Part 9 of Our October ADHD Awareness Month Series

1798: 

The symptoms of ADHD were first described by Scottish physician Sir Alexander Crichton.

“the incapacity of attending with a necessary degree of constancy to any one object.”

1902: 

British pediatrician Sir George Frederick Still observed a group of twenty behaviorally disturbed children who were easily distractible, inattentive, and unable to focus for long. 

He noted the symptoms were more common in boys and seemed unrelated to intelligence or home environment.

1922: 

Alfred F. Tredgold suggested behavior patterns are from physiology, likely a difference in the brain or brain damage, rather than character flaws or lack of discipline. 

This was a step toward medicalizing symptoms of ADHD.

1936: 

Benzedrine (amphetamine) was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

1937: 

Dr. Charles Bradley discovered the stimulant medication Benzedrine improved interest in school, academic performance, and decreased disruptive behavior in certain children.

1952: 

The American Psychiatric Association (APA) issued the first “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)”.  (ADHD was not recognized in this first edition.)

1955: 

The FDA approved the psychostimulant methylphenidate (Ritalin) to treat ADHD.

1968: 

The second edition of the DSM (DSM-II) included hyperkinetic reaction of childhood for the first time, the initial recognition of ADHD symptoms by the APA.

1980: 

The DSM-III changed the name to attention deficit disorder (ADD) with two subtypes: 

ADD with hyperactivity, and ADD without hyperactivity. 

Hyperactivity was no longer considered a core symptom.

1987: 

The revised DSM-III removed the hyperactivity distinction, changed the name to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and included inattentiveness, impulsivity and hyperactivity symptoms into a single list without subtypes.

1990s: 

ADHD diagnoses and medications to treat it began to significantly increase.

1994: 

The DSM-IV established three ADHD subtypes which were: combined type, predominantly inattentive type, and predominantly hyperactive-impulsive type.

2000: 

The DSM-IV-TR included some changes to the language around ADHD diagnostic criteria.

2013: 

The DSM-5 changed ADHD “subtypes” to “presentations”, and allowed the disorder to be specified as mild, moderate or severe, and made descriptions more applicable to adolescents and adults.

References for this Series