ADHD formally was recognized as a disorder by the medical community and included in the DSM II in 1968 under the title hyperkinetic reaction of childhood. This then expanded to include criteria for adults in the DSM 5 of 2013. However before the inclusion in the DSM II there were several examples of attention problems by early physicians and philosophers.
The earliest reference to attention was made by William Shakespeare. In 1623 Shakespeare describes one of the characters in King Henry VIII as "having difficulties with inattention, hyperactivity and poor impulse control" (Mather, 2012, p. 16). A little over 100 years later, early physicians observed and identified problems with attention amongst their patients.
The first medical description …show more content…
Still described "an abnormal defect of moral control in children, in which he meant "the control of action in conformity with the idea of the good of all" (Baumeister et al., 2012, p. 265). Still states that "moral control of children" depends on a "cognitive relation to the environment," moral consciousness, and volition. Since both "cognitive relation to environment" which implies a "capacity for reasoning, comparison," and moral consciousness are intellectual capacities, Still states that defective moral control as a morbidity can often be observed in cases of mentally retarded children (Lange et al., 2010, p. 244). According to Lange, Reichl, Lange, Tucha, and Tucha (2010), "there are other cases which cannot be included in this category". They comprise the cases considered as historical descriptions of ADHD, i.e. affected children who could not control their behavior the way a typical child would, but were still intelligent (Lange et al., 2010, p. 244). This historical overview leads to the current diagnosis of
The earliest reference to attention was made by William Shakespeare. In 1623 Shakespeare describes one of the characters in King Henry VIII as "having difficulties with inattention, hyperactivity and poor impulse control" (Mather, 2012, p. 16). A little over 100 years later, early physicians observed and identified problems with attention amongst their patients.
The first medical description …show more content…
Still described "an abnormal defect of moral control in children, in which he meant "the control of action in conformity with the idea of the good of all" (Baumeister et al., 2012, p. 265). Still states that "moral control of children" depends on a "cognitive relation to the environment," moral consciousness, and volition. Since both "cognitive relation to environment" which implies a "capacity for reasoning, comparison," and moral consciousness are intellectual capacities, Still states that defective moral control as a morbidity can often be observed in cases of mentally retarded children (Lange et al., 2010, p. 244). According to Lange, Reichl, Lange, Tucha, and Tucha (2010), "there are other cases which cannot be included in this category". They comprise the cases considered as historical descriptions of ADHD, i.e. affected children who could not control their behavior the way a typical child would, but were still intelligent (Lange et al., 2010, p. 244). This historical overview leads to the current diagnosis of