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Notes on the official history of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder ADHD

Firstly, this article offers a cartography of the discourses on the history of the Attention Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder Diagnosis (ADHD). Secondly, two main periods of ADHD official history are analyzed: the descriptions of the English physician George Still, published in 1902, and the lethargic encephalitis syndrome, in the first half of the 20th century. The moral and political aspects of the ADHD official history are pointed out - they are seen as important parts of the constitution of the ADHD diagnosis that are not showed by medical-scientific discourses. The different historical aspects revealed and hidden by the official history of the ADHD diagnosis are described as elements of the diagnosis constitution. Together, they constitute the ADHD diagnosis history, with its polemics and controversies.

Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); Historical constitution; George Still; Lethargic encephalitis syndrome


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