CCHR has documented psychosis and violent behavior linked to any dose of the drugs and wants them prohibited as a treatment for the 3.1 million American children put at risk by taking them.
Taking a high dose of drugs to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is linked to more than five times greater risk of developing psychosis or mania, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry. The research is among the first to find a relationship between escalating doses of the drugs—amphetamines, in particular—and a greater likelihood of psychotic symptoms. Lead researcher, Dr. Lauren Moran stresses the need for a warning label to raise awareness of this serious risk.
CCHR supports the call for a stronger warning label, but given its own documented findings that stimulants are also linked to acts of senseless violence, including school shootings, says the drugs should be removed from the market. Acts of violence are detailed in its comprehensive report, Psychotropic Drugs Create Violence and Suicide.
The ADHD drugs referenced in the study include Adderall, Vyvanse and generic amphetamines, such as dextroamphetamine. Adderall prescriptions in the U.S. soared 27% from 2019 to 2022, according to IQVia, a clinical analytics company. IQVia also reports that 3.15 million 0-17-year-olds took ADHD stimulants, including methylphenidate (Ritalin) in 2020.
Moran apparently found no increased risk of psychosis or mania in prescriptions for methylphenidate (Ritalin). However, there are already international drug regulatory warnings about the drug causing mania or psychosis. A 2023 study published in Cureus advised every medical practitioner prescribing psychostimulants to inform the patient and caregiver about psychosis as a threatening side effect.
The Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Medication Guides (Med Guides) for several brand-name ADHD drugs list side effects such as new or worse aggressive behavior or hostility for all patients. For children and teens, there is the warning: new psychotic symptoms (such as hearing voices, believing things that are not true, are suspicious) or new manic symptoms.
The link between amphetamines and psychosis isn’t new. Amphetamines increase levels of dopamine in the brain and is implicated in psychosis. Moran said that, according to an analysis of national insurance claim data, about 6% of patients taking amphetamines are prescribed the highest dosages and about 22% are prescribed the medium dosages. Patients taking the highest dosages—more than 40 milligrams of Adderall, 100 mg of Vyvanse or 30 mg of dextroamphetamine—were 5.3 times more likely to develop psychosis than patients taking no stimulants. The medium dosage—20 mg to 40 mg of Adderall, 50 mg to 100 mg of Vyvanse or 15 mg to 30 mg of dextroamphetamine—was linked to a 3.5 times higher risk.
However, patients also had a nearly 63% increased risk of psychosis or mania if they took any prescription amphetamine but those on heavy doses of amphetamines were at even greater peril of a psychotic episode, with an 81% increased risk, results show. Vyvanse is also linked to suicidality.
The psychosis could explain why some mass shootings and acts of violence have occurred. According to a Public Library of Science ONE study, researchers took the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System data and identified 31 prescription drugs that were disproportionately associated with violence, of which 25 were psychotropic drugs. The drugs included 11 antidepressants, six sedatives/hypnotics and three drugs for treatment of ADHD, including amphetamines, which were 9.6 times more likely to be linked to violent side effects.
David Kirschner, Ph.D., a New York psychologist stated: “As a forensic psychologist, I have tested/evaluated 30 teenage and young adult murderers, and almost all of them had been in some kind of ‘treatment,’ usually short term and psychoactive drug-oriented, before they killed.” He stressed “Most of the young murderers I have personally examined had…been in ‘treatment’ and were using prescribed stimulant/amphetamine type drugs before and during the killing events. These medications did not prevent but instead contributed to the violence by disinhibiting normal, frontal cortex control mechanisms.”