Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Mechanisms of Drug Action
  • Published:

Anti-hyperactivity medication: methylphenidate and amphetamine

Molecular Psychiatry volume 3, pages 386–396 (1998)Cite this article

Abstract

How do ‘stimulants’ reduce hyperactivity in children and adults? How can drugs which raise extracellular dopamine result in psychomotor slowing of hyperactive children when dopamine is known to enhance motor activity, such as in Parkinson's disease? These apparent paradoxes are the focus of this brief review on the mechanism of action of stimulant medications used in the treatment of children, and of an increasing number of adults who meet diagnostic criteria for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Pharmacology and Psychiatry, Medical Science Building, Room 4344, University of Toronto, 8 Taddle Creek Road, Toronto, M5S 1A8, Canada, USA

    P Seeman

  2. Division of Neurochemistry, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, New England Regional Primate Research Center, One Pine Hill Drive, PO Box 9102, Southborough, 01772-9102, MA, USA

    B K Madras

Authors
  1. P Seeman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. B K Madras
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Seeman, P., Madras, B. Anti-hyperactivity medication: methylphenidate and amphetamine. Mol Psychiatry 3, 386–396 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.mp.4000421

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.mp.4000421

Keywords

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links