Can ADHD people go to college?

Answer:  Being ADD doesn’t mean you can’t concentrate and be productive.  But it means it’s very difficult to do things you don’t have high interest in.

Therapy can help you understand your ADD and cope with it better in some ways.  But research overwhelmingly shows that medication is a much more effective treatment.

Stimulants like Adderall XR and Methylphenidate (Daytrana, Concerta, et al]) are the most effective treatment.  They “turn on the brain” and allow you to focus and do things well that are important but not necessarily interesting to you (like, unfortunately, a lot of college work).  Stimulants give ADD people control of their life by broadening their areas of functional capability.  Finding the right medication at the right dose is the first step.

In my practice of over 40 years, stimulants, especially Adderall XR, have been the medications that lead people to say things like, “My life has changed.  Things are easier.  My life is better.”  And they’re still saying it 1 year, 5 years, and 10 years later.

As far as your fears about college, I treated students at the University of Texas at Dallas for 15 years.  I saw many students go from barely passing to making all A’s once they got on the right medication.

I invite readers to comment on how a particular medication or combination of medications has changed their life.