The Efficacy of Methylphenidate Use in Children Diagnosed With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder With Emotional Impulsivity Symptoms

Purpose:This study explored the effect of methylphenidate therapy on the emotional impulsivity profile of medication-naive children diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) with emotional dysregulation-emotional impulsivity subtype.Methods:The emotional dysregulation scores of 34 patients diagnosed with ADHD, aged 6 to 12 years, with no comorbidity or medication use, and who met the subgroup criteria defined as an emotional dysregulation-emotional impulsivity profile using CBCL (4 to 18) were compared before and after methylphenidate therapy.Findings:Methylphenidate resulted in a statistically significant decrease in emotional impulsivity, one of the emotional dysregulation subtypes, in children with ADHD with an emotional impulsivity profile and no comorbid psychiatric disease. ADHD subtype, disease severity, and additional medication use did not affect the change in emotional impulsivity scores.Implications:The study findings show that methylphenidate was effective against the symptoms of the emotional impulsivity emotional dysregulation subtype in the ADHD group without comorbidities, with no need for additional medication. However, our findings need to be supported by large-sample observational studies, and the response to methylphenidate needs to be compared among different emotional dysregulation subtypes.

Journal

JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY

Year

2026

Volume

46

Issue

2

Pages

172-178

ISSN

0271-0749

eISSN

1533-712X

DOI

10.1097/JCP.0000000000002120

WoS UID

WOS:001702454500004