I almost just let this pass but cannot bear it. ADHD is a bona fide psychological disorder that is largely heritable and biologically rooted. I do not mean to start a tussle, here, but to say that it was not described before the 1970s is preposterous (the first documented reference is from 1775, in a publication by Dr. Melchior Weichard) and to say that causes like poor parenting or sexual abuse are linked to the CAUSE of this disorder does not follow the science. Please refer to Russell Barkley's Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: A Handbook for Diagnosis and Treatment (3rd edition) for a comprehensive primer on this disorder, including the evidence-based theories regarding causality. A brief article authored by 75 leading scientists regarding the state of knowledge regarding the cause and course of ADHD is the Consensus Statement on ADHD (2002) published in European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 11, 96-98.

The cause of the increase in ADHD is a marketing drive by drug companies wanting to sell more drugs. This is a highly profitable business and the more people can be convinced that their perfectly healthy children are 'mentally ill' the more money can be made from it.

There is no biological 'cause' for this disorder, it was invented at a conference and designed to medicalise normal behaviour into a psychiatric 'disorder'.

Disruptive behaviour may, in a very small number of children be due to organic causes such as brain lesions but it can also be 'caused' by poor discipline and poor socialisation. The current numbers 'diagnosed' with such disorders is way outside any epidemiological norm, that is the incidence in any population is at levels that are medically impossible in the absence of a pathophysiological cause such as environmental toxins. The arguments for genetic cause are preposterous, this condition was not described prior to the late 1970's and presuming that disruptive children have always been with us, prior to that time behavioural problems were not a medical issue.

One day the world will wake up to this but it is likely that the damage to individuals and society as a whole is already done.

Take a look at the very informed commentaries on Critical Psychiatry Network and at.

http://bjp.rcpsych.org/content/184/1/8

Thank You Professor Barry Turner

Attention deficits may result from numerous causes. Several studies suggest that physical, emotional, and sexual abuse are associated with attention deficits. It seems likely that this association is causal but there could be other reasons for the association.

I almost just let this pass but cannot bear it. ADHD is a bona fide psychological disorder that is largely heritable and biologically rooted. I do not mean to start a tussle, here, but to say that it was not described before the 1970s is preposterous (the first documented reference is from 1775, in a publication by Dr. Melchior Weichard) and to say that causes like poor parenting or sexual abuse are linked to the CAUSE of this disorder does not follow the science. Please refer to Russell Barkley's Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: A Handbook for Diagnosis and Treatment (3rd edition) for a comprehensive primer on this disorder, including the evidence-based theories regarding causality. A brief article authored by 75 leading scientists regarding the state of knowledge regarding the cause and course of ADHD is the Consensus Statement on ADHD (2002) published in European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 11, 96-98.

Will, I am not denying that ADHD is biologically rooted. I am saying that that extreme stress in young children produces physiological and even anatomical effects in the developing nervous system and some of those changes and resulting behavior look a lot like ADHD. There is a lot of science that supports this going back to the early studies that showed atypical EEGs in incest survivors in the 1970s. I am also not saying that this is the typical cause of attention deficits or that we can assume that all or most children with attention deficits have somehow been victims of bad parenting. So it may be incorrect to say that ADHD results from abuse, but I am not saying that. I am saying that hyperactivity and attention deficits can be symptoms of post-traumatic stress in children and these are often correctly or incorrectly diagnosed as ADHD.

PTSD mimics some features of ADHD in children, In some cases PTSD is mistaken for ADHD and in others PTSD coexists with ADHD and complicates its diagnosis and treatment

See for example: Weinstein D, Staffelbach D, Biaggio M. (2000). Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder: differential diagnosis in childhood sexual abuse.Clin Psychol Rev, ;20(3):359-378.

I do agree with you that attention deficits are not a new phenomenon. They were previously clumped together with other things under labels like Strauss Syndrome and Minimal Brain Dysfunction.

Excerpt from "The Story of Fidgety Philip" ("Die Geschichte vom Zappel-Philipp" )

Let me see if Philip can

Be a little gentleman;

Let me see if he is able

To sit still for once at table:'

Thus Papa bade Phil behave;

And Mamma looked very grave.

But fidgety Phil,

He won't sit still...

[ Excerpt translation from German, Heinrich Hoffman 1845]

Agreed. Children do not have an infinite repertoire of language or emotional expression, and distraction and overactivity may well be how those negative emotions are manifested, behaviorally. In other words, I think it is absolutely right that anxiety symptoms can mimic ADHD symptoms, and vice verse... and that's one of the reasons that the rule out criterion for ADHD is so important from a diagnostic standpoint.