Copyright
©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Psychiatr. Dec 22, 2015; 5(4): 379-386
Published online Dec 22, 2015. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v5.i4.379
Published online Dec 22, 2015. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v5.i4.379
Who says this is a modern disorder? The early history of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
Jose Martinez-Badía, Facultad de Historia, University of Valencia, 46010 Valencia, Spain
Jose Martinez-Raga, Teaching Unit of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology, University of Valencia, University Hospital Doctor Peset, and University CEU Cardenal Herrera, 46010 Valencia, Spain
Author contributions: Martinez-Badía J has contributed substantially to the conception and design of the study, acquisition of data from historical sources, drafting the article, and final approval of the manuscript; Martinez-Raga J has contributed substantially to the conception and design of the study, acquisition of data from medical sources, drafting the article, and final approval of the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Martinez-Badía J reports no conflict of interest. Martinez-Raga J has received fees for serving as a speaker and as an advisory board member for Janssen, Shire, Juste, and Rovi Pharmaceuticals. No sources of funding were used in the preparation, review or approval of this manuscript.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Jose Martinez-Raga, MD, PhD, Teaching Unit of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology, University Hospital Dr. Peset, Avda. Gaspar Aguilar 90, 46010 Valencia, Spain. martinez_josrag@gva.es
Telephone: +34-96-1622328 Fax: +34-96-1622328
Received: September 2, 2015
Peer-review started: September 8, 2015
First decision: October 16, 2015
Revised: October 21, 2015
Accepted: December 9, 2015
Article in press: December 11, 2015
Published online: December 22, 2015
Peer-review started: September 8, 2015
First decision: October 16, 2015
Revised: October 21, 2015
Accepted: December 9, 2015
Article in press: December 11, 2015
Published online: December 22, 2015
Core Tip
Core tip: Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a highly prevalent neurodevelopmental disorder in children and in adults. Although the conceptualization and diagnosis of this disorder is often controversial it is not a modern invention. There are significant published historical medical, and non-scientific reports of individuals with symptoms of inattention, distractibility and over-activity, prior to the 20th century, since the last quarter of the 18th century. The present paper explores the early history of ADHD in the medical literature and in other historical sources, to gain better understanding of the roots and evolution of the conceptualization of this disorder.