REPORTING FROM THE PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY UPDATE INSTITUTE
NEW YORK (FRONTLINE MEDICAL NEWS) – About 25% of preadolescent children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder have impulsive reactive aggression, a common but so far unnamed comorbidity that deserves attention and therapy, according to Robert L. Findling, MD.
Emphasizing the reactive component to this behavioral problem, he said: “They look okay until someone bumps into them at school. They do not have a mood disorder. They have a disorder of reactivity.”
When provoked, these children are quick to anger and quick to exhibit physical aggression, but the consequences of this behavior may be more serious if left untreated into adolescence, according to Dr. Findling , director of child and adolescent psychiatry, and Leonard and Helen R. Stulman Professor in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. In older children, this aggression is more likely to evolve into predatory behavior that can become entrenched and serve as a bigger obstacle to normal adjustment. It is this risk that led Dr. Findling to encourage diagnosis and treatment at a young age.
The hurdle is that there is no accepted terminology to encourage clinicians to identify and initiate treatment in children with this behavior. The term conduct disorder has been used in the past, but Dr. Findling said that care delivered for conduct disorder is not reimbursable. This may be among the reasons that aggressive reactive behavior of ADHD is overlooked – even though treatment is likely to improve long-term outcome.
“I wish I had a magic label for this, but I don’t,” Dr. Findling said. However, he maintained that most clinicians who work with ADHD children are familiar with this type of behavior. Indeed, clinicians “grapple with this day to day. We all see these kids, and they are oftentimes the most impaired kids in our practices,” he said at a pediatric psychopharmacology update held by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
This behavior should not be confused with the aggression associated with mood disorders, such as disruptive mood dysregulation disorder (DMDD) or bipolar disease, according to Dr. Findling. Children with DMDD, for example, are chronically irritable or angry. Although bipolar disorder patients with aggressive behavior are not necessarily angry between episodes, they also have persistent mood disturbances.
In contrast, preadolescent children with ADHD who have episodes of aggression, a symptom far more common among males than females, do not otherwise exhibit disturbances in mood. In addition, the episodes of impulsive, reactive aggression are provoked. They require a perceived insult, threat, or similar trigger.
While many of these children continue to have episodes of impulsive aggressive behavior even on treatment effective for other ADHD symptoms, Dr. Findling said, “The good news is that there are treatments for aggression.” In addition to psychosocial support aimed at reducing aggressive behavior, once the diagnosis has been made, these include adjusting ADHD treatments to better target symptoms of episodic aggression. If needed, therapies known to treat aggression, such as atypical antipsychotics, anticonvulsants, or lithium also are options.
Dr. Findling did review one older double-blind study that associated methylphenidate with a reduction in aggression in children with conduct disorder, but said he believes that there is no guarantee for a response from any treatment. Rather, he recommended empirical strategies for symptom management and keeping in mind the benefit-to-risk relationship when considering treatments that impose a high burden of adverse events.
However, the first step to treatment is recognizing the problem.
“In my opinion, what is missing is the nosology for these kids,” Dr. Findling said. An evidence-based label will help increase awareness of the problem and encourage more extensive clinical study, he said.
“These children are not rare and they are really impaired. It is heartbreaking, because when you talk to them when they are still little, they know what people think of them. They know their teachers don’t like them. They know their parents think they’re bad. They know their peers are scared of them, and they cannot make friends,” he said. However, there is a potential for reversing these problems if treatment is initiated early.
“As you watch them get older, you watch them scarring over,” he added.
Dr. Findling reported financial ties with numerous pharmaceutical companies.
SOURCE: Findling RL. Psychopharmacology Update Institute
