Adhd History – How We Got To Where We Are Regarding Understanding ADD/ADHD

Adhd history goes back many years, decades in fact. One could be excused for thinking that ADHD is a totally new phenomenon affecting our modern children but this is not the case. While the disorder as we know it has been around for many, many years, it is only recently that it was given the name by which it is now known, Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder. Throughout the time since it was documented ADHD has undergone a number of name changes.

The very first documented case that was related to impulsive behavior occurred back in the early 1900s, in 1902 to be exact. A certain Dr. Still diagnosed the disorder in a patient in Britain that year. He called the disorder Defect of Moral Control. Despite the name he gave the disorder he was inclined to believe that the disorder was more medical in nature, rather than spiritual, and that the patient was suffering from a medical disorder that was beyond their realm of control.

It would be a further twenty years before the next documented case was discovered. Again, the patient had similar symptoms to those that Dr. Still had encountered. This time the disorder's name was changed to Post-Encephalitic Behavior Disorder. Nobody really knows what was meant to be deduced from a name like that but that is what ADHD was called back then.

We now fast forward adhd history to the year 1937. A certain Dr. Bradley introduced stimulants as a means of treating children who were diagnosed as being hyperactive. Of course, one can be forgiven for finding it strange that anyone would consider stimulant medications as being a good way to treat hyperactive behavior. Nevertheless children today are still given stimulant drugs in the form of Ritalin and Adderall, which are the two most commonly prescribed ADHD medications. The fact is that stimulant medications can calm a hyperactive child down somewhat but it remains interesting to many to consider how anyone could have hypothesized that this would be the case. Due to the fact that Dr. Bradley's decision to use stimulants to treat ADHD, the door was opened for the advent of Ritalin on the scene. In 1956 it was introduced as the medication to beat all others in treating hyperactive disorder in children.