A Pilot Study of the Impact of Stimulant Pharmacotherapy in College Students with ADHD on Alexithymia and Psychological Mindedness

Abstract

Objective: Alexithymia is increasingly recognized in a number of psychiatric disorders, but a possible relationship be-tween alexithymia and adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has not been studied. It is not known if psychostimulants decrease symptoms of both ADHD and alexithymia. This relationship is examined in a small natural-istic and longitudinal study. Participants: Ten consecutive stimulant-naïve college students seek assessment and treat-ment for ADHD during the academic year. Method: Participants completed three self-report instruments quantifying ADHD symptomatology, alexithymia, and psychological mindedness prior to initiation of stimulant pharmacotherapy and after three and six months of medication treatment without formal psychotherapy. Results: ADHD symptoms de-creased significantly from baseline to three months and remained low at six months. Decreases in alexithymia and in-creases in psychological mindedness changed more slowly, with significant differences occurring at six months com-pared to baseline. Conclusions: This study suggests that stimulant pharmacotherapy in college students with ADHD decreases ADHD symptoms and alexithymia while increasing psychological mindedness. These results have implica-tions for untreated adult ADHD patients seeking psychotherapy.