Effect of Alternative Therapeutic Procedures in Children with ADHD

Overview

Some alternative treatments proved to be effective or possibly effective in ADHD, but mostly incertain subgroups of restricted etiology. The efficiency of oligoantigenic or restricted diet wasconvincing in multicentric double-blind studies, but only is strictly selected subgroups. Glyconutritionalsupplements, chromium and magnesium supplementation, the use of Chinese herbs, EEGbiofeedback, mirror feedback and vestibular stimulation provided promising prospective data.Laser acupuncture offered promising, but not yet published pilot data. The supplementation ofessential fatty acids offered stimulating results only in systemic case reports, but the studies arenot unequivocal. Efficiency was not proved in three controlled studies oriented on the effect ofvitamin megadoses and the risk of such treatment is pointed out. A simple restriction of sugarand hypnosis are apparently without effect. The treatment with thyroidal preparations is effectiveonly in such cases, if thyroidal abnormities are established, but not in other cases. Althoughmost alternative treatments may not necessarily be more dangerous than the standard treatment,the main risk lays in the delay of efficient therapy, if alternative procedures prove to be ineffective.

Key words:
ADHD, hyperkinetic disorder, alternative treatment, scientific value, children.