who identified the symptoms of the disorder we now call adhd
History of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder In 1775, Melchior Adam Weikard, a prominent German physician, published the textbook Der Philosophische Arzt. Weikard's text contained a description of ADHD-like behaviours, possibly the first ever such description in medical literature[3] Weikard described many of the symptoms now associated with the inattentive dimension of ADHD in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. For instance, according to the English translation provided by Barkley and Peters, Weikard stated that: