Desipramine in the treatment of attention deficit disorder in adolescents

This study represents, to the authors' knowledge, the first report of a beneficial and safe effect of DMI in the treatment of ADD in adolescents. Controlled studies are warranted in order to clarify the overall efficacy of this drug, optimal dose, and its relative efficacy compared with stimulants. DMI may offer advantages over the stimulants such as single-dose administration, round-the-clock benefit, reduced insomnia, and decreased abuse potenial. DMI may be more effective than imipramine in ADD, because of its greater specificity in blocking norepinephrine re-uptake in the central nervous system. DMI may also be beter tolerated than imipramine, because of its reduced anti-cholinergic and anti-alpha adrenergic effects.