Practice Guidelines Development: The APSARD United States Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Treatment of ADHD in Adults

Abstract

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common neuropsychiatric disorder arising in children that persists in many people for the remainder of their lives. While several diagnostic and treatment guidelines in the United States (US) have been developed for childhood ADHD, no guidelines have been published in the US for adults with ADHD. With the increase of care seeking by adults with ADHD accompanied by increasing ADHD medication prescriptions in the past few years, the American Professional Society for ADHD and Related Disorders Association (APSARD) has recognized the need for diagnostic and treatment guidelines for the US. The development of clinical practice guidelines follows a rigorous scientific process of literature review, conflict of interest management, levels of participation of the working group members, clinical recommendations based on published research, a ranking of the quality of data, and a Delphi process to evaluate the rank order of clinical recommendations with little published research available. The Institute of Medicine (now The National Academy of Medicine) and the American Psychiatric Association have established protocols for each of the aforementioned phases of the manuscript development. This article reviews this process in detail and conveys the complexity of the endeavor. [ Psychiatr Ann . 2023;53(10):449–454.]