What Was ADHD Called Before ADD?
Before ADD became a diagnostic term in 1980, there was no single name everyone used for the same set of experiences. That is the part of this history that gets lost when we look for one simple “old name for ADHD.”
The 1968 DSM-II used “hyperkinetic reaction of childhood.” The emphasis was on visible activity. Earlier twentieth-century writers had used terms such as “hyperkinetic disease,” while others talked about “minimal brain dysfunction.” They were working within different theories and did not share today’s criteria. [1, 2]
Go back further and even the subject of the description changes. Weikard and Crichton wrote about attention in the eighteenth century. George Frederic Still’s 1902 lectures discussed a broader group of children with difficulties in behavioural control. These are pieces of the historical record, not a list of confirmed ADHD diagnoses in people who lived before the diagnosis existed. [1, 3]
Why care about an old name? Because names direct attention. A term built around movement makes a restless child visible. It may leave a quiet child struggling with attention in the background. A term built around a theory of brain damage can suggest a cause that has not been established for every person being discussed.
The 1980 DSM-III introduced attention deficit disorder, including forms with and without hyperactivity. In 1987, the revised manual adopted attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Later editions changed the criteria and how different presentations were described. That sequence is more useful than saying doctors simply changed the spelling. [2, 4]
I came to this history after being diagnosed as an adult. I do not need a doctor in 1775 to have “discovered me.” I do want to know why some kinds of struggle were easy to see and others were so easy to miss. The full documentary goes through those changes with the time and care a Short cannot give them.
Keep exploring
- Watch the full ADHD history documentary.
- On this site: The History of ADHD: From “Lack of Attention” to Modern Diagnosis — read the full page.
- Related Short: What Was “Hyperkinetic Disease”?.
- CDC: ADHD in adults.