The Hyperactive State: ADHD in Historical Perspective

Abstract

What causes attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)? The conventional answer to this question is that the hyperactivity, inattentiveness, impulsivity, defiance and aggression that characterize ADHD are caused by neurological dysfunction rooted primarily in genetics and, in a small fraction of cases, brain injury. Such thinking has been predominant in North America since the late 1960s and is now prevalent throughout the world (Smith, 2008, 2012). Going hand in glove with such neurological explanations are the pharmaceutical treatments, such as Ritalin, Adderall, and Strattera, which have similarly dominated the treatment of children with ADHD since that time. Although such explanations and medications for ADHD have always been controversial, the worldwide escalation of both ADHD diagnoses and prescriptions of ADHD drugs suggests that most of the global medical community are perfectly satisfied with how the disorder is conceptualized and are happy to continue prescribing psychoactive drugs to treat it (International Narcotics Control Board, 2010; Polanczyk et al., 2007).