Around one in 20 people suffers from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It is one in every of the most typical neurodevelopmental disorders that occur in childhood and often persist into maturity.
ADHD is diagnosed when people experience problems with inattention and/or hyperactivity and impulsivity that negatively affect them in school or work, in social settings and at home.
Some people call this condition attention deficit disorder or ADD. So what’s the difference?
In short, what was previously called ADD is now referred to as ADHD. So how did we get here?
Let’s start with a little bit of history
The first clinical description children with inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity was diagnosed in 1902 by British pediatrician Professor George Still presented a series of lectures on his observations of 43 children who were defiant, aggressive, undisciplined and extremely emotional or passionate.
Since then, our understanding of the condition has evolved and found its way into the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, referred to as the DSM. Doctors use the DSM to diagnose mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions.
The first DSM, published in 1952, didn’t include a particular related category of youngsters and adolescents. But Second editionpublished in 1968, contained a bit on behavioral disorders in young people. He referred to ADHD-type traits as a “hyperkinetic response of childhood or adolescence.” This described the excessive, involuntary movements of youngsters with this disorder.
Elzbieta Sekowska/Shutterstock
In the early Nineteen Eighties third DSM he added a condition he called “attention deficit disorder”, listing two types: attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADDH) and attention deficit disorder as a subtype of hyperactivity.
However, seven years later, the revised DSM (DSM-III-R) replaced ADD (and its two subtypes) with ADHD and the three subtypes we’ve today:
- mostly inattentive
- mostly hyperactive and impulsive
- total.
Why change ADD to ADHD?
ADHD replaced ADD in the DSM-III-R in 1987 for a variety of reasons.
The first was the controversy and debate about the presence or absence of hyperactivity: the “H” in ADHD. When he was A.D.D initially namedLittle research has been done to find out the similarities and differences between these two subtypes.
Another issue concerned the term “attention deficit” and whether these deficits were similar or different in the two subtypes. Questions also arose about the extent of those differences: if these subtypes were so different, were they really different conditions?
Meanwhile, a brand new approach to inattention (“attention deficit”) recognizes that children exhibit inattentive behavior not necessarily they’re disruptive and difficult, but most of the time they’re forgetful and dreamy.
fizkes/Shutterstock
Why do some people use the term ADD?
It was wave of diagnoses in 1980. So it’s comprehensible that some people still cling to the term ADD.
Some people may discover with ADD out of habit, because that is what they were originally diagnosed with, or because they haven’t got hyperactive/impulsive traits.
Others who do not need ADHD may use a term they encountered in the Nineteen Eighties or Nineteen Nineties, not knowing that the terminology has modified.
How is ADHD currently diagnosed?
The three subtypes of ADHD described in the DSM-5 are:
-
mostly inattentive. People with the inattentive subtype have difficulty maintaining concentration, are easily distracted and forgetful, often lose things, and are unable to follow detailed instructions
-
mostly hyperactive and impulsive. People with this subtype have difficulty staying calm, should always navigate structured situations, often interrupt others, talk incessantly, and have difficulty with self-control
-
total. People with the mixed subtype experience characteristics of inattentive and hyperactive and impulsive people.
ADHD diagnosis proceed to grow amongst children and adults. And while ADHD has been commonly diagnosed in boys, recently we have seen an increasing number of women and women looking for a diagnosis.
However, some international experts competition an expanded definition of ADHD resulting from clinical practice in the United States. They argue that the challenges related to unwanted behaviors and educational outcomes for young individuals with the condition are uniquely shaped by each country’s cultural, political and local aspects.
Regardless of the name change to reflect what we find out about the condition, ADHD continues to affect the educational, social, and living situations of many children, adolescents, and adults.
