ADHD Nation
A review of

ADHD Nation

Children, Doctors, Big Pharma, and the Making of an American Epidemic

Alan Schwarz • Scribner • 2016

The History of ADHD

by David Meyer

New York Times journalist and Pulitzer-Prize nominee Alan Schwarz presents the definitive history of attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the battles over identifying and naming it, and how drug companies sought to profit from it.

New York Times reporter Alan Schwarz covers the history and treatment of attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), including the role of pioneering experts and the influence of the pharmaceutical industry. Schwarz’s balanced discussion of ADHD will interest patients, parents, mental health professionals, teachers and policymakers.

Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

Schwarz reports that the first recorded description of ADHD goes back to “Fidgety Philip,” a poem German psychologist Heinrich Hoffmann wrote about his three-year-old son in 1845. The chorus says, “But fidgety Phil, he won’t sit still.”

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