Treatment for hyperactive children: homeopathy and methylphenidate compared in a family setting

Abstract

The sharp increase of the prescription of methylphenidate (MPD) in hyperactive children in recent years is a matter of increasing uneasiness among professionals, parents and politicians. There is little awareness of treatment alternatives. The purpose of this prospective trial was to assess the efficacy of homeopathy in hyperactive patients and to compare it MPD. The study was performed in a paediatric practice with conventional and homeopathic backgrounds. Children aged 3-17 y, conforming to the DSM-IV criteria for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) with a Conners Global Index (CGI) of 14 or higher were eligible for the study. All of them received an individual homeopathic treatment. When clinical improvement reached 50%, the parents were asked to reevaluate the symptoms. Those who did not improve sufficiently on homeopathy were changed to MPD, and again evaluated after 3 months. One hundred and fifteen children (92 boys, 23 girls) with a mean age of 8.3 y at diagnosis were included in the study. Prior to treatment the mean CGI was 20.63 (14-30), the mean index of the homeopathy group 20.52 and of the MPD-group 20.94. After an average treatment time of 3.5 months 86 children (75%) had responded to homeopathy, reaching a clinical improvement rating of 73% and an amelioration of the CGI of 55%. Twenty-five children (22%) needed MPD; the average duration of homeopathic (pre-) treatment in this group was 22 months. Clinical improvement under MPD reached 65%, the lowering of the CGI 48%. Three children did not respond to homeopathy nor to MPD, and one left the study. In cases where treatment of a hyperactive child is not urgent, homeopathy is a valuable alternative to MPD. The reported results of homeopathic treatment appear to be similar to the effects of MPD. Only children who did not reach the high level of sensory integration for school had to be changed to MPD. In preschoolers, homeopathy appears a particularly useful treatment for ADHD.

Old and new controversies in the alternative treatment of attention‐deficit hyperactivity disorder

“…Despite many case reports of the use of homeopathy in ADHD, only three clinical trials exist [Lamont, 1997;Strauss, 2000;Frei and Thurneysen, 2001]. All reported improvements in parent ratings of behavior on both nonstandard [Lamont, 1997] and standardized rating scales [Strauss, 2000;Frei and Thurneysen, 2001].…”

“…All reported improvements in parent ratings of behavior on both nonstandard [Lamont, 1997] and standardized rating scales [Strauss, 2000;Frei and Thurneysen, 2001]. Significant methodological flaws, however, limit the interpretability of the results.…”

“…Significant methodological flaws, however, limit the interpretability of the results. For example, two studies [Lamont 1997;Frei and Thurneysen, 2001] used a computer-assisted algorithm to identify the most appropriate remedy for the symptoms of each subject assigned to the homeopathy group. The type of remedy and/or the dilution of remedy were adjusted until the child was deemed to have sufficient clinical response.…”

“…Although the placebo group later crossed over to homeopathy; the homeopathy group did not cross over to placebo because homeopathy effects were assumed to be long lasting [Lamont, 1997]. In another study [Frei and Thurneysen, 2001], 25 of 115 children who did not initially improve on homeopathy were then treated with methylphenidate and served as the comparison group. The third study [Strauss, 2000] directly compared a single remedy (Selenium-Homaccord) to placebo in 10 children taking methylphenidate and 10 children not taking methylphenidate.…”

Die Zukunft der Homöopathie

“…Auch in Tierexperimenten [10,11,12,13] und in Pflanzenstudien [14,15,16] treten Effekte in solcher Häufigkeit auf. Entgegen oft gehörten Äußerungen gibt es durchaus auch Modelle, die replizierte Effekte ergeben - etwa das Modell homöopathischer Behandlung von Kindern mit Aufmerksamkeitsdefizit-/Hyperaktivitätssyndrom [17,18], das gerade repliziert wird [19]. Immer wieder gibt es qualitativ hochwertige Pilotstudien, wie die unlängst publizierte von Gassmann et al [20], die zeigen, dass unerwartete Effekte auch unter höheren Potenzen und dokumentiert mit objektiven Methoden zu beobachten sind.…”