SciELO - Scientific Electronic Library Online

 
vol.45 issue82Daisy disappeared: notes on a case of extended practicePsychoanalysis transmission and university author indexsubject indexarticles search
Home Pagealphabetic serial listing  

Jornal de Psicanálise

Print version ISSN 0103-5835

Abstract

FRANCA, Maria Thereza de Barros. Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): increasing the understanding. J. psicanal. [online]. 2012, vol.45, n.82, pp. 191-207. ISSN 0103-5835.

The author, in order to introduce the Attention Deficit Disorder and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Psychiatric diagnosis, sums up a historical review setting out from the Minimal Brain Damage concept, and reaching the disorder itself and its occurrence in children. These children display symptoms such as difficulty in focusing attention, psychomotor agitation, and impulsivity. The paper highlights Medical Science’s efforts to accommodate such children’s symptoms in any Psychiatric diagnostic category which could be recognized. After approaching the recommended treatment, which prioritizes the use of methylphenidate, the author presents the controversies around the ADHD diagnosis and the usage of that psychotropic drug, a CNS stimulant with adverse effects. The psychoanalytic contributions to the development of primitive states, allows us to understand the symptoms presented by these children diagnosed as ADHD, as resulting from failures in the constitution of a psychic continent. The author ends up by giving some clinical examples.

Keywords : Child Psychoanalysis; Psychiatry and psychoanalysis; Learning difficulties.

        · abstract in English | Portuguese     · text in Portuguese     · Portuguese ( pdf )