Why 50% of People With ADHD Quit Their Medication

Why do so many people start ADHD medication... and then quietly stop within a year or two?
In this Research Recap, Skye and Will unpack a systematic literature review examining why over half of all patients discontinue or significantly reduce ADHD medication within 2 to 3 years of starting.
This episode isn't about whether you should take medication.
It's about something more practical: what the data actually found about why people stop, where expert assumptions conflict with what patients reported, and how access barriers, drug holidays, and whether someone chose treatment for themselves all appear to shape long-term adherence.
If you've ever let a refill lapse and told yourself you'd sort it later, this episode will feel uncomfortably familiar.
What we cover:
• Why over half of patients discontinue ADHD medication within 2 to 3 years, and what the data found as the top reasons
• The gap between what experts assumed drove discontinuation and what patients actually reported
• How drug holidays, sometimes recommended by doctors, complicated how researchers tracked real adherence
• Why access barriers like pharmacy friction, moving states, and losing a prescriber show up as a real factor
• What the research suggests about people who sought treatment themselves versus those pushed into it
Want more of Will's work? Go check out HackingYourADHD.com (hackingyouradhd.com) or subscribe to his YouTube channel.
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