in the study between 2016 and 2018.
Of them, less than 6 percent had been put on a stimulant prescription or more.
Initially, findings showed that stimulant meds played a role in aggravating the chances for a psychotic episode by a 46% increase.
But researchers found that the opposite was also true, with psychotic episodes nearly doubling the possibilities of children being administered stimulant medications.
Reassurance for Parents and Providers
After controlling for this two-way association, researchers did not report any significant association between the use of ADHD meds and psychosis, as reported by HealthDay.
“Our findings suggest that shared characteristics associated with psychotic experiences and likelihood to be treated for ADHD may drive the association between stimulants and psychotic experiences, rather than stimulants playing a causal role,” researchers concluded.
“It is likely that young people with more severe ADHD are more likely to develop psychotic experiences and are also more likely to be prescribed stimulants,” they added.
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