Tuesday, August 4, 2026
Studies Highlight Rapid Expansion of ADHD Drug Prescribing
Evidence from Canada, Australia, and the United States shows ADHD drug prescriptions rising across multiple populations, with increases associated with the pandemic and expanded telepsychiatry.
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July 31, 2026
This week Mad in America explores three new studies related to increasing psychiatric stimulant use. The first finds that psychiatric drug use among US youth was increasing leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic, largely driven by stimulant prescriptions. The second finds that prescriptions for ADHD drugs increased sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario, Canada. The third finds that ADHD drug prescriptions significantly increased after the expansion of remote telepsychaitry in Australia.
Psychiatric Drug Use Among US Youth Increasing, Largely Driven by Prescription Stimulants
A new study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry finds that psychiatric drug prescriptions are increasing for US youth between the ages of six to 24 years old, driven mainly by stimulants. This research, led by Lin-Chieh Meng from the University of Pennsylvania, also reports that many young people that are taking psychiatric drugs are exposed to drug combinations with potential major drug-drug interaction risks.
The goal of this study was to examine the trends in psychiatric drug prescription in US youths aged six to 24. The authors also wanted to investigate patterns of polypharmacy and the prevalence of potential major drug-drug interactions in this population.
The authors used data nationally representative data from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey covering 2001 – 2020. They looked at data around the use of psychiatric stimulants, antidepressants, antipsychotics, and benzodiazepines in the thirty days before data collection. For the purposes of analysis, participants were divided into three groups: children (six to 11 years old), adolescents (12 to 19), and young adults (20 to 24). The authors used a drug-drug interaction database to identify possible major drug-drug interaction risks.
The overall prevalence of psychiatric drug use in US youth between six to 24 years old increased from 5.3% in 2001 – 2004 to 8.3% in 2017 – 2020. Children, adolescents, and young adults all saw increases in the prevalence of psychiatric drug use. This increase was most significant in the young adult group where psychiatric drug use increased at each interval, growing from 4.6% in 2001 – 2004 to 11% in 2017 – 2020. The prevalence rate for adolescents increased from 6.6% to 8.2% while the rate for children increased from 4.2% to 6.1%.
These increases were largely driven by psychiatric stimulants, with prescription rates nearly doubling between 2001 and 2020. This was especially true in the young adult group, where 0.2% were taking psychiatric stimulants in 2001 – 2004 compared to 5.6% in 2017 – 2020.
Overall polypharmacy rates rose from 1.8% in 2001 – 2004 to 3.3% in 2017 – 2020. The children’s group had the smallest increase in polypharmacy rates from 1.8% to 1.9%, down from a high of 2.5% in 2005 – 2008. The polypharmacy rate for young adults saw the most drastic increase, going from 0.8% in 2001 – 2004 to 5% in 2017 – 2020. Of the participants taking psychiatric drugs, 26% were exposed to potentially major drug-drug interactions. This was largely driven by the combination of antidepressants and antipsychotics.
This study had three key limitations. Psychiatric drug use was self-reported and was not confirmed through clinical records. The reported potential drug-drug interactions were based solely on observed combinations with potential negative effects, not actual confirmed adverse events. The data came exclusively from US residents, limiting generalizability to other populations.
New Prescriptions for ADHD Drugs Significantly Increased During COVID
A new study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal finds that new prescriptions for ADHD drugs surged during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario, Canada. This study, led by Tara Gomes from the University of Toronto, also finds that the majority of new ADHD prescriptions were given to women.
The goal of this research was to examine how prescriptions for ADHD drugs changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors used provincial health records and prescription dispensing data to examine new ADHD prescriptions given to adults in Ontario. They compared pre-COVID prescription rates to the rate of ADHD drug prescriptions given during the pandemic. In total, the authors examined data from 327,053 people that received a new stimulant prescription in Ontario between January 2016 and June 2024.
Rates for new stimulant prescriptions increased substantially during the pandemic. This was true for all ages and demographics examined in the current work. In January 2016, the rate of new stimulant prescriptions in Ontario was 0.16 per 1,000 adults/month. During the pandemic that rate rose substantially to 0.44 per 1,000 adults/month. This represents a 175% increase compared to pre-COVID levels. The authors note that this increase was not linear. During the early pandemic, new stimulant prescription rates decreased before rising sharply.
While new stimulant prescription rates increased for all examined demographics, this increase was especially large for women. Before the pandemic, women represented 48% of new stimulant prescriptions compared to 59% during COVID. Young adults (25 – 34 years old) also saw their new stimulant prescription rates increase disproportionately. Before the pandemic this group represented 26.5% of all new prescriptions compared to 32.8% during COVID.
Nurses and nurse practitioners significantly increased their stimulant prescription rates during COVID. Before the pandemic, nurses and nurse practitioners wrote just 1.7% of new stimulant prescriptions compared to 9.6% during the pandemic. Psychiatrists wrote 25.5% of new stimulant prescriptions before the pandemic compared to 18% during COVID.
This study had three main limitations. The available data did not tell the researchers why these new stimulant prescriptions were being given. Prescription records show only that a prescription was filled, not whether the patient actually used the drugs. The data all came from Ontario residents, limiting generalizability to other populations.
Prescriptions for ADHD Drugs Surge After Remote Telepsychiatry Expansion
A new study published in Psychiatry Research finds that prescriptions for psychiatric stimulants and other ADHD drugs significantly increased in Australia after the expansion of remote psychiatric consultations. This study, led by Luke Sy-Cherng Woon from The Australian National University, also finds that other psychiatric drugs did not see similar increases in prescription rates.
The goal of this research was to investigate how the expansion of telepsychiatry affected the prescription rates of ADHD drugs in Australia. The authors also wanted to examine if factors such as remoteness, socioeconomic status, and gender affected these prescriptions rates post-expansion.
The authors used data from the Medicare Benefits Schedule, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, and the Australian Census to analyze 3,940,018 prescription-linked outpatient psychiatric consultations that took place between January 1, 2017 and December 31, 2023. Time periods were divided into three phases: pre-telepsychiatry expansion (before March 2020), during expansion (March 2020 – December 2021), and post-expansion/consolidation (January 2022 – December 2023).
Prescription rates for ADHD drugs increased nearly threefold, from 4.3% of psychiatric consultations before the expansion of telepsychaitry to 11.8% of consultations after. This increase was especially significant in remote video psychiatric consultations, where 1.8% of pre-expansion remote video consultations were linked to stimulant prescriptions compared to 23.4% after the expansion.
Several factors were linked to increased prescribing of psychiatric stimulants. Patients in more remote areas had higher rates of receiving a stimulant prescription through a remote video psychiatric consult. Providers with a higher proportion of female patients and those practicing in more socioeconomically advantaged areas were more likely to write stimulant prescriptions after video consultations. Overall online search interest in ADHD drugs and facing more strict COVID-19 era lockdowns was also linked to patients being more likely to get a stimulant prescription after a video consultation. It is worth noting that all other classes of psychiatric drugs investigated in the current work saw small decreases in overall prescription rates after the expansion of telepsychiatry.
This study had three key limitations. The data was collected from administrative databases and lacked information that could have been useful during analysis, such as diagnosis. Private prescriptions would not have been included in the public databases the authors used. The participants were all residents of Australia, limiting generalizability to other populations.
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Gomes, T., Wang, T., Rebić, N., Miller, S., Paolozza, L., Vigod, S. N., & Tadrous, M. (2026). Patterns of prescription stimulant initiation before and during the covid-19 pandemic: A population-based time-series analysis. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 198(9). (Link)
Meng, L.-C., Leonard, C. E., Candon, M., Mandell, D. S., & Hennessy, S. (2025). Trends in psychotropic medication use, polypharmacy, and potential major drug–drug interactions among US youth. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. (Link)
Woon, L. S.-C., Bastiampillai, T., Looi, J. C., & Liu, W.-M. (2026). Effect of Australian telepsychiatry services on attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder prescriptions. Psychiatry Research, 364, 117311. (Link)
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Richard Sears teaches psychology at West Georgia Technical College and works as a counseling psychologist in private practice, specializing in person-centered therapy. Earlier in his career, Richard worked in a psychiatric crisis stabilization unit, an experience that exposed him to the harsh realities of a broken mental healthcare system. This fueled his commitment to providing compassionate, person-centered care and advocating for meaningful change in how mental health services are delivered.
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