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History of ADHD -- Part I,History of ADHD -- Part I

© Valerie de Armas

Where did ADHD come from? Being a biological or biochemical disorder, I don't know that I can answer where ADHYD came from. It's likely it's been around as long as time itself. Careful observation of Jesus' disciple, Peter, shows quite a bit of impulsive behavior. In fact, Peter could be the first written account of impulsive behavior. I don't know. In more recent history, ADHD symptoms were recorded in the mid 1800s in children with nervous system injuries and diseases. In 1848, a German physician wrote a children's' story, "Fidgety Phil", describing hyperactive behavior. British pediatrician, George Frederic Still was probably the first to do any comprehensive observations of ADHD children. He reported his observations in a series of lectures at the Royal College of Physicians in 1902. He described the children he observed as aggressive, defiant, lawless, overactive, attention impaired, dishonest and accident-prone. He also described them as having a "defect in moral control". He didn't paint a very pretty picture of the disorder for sure! His observations went on to note that the behavior was biological rather than a result of poor parenting. He theorized that the behavior was either inherited or the result of an injury at birth. After an encephalitis epidemic in 1917-18, doctors noted that many children showed the symptoms that Still described. Doctors speculated that the behaviors were a result of brain damage. Children who displayed symptoms were labeled as brain damaged. Even if they did not suffer from encephalitis, they were give the "brain damaged" label. Later, when doctors realized that many of these children were too bright to have suffered brain damage, the disorder was labeled "minimal brain damage" and even later, "minimal brain dysfunction". As far back as 1937, doctors discovered that amphetamines were helpful in reducing hyperactive and impulsive behavior. Even with this knowledge, stimulant medications were not used much for treatment until the 1950s and 60s when there was an increase in psychiatric drug intervention. By the mid 1960s, stimulants were a common treatment. In the early 1960s, Stella Chase and other researchers described "Hyperactive Child Syndrome". Chase felt that the syndrome had a biological cause. Many others at the time believed the cause to be environmental. Many times poor parenting, food additive and environmental toxins have been blamed for a child's ADHD behavior. Some of these environmental theories still persist, but with recent brain chemical studies, environmental theories are getting harder to buy into. There is simply too much research showing that the cause lies in the biochemical processes -- in the neurotransmitters in the brain, and that it has a genetic factor.

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