ABSTRACT
There is general consensus that ADHD is primarily a disorder of childhood and this is principally a book about children and young people. However, during the 1970s, Wood et al. (1976) reported initial findings related to ‘minimal brain dysfunction’ in adults. Follow-up studies of adults diagnosed as hyperactive as children led researchers to consider the possible persistence of ADHD into adulthood (Wood et al. 1976; Wender et al. 1981). During the mid 1990s there began to emerge a broader understanding that, for some young people, their symptoms persisted into adulthood (Hallowell and Ratey 1994). Subsequently, ADHD came to be reconceptualised as a lifespan disorder and was no longer considered merely a condition of childhood (McGough and Barkley 2004; Barkley et al. 2007; NICE 2008). Since many children and young people with ADHD grow up to be adults with this disorder, and many health and care services in the UK provide ‘cradle to grave’ services, it therefore seems fitting to include a chapter about adult ADHD in this book.
