Psychology
What does ADHD mean?
Acronym for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a neurodevelopmental diagnosis of inattention and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity that gets in the way of life in more than one setting.
Definition
ADHD names a clinical pattern of ongoing inattention — losing the thread, dropping unstimulating tasks, living in piles — and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity, with restlessness, blurting, trouble waiting. The picture starts in childhood and often continues in adults. NIMH and the DSM treat it as a neurodevelopmental disorder, with a history plus impairment across settings.
DSM-5 uses three presentations of the same diagnosis. There is predominantly inattentive, predominantly hyperactive-impulsive, and combined. People who only recognise themselves in the first still say ADD. That label comes from DSM-III (1980); later manuals folded it into ADHD. Attention is rarely absent. Many describe hyperfocus on what pays off internally and a stall on what a classroom or job demands. Girls and women are less often the “can’t sit still” stereotype, so the report often arrives in adulthood, tangled with anxiety or a reputation for mess.
Origin
Clinical English locked ADHD into the DSM. Portuguese and Spanish usually say TDAH. George Still gave the Goulstonian Lectures in March 1902 (The Lancet): children with weak attention and control, intellect intact. Charles Bradley described, in 1937, Benzedrine’s effect on behaviour. DSM-II (1968) said hyperkinetic reaction of childhood. DSM-III (1980) brought ADD with or without hyperactivity; DSM-III-R (1987) unified it as ADHD; DSM-IV (1994) locked in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and the subtypes. DSM-5 (May 2013) moved onset to before age 12 (it had been 7), replaced subtypes with presentations and asked for five symptoms in adults where children need six.
History
The restless-child report became the late adult letter, when compensation — grades, masking — stopped covering the cost. Internet speech borrowed time blindness, RSD and hyperfocus for the day-to-day, beside the three presentations on the report. TDAH and ADHD are the same diagnosis; the language on the letters changes.
How it emerged
There needed to be a short code for impairing attention and impulse that school had been calling spacey or badly brought up. Still described the picture in 1902; the manuals took decades to lock the name — ADD, then ADHD, TDAH in Portuguese and Spanish.
Usage examples
Her report says ADHD, inattentive presentation.
He still says ADD; the letter came back ADHD.
TDAH is the same diagnosis with a Portuguese or Spanish acronym.
Translations
- pt TDAH / transtorno do déficit de atenção com hiperatividade
- en ADHD / attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
- es TDAH / trastorno por déficit de atención con hiperactividad
Synonyms
- ADD
- attention deficit
- TDAH
- inattentive presentation
Acronyms
- ADHD
- TDAH