PEDIATRICS Vol. 62 No. 5 November 1978, pp. 720
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HYPERACTIVITY

From time to time the progress of medicine is impeded by the introduction of a term which acquires popular appeal and is misused. Hyperactivity ought to mean nothing more than increased (or excessive) activity, but all too often the word is used to indicate a neurobehavioural disturbance which should be treated with potent medication. In the U.S.A. at least 5% of all normal schoolchildren are thought to be victims of the hyperactivity syndrome, and many are given treatment.... Fortunately, over the years Rutter and his colleagues have been painstakingly studying behavioural symptomatology and now conclude that "there is no evidence for the validity of a broader concept of hyperkinetic syndrome". If this view can now percolate into student teaching (and into the lay Press) then progress will have been achieved towards the study and management of hyperactivity.