   
The Best Treatment for Teens with Addictions
Q:
"How well does Wellbutrin treat adolescents with drug addiction and ADD?" 
A:
You ask a very complicated question. Wellbutrin is used to treat depression. In a small percent of adolescents, it can decrease hyperactivity and distractibility. Drug abuse, however, usually has multiple underlying factors. The real question is what are the psychological reasons that this particular adolescent "self-medicates" by abusing drugs? The treatment — which could be any combination of individual/family counseling; detoxification programs; educational, physical and medicinal therapies — should be based on those reasons.
Larry Silver, M.D., is the author of Dr. Larry Silver's Advice to Parents on AD/HD and The Misunderstood Child: Understanding and Coping with Your Child's Learning Disabilities. He is also a clinical professor of psychiatry at Georgetown Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
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