The Conceptual History of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Idiocy, Imbecility, Encephalitis and the Child Deviant, 1877?1929 (original) (raw)

These categories of disease all address similar collections of symptoms that speci cally describe childhood deviance. These symptoms have included, but are certainly not limited to poor performance in school, extreme extroversion, outbursts of violent behavior, inability to ''stay on task,'' thievery, disturbances in sleep patterns, morality inconsistent with age, and forgetfulness. The history of compiling these symptoms into formal diagnoses represents an increasing drive to medicalize unconventional childhood behavior. The violation of certain institutional frameworks-the school, the family, the economy, and so on-are invariably implied in such diagnoses. Though the moralistic symptoms of thievery and violence no longer have utility for the contemporary diagnosis of ADHD 1 , the current symptomatology of the disorder retains many of the themes that were present when ADHD was being diagnosed in the early part of the 20th century. According to the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, fourth edition (APA, 1994) some of today's ADHD symptoms include having dif culty organizing tasks, being easily distracted by outside stimuli, dgeting with hands or squirming in one's seat, excessive talking, failing to nish schoolwork, and feelings of restlessness (see DSM-IV [APA 1994]: 78-85 for a complete listing of the symptoms and requirements for diagnosing ADHD). ADHD is an acronym embedded in popular culture, yet its conceptual history is little discussed both in the popular realm and in academia. Brief histories of ADHD have been provided by