Pay Attention: Therapy for ADHD May Best Be a Video Game

But it’s a specific, by prescription only game.  The FDA just approved a video game-based therapy to treat ADHD in some kids.

Monday, the US Food and Drug Administration hit the start button, on approval of the first-ever video-game based therapy for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

The video game, dubbed “EndeavorRx,” may now be prescribed for kids, ages 8 to 12, who suffer with certain kinds of ADHD.  It’s often recognized as a mood disorder – marked by having trouble paying attention and/or controlling one’s own behavior.  It affects nearly 4 million children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“The EndeavorRx device offers a non-drug option for improving symptoms associated with ADHD in children,” Jeffrey Shuren, director of the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health, revealed in a public statement.

The FDA reviewed five clinical studies, of more than 600 children, which demonstrated that it was an effective form of ADHD treatment.  And:  About one-out-of-three kids “no longer had a measurable attention deficit on at least one measure of objective attention,” after each played the virtual obstacle course simulator (for 25 minutes a day, five days a week, for four weeks), according to the study, which was published in the Lancet.

Benefits of the prescription-only video game therapy reportedly lasted for a month afterward, while side effects were limited to “frustration, headache, dizziness, emotional reaction, and aggression.”  Those are often suffered by regular video-gamers.

Regular video games, however, will not treat ADHD.  EndeavorRx is part of a regimen, which may combine it with therapy, education or medication.

See the full story from the New York Post.