Medicine & Health Products

Adderall is a brand-name pharmaceutical psychostimulant composed of mixed amphetamine salts. The drug is used primarily to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and narcolepsy. Adderall has also been used successfully to manage severe cases of treatment-resistant depression. Individuals who show little or no response to typical antidepressants--such as the SSRIs and tricyclics--are more likely to respond to psychostimulant therapy. These patients, however, are the exception, rather than the norm amongst depression patients.

Adderall’s inclusion of levoamphetamine provides the pharmaceutical with a quicker onset and longer clinical effect compared to pharmaceuticals exclusively formulated of dextroamphetamine. Although it seems that where the human brain has a preference for dextroamphetamine over levoamphetamine, it has been reported that certain children have a better clinical response to levoamphetamine.