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Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: a view from the USA

Nature Clinical Practice Neurology volume 4, pages 118–119 (2008)Cite this article

For attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the modern era of conceptualization, recognition, assessment and treatment in the USA was ushered in with the introduction of the third edition of the American Psychiatric Association's DSM (DSM-III) in 1980.1 This DSM version was substantially different from its predecessors in that it took an 'atheoretical' approach towards diagnosis (i.e. it avoided speculative inferences about the etiology of mental disorders and focused almost exclusively on clinical phenomenology).

Over the past 30 years, the core features of ADHD according to the DSM have remained essentially the same, and include inattention, impulsivity and hyperactivity. To receive a diagnosis, a child (or adult) needs to display a minimum number of symptoms in these specific domains, the symptoms need to occur 'often', and the symptoms need to result in substantial impairment in multiple settings.

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References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. MA Riddle is Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics and Director of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and Vice President for Psychiatric Sciences at Kennedy Krieger Institute for developmental disabilities, and JT Walkup is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.,

    Mark A Riddle & John T Walkup

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  1. Mark A Riddle
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  2. John T Walkup
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Correspondence to Mark A Riddle.

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Competing interests

Mark A Riddle is a consultant for Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson, and Shire.

John T Walkup is a consultant for GlaxoSmithKline and Eli Lilly, and has received grant/research support from Pfizer.

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Riddle, M., Walkup, J. Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: a view from the USA. Nat Rev Neurol 4, 118–119 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncpneuro0732

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