ADHD drugs overview:

Research has concluded that ADHD drugs identified as having some effectiveness in controlling ADHD symptoms, fall within three classes of medication; the stimulants, the antidepressants and the antihypertensives. The use of these ADHD drugs have been founded on virtual chance discoveries of their effectiveness, and as of yet have not been developed according to any theoretical rationale. However, continuing research is emerging which is defining recent theoretical models, emphasizing behavioral inhibition as being a central aspect of the nature of this disorder.

ADHD drugs and the brain:

Findings from neurological research indicate that there are brain regions which subserve certain inhibitions which may be involved in the cause of ADHD, and that ADHD drugs such as the stimulants seem to produce their greatest effects within these brain regions. Until recently, it was not clear precisely how these medications affected brain functioning, and more specifically what their sites and neurochemical modes of actions may be. It now appears as if the major therapuetic effects of these ADHD drugs are achieved through alterations in the frontal-striatal activity of the brain. Their biochemical impact is believed to be centered on at least three or more neurotransmitters important to the functioning of this part of the brain which are related to response inhibition: dopamine, norepinephrine, epinephrine, and perhaps even the neurotransmitter serotonin.

How do these ADHD drugs work?

The direct rationale for employing these ADHD drugs, may be that they directly effect if only temporarily, the deficiencies in these neural systems related to behavioral inhibition and self-regulation.