A description of the portrayal of self and other in children diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Abstract

Historically, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) was termed Minimal Brain Dysfunction or MBD (Barkley, 1997) and this historical diagnostic label is a reflection of one of the consequences of the focus of current academic literature on the neuro-anatomical aetiology of ADHD: ADHD has often become associated with cognitive or neurological impairment (Biederman & Spencer, 1999). However, although impairment in intellectual functioning can be comorbid with ADHD (Faraone, Biederman, Lehman, Spencer, Norman, Siedman, Kraus, Perrin, Chen & Tsuang. 1993), it is often the case that children diagnosed with ADHD have no significant intellectual impairment and some are classified as intellectually 'gifted' (Baum, Olenchak & Owen, 1998; Hartnett, Nelson & Rinn, 2004; Webb & Latimer, 1993). This suggests that an understanding of cognitive or developmental-neurobiological factors alone cannot comprehensively account for the symptom triad of impulsivity, inattention and hyperactivity characteristic of ADHD.