PODCAST: Do ADHD meds work to cram during exams?

• ADHD medication is sometimes abused, for example, when students without the condition use it to study better. The reality, however, psychiatrist Renata Schoeman tells Mia Malan in this podcast, is that the medicine doesn’t work for people without ADHD. In fact, it can worsen their performance.

• The results for the first medicine to treat attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were released in 1937, and over the years many other medicines have been tested and come onto the market. 

• People with ADHD find it harder to concentrate and control their emotions than people without the condition, and they often also struggle with time management, are disorganised and can be impulsive. 

• People with ADHD often also have other mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety or autism spectrum disorders. 

• Like all other medicine, ADHD treatment has side effects, of which appetite suppression and insomnia are the most common. 

• In the last of Bhekisisa’s two-part podcast series on ADHD, Malan asks Schoeman: how does ADHD medicine work, what can and can’t it do, and what happens if ADHD is left untreated? 

• Listen to part 1. 

This story was produced by the Bhekisisa Centre for Health Journalism. Sign up for the newsletter.