Disorders of Attention and Impulse Regulation

This chapter focuses on the clinical syndrome of Attention-Deficit /Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). It discusses the syndrome's likely causal mechanisms, its heterogeneity and subtypes, the boundaries of its validity as a disease construct, and its place in a developmental psychopathology framework. Because so much ongoing controversy and recent theorizing concerns the status of within-child developmental mechanisms, the chapter emphasizes internal neural and psychological control systems and their development. It highlights the role of the child's interpersonal network, plus wider societal contextual factors, which have key roles to play in the development and display of self-regulatory functions. The chapter points out that genetic and other child-specific mechanisms that influence individual differences in the expression of given traits or conditions are not commensurate with societal factors that shape the overall levels of traits. It also highlights that problems with inattention and impulsivity cut across a range of psychiatric and clinical conditions.