Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: A Historical Neuropsychological Perspective.

The behavior patterns of hyperactivity, impulsivity and inattention that would ultimately become recognized as Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) have been described for centuries. Nevertheless, in the past 35 years, advances in diagnostic methods, identification of biomarkers, and treatments have advanced at an exponential rate. ADHD is now recognized as the most common behavioral disorder of childhood, with risks extending well into adulthood for both males and females, leading to its identification as a significant public health issue. This historical neuropsychological review of ADHD emphasizes scientific highlights in the past 35 years related to ADHD, including the evolution of the diagnosis (from Hyperkinetic Reaction of Childhood to ADHD), influential theories (executive functions, cognitive-energetic, delay aversion), landmark treatment studies (Multimodal Treatment of ADHD [MTA] and Preschool ADHD Treatment Study [PATS]), and advances in brain mapping techniques (anatomic, functional, and resting state magnetic resonance imaging, diffusion tensor imaging). The review concludes by highlighting the challenges of studying and treating a heterogeneous neurodevelopmental disorder like ADHD, with emphasis on associated disorders and conditions (learning disabilities, sluggish cognitive tempo), special populations (girls, preschoolers, adults), and recommendations for scientific inquiry in the next 35 years. Neuropsychologists are well positioned to address the clinical and research challenges of the next generation of studies, especially involving advances in understanding the sexual dimor.phism, full developmental course, and dynamic risks associated with ADHD. (JINS, 2017, 23, 916-929).

[Psychological events--organic interpretations: concepts of trauma in German psychiatry since 1889]. / Psychische Ereignisse--organische Interpretationen: Traumakonzepte in der deutschen Psychiatrie seit 1889.

This paper examines the debate on psychological trauma in German psychiatry since 1889. A content analysis of five leading German psychiatric journals between 1889 and 2005 is realised. An organic concept of psychological trauma has been prominent in the professional debate until today. Psychiatrists frequently referred to physical traumatisation, constitutional factors and genetic predisposition, exogenous reaction types according to Bonhoeffer, and to biological markers in the context of the PTSD concept. The biological tradition in German psychiatry resulted in a specific adoption of concepts on psychological trauma. However, integrating various models of psychological trauma into a psychiatric tradition focusing on a biological model proved to be difficult and inconsistent.

Baudelaire's aphasia: from poetry to cursing.

At 45 years of age, Charles Baudelaire suffered a left hemispheric stroke that left him with a right hemiplegia and severe aphasia. In this chapter, we investigate the nature of his symptoms, drawing mostly on his own and his contemporaries' correspondence. Before specifically examining his aphasia, we put the poet's life, work, and health in context, notably his tormented mind, his probable syphilitic infection and the intellectual milieu of 19th century France. The time when Baudelaire was struck with aphasia coincides with early discoveries and debates that centered on the nature and implications of this neurological disorder. Many of the questions raised at that time still await definitive answers. Here, we compare Baudelaire's language disorder with recent research that has shed new light on the poet's disease. Most interestingly, we explore the nature of his dramatic use of the expletive Cré nom!, which was the only word he was able to express. Finally, we discuss the links between disease and creativity and dismiss the frequent notion that Baudelaire, in the end, paid the price of his genius.

Lundby revisited: first incidence of mental disorders 1947-1997.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate how first incidence of various mental disorders changed between the periods of 1947-1972 to 1972-1997 in the Lundby cohort. METHOD: First-incidence rates of mental disorders were calculated for two 25 year periods and ten 5 year periods. RESULTS: From 1947-1972 to 1972-1997 a decrease in almost all age- and sex-specific incidences of neurotic and organic brain disorders was observed, whereas incidence rates of psychotic disorders increased consistently in male subjects but decreased in most age intervals in female subjects. For both sexes the age-standardized 5 year period incidences of neurotic disorders decreased after 1972, fluctuated for psychotic disorders 1947-1997 and decreased steadily for organic disorders 1947-1997. CONCLUSIONS: The reduction in neurotic and organic brain disorder incidences may be linked to structural changes in society and medical advances.

Delirium: uma perspectiva histórica / Delirium a historical perspective

O delirium corresponde a uma das primeiras doenças mentais descritas na literatura médica, há mais de 2.500 anos. Nas classificações psiquiátricas, permaneceu como categoria nosológica independente até o final do século XIX, quando foi redefinida com base nos seus aspectos fenomenológicos e etiológicos, precipitando a reclassificação das insanidades funcionais em psicoses. os estados confusionais passaram a se referir a uma síndrome mais ampla que incluía o delirium, enfatizando a desorganização dos processos cognitivos e do pensamento, e tendo no turvamento da consciência e na desorientação temporoespacial a condição de base. Com o objetivo de descrever a evolução histórica do conceito de delirium, foram realizados levantamentos da literatura médica através do sistema Medline, além da pesquisa em publicações literárias específicas sobre os temas história da medicina e história da psiquiatria. Partiu-se de algumas observações dogmáticas praticadas na Antigüidade e Idade Média, para atingir as definições e práticas atuais, oferecendo uma análise crítica dos critérios diagnósticos vigentes (DSM-III, DSM-IIIR, DSM-IV e CID-10). Não obstante a evolução conceitual, o delirium continua sendo mal compreendido, do ponto de vista fisiopatológico e são poucas as opções terapêuticas. o diagnóstico de delirium é ato eminentemente clínico: baseia-se na observação cautelosa das manifestações psíquicas e comportamentais dos pacientes acometidos, além da análise dos fatores predisponentes e precipitantes. É freqüente o seu subdiagnóstico em contextos clínicos e cirúrgicos. o diagnóstico do delirium é estabelecido em apenas 30 por cento a 50 por cento dos pacientes, sendo a omissão diagnóstica menos freqüente em serviços que contam com a interconsulta psiquiátrica. o delirium é uma das complicações mais comuns entre pacientes idosos hospitalizados e está associado a maior morbimortalidade. Isso sustenta a importância do seu pronto reconhecimento e manejo.

Open psychiatric services in interwar France.

The open psychiatric service established in Paris by Edoward Toulouse was meant to provide early, active psychiatric treatment to mildly afflicted individuals without subjecting them to legal commitment. Psychiatric reformers also hoped that the service would help to raise the status of psychiatry by typing their specialty's fate to laboratory science and hospital medicine. This article traces the genesis of open psychiatric services in interwar France and survey the debates they engendered within the French psychiatric community. It highlights the role of World War I in the implementation of open services and in the creation of a pool of patients who required assistance.

Status epilepticus, the grim reaper of the mental health system in early Victoria.

In an era when patients with refractory epilepsy were managed in mental asylums in the colonial days of Victoria, Australia, the opinion of the administration was that such patients seemed to have a benign prognosis. However the decision to collect all female epileptics in the colony and manage them in the Ballarat Mental Hospital, effected in 1901, allowed scrutiny of the progress of a cohort of 96 patients over the first seventeen years of the twentieth century, thereby revealing that under asylum conditions no less than a third of their number died as the result of status epilepticus. The results of this survey and the reasons for such an outcome are discussed.

The misidentification of Clerambault's and Kandinsky-Clerambault's syndromes.

Eponymic terms or eponyms are labels describing phenomena that reflect the name(s) of the person(s) who first described the phenomena. Using a similar term to describe different forms of pathology leads to a muddle. In this paper, we describe "Clerambault's syndrome" and "Kandinsky-Clerambault's syndrome" and discuss and clarify the confusion surrounding these different syndromes.

[The continuity of biological models in psychiatry: melancholy as brain disease in scholastic psychology]. / Zur Kontinuität biologischer Modelle in der Psychiatrie: die Melancholie als Hirnkrankheit in der scholastischen Psychologie.

This paper emphasizes the long lines of tradition biological concepts have in the explanation of mental disorders in classical antiquity and the middle ages; yet it also portrays rivalling theories. I describe both medical and philosophical approaches, as they merged into a quite coherent model during scholasticism. The work of Albert the Great serves as an example for this model. A last paragraph shows its plausibility for authors even of the 17th century and discusses the epistomological basis of dualistic systems.