While the American Psychiatric Association only formally recognized attention-deficit hyperactivity disorders (ADHD) in the late 1960s, the traits associated with the now commonly diagnosed conditions are embodied by famous individuals throughout history.
Famous People in History with ADHD
Alexander the Great, for example, was born in 356 B.C.E. and was the ancient Macedonian king known for his bold conquests and impulsive acts.
“Probably by today's standards [he] would have ADHD,” says Nikki Childrose, associate professor of history at Columbia-Greene Community College in Hudson, New York.
Then there’s Hannibal Barca, who was famous for crossing the Alps in 218 B.C.E. Childrose credits the Carthaginian general’s grit – likely a form of hyperfocus – for taking his motivation to an extreme level.
“[He had] an ability to sort of carry through something where others wouldn’t,” says Childrose.
Fast forward to the 1500s, and Queen Elizabeth I was “never able to have healthy relationships,” notes Childrose. “She’s very restless, she’s encouraging of exploration, she is really impulsive in decision making.”
Historians might say the former queen of England and Ireland had ADHD traits, but she also went down in history as one of the most significant rulers, notes Childrose. Meaning the condition, at least partially, worked in her favor.
Read More: Prehistoric Humans Had ADHD, Too, But the Trait Hasn't Adapted to Modern Life
The First Known Cases of ADHD Traits
It’s harder to know what life was like for the average person in early societies, but research points to ADHD traits as assets for hunter-gatherer societies.
ADHD also didn’t always go by that name, but the traits were picked up by different medical professionals over the course of history. The traits were known as “Hyperkinetic-Reaction of Childhood,” in the 1968 edition of the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), before they were updated to “ADD with or without hyperactivity” in the DSM III and then they were finally named ADHD. In the earliest DSM edition, the condition was known as “Minimal Brain Dysfunction.”
The first example dates back to Hippocrates, who, around the year 493 B.C.E., reportedly noted patients with “quickened responses to sensory experience, but also less tenaciousness because the soul moves on quickly to the next impression.”
In the 1770s, a German doctor by the name of Melchior Adam Weikard argued that the inattentive traits came from physiological causes in the body instead of from witchcraft or astrological sources.
And a Scottish physician, Sir Alexander Crichton, also described a condition similar to what we know of as ADHD today. In a book published in 1798, Crichton detailed a disorder that features “abnormal degrees of inattention and distractibility and the incapacity to attend with the necessary degree of constancy to any object, and that was associated with unusual levels of impulsivity, restlessness, and emotional reactivity.”
What We Know About the Causes and Symptoms of ADHD
How Many People Have ADHD?
Today, one in nine children in the U.S. have been diagnosed with ADHD – an estimated 7 million people between the ages of three and 17. Compared to data from 2016, this is an additional million diagnosed children.
It’s not clear why the rates are increasing, though researchers have their theories. It’s possible that increased awareness of ADHD is leading to more diagnoses, notes John Leikauf, clinical associate professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at Stanford University. But the environment and the way we live our lives today may be playing a role as well – things like endocrine disrupters or our cell phone addictions, Leikauf suggests.
“Some people wonder about how accessible we are and are expected to be and how fragmented things are in a digital space versus pen and paper and face to face,” says Leikauf. “Some people blame the pandemic, but the trend was definitely happening way before that.”
It’s also not only children who are getting diagnosed at higher rates, but adults too. Often women in their 20s to 40s discover they have ADHD when their child is diagnosed because they recognize the traits are a bit different than their assumptions, says Meghan Edmondson, an assistant professor at the College of Nursing at Kent State University.
“There are a lot of myths out there about ADHD,” says Edmondson, whose research focuses on the use of exercise interventions in managing ADHD. “Things like, ‘you can't have ADHD because you're smart/you get good grades’ or ‘you can't have ADHD because you can focus really hard on video games.’ These misunderstandings of what ADHD is can get in the way of a diagnosis, even when the signs are there.”
Read More: Is ADHD Really on the Rise?
Embracing Neurodivergent Challenges
While difficult to prove, Leikauf acknowledges that the idea that genes carrying ADHD have some benefits.
“There’s an intuition that those genes must be doing something to be maintained,” he says. “Maybe they have another function, maybe it’s the consequence of some other thing that’s good – the side effect. Or maybe there is some reason why the variation of the population has been helpful over time.”
And while ADHD can come with some perks, such as hyperfocus or creativity, Leikauf, and other ADHD experts caution against going too far with celebrating the strengths of the condition and ignoring the very real challenges people with ADHD face.
“I love that society is embracing that different people have different brains, each with their own strengths,” says Edmondson. “However, I think there's potential for that to result in resources being denied to people who have a disability, or for the unique challenges of ADHD to not be taken seriously. I think we need to remain conscious of what the implications of that narrative might be.”
Read More: Unpacking The Stigma Around Adult ADHD
Article Sources
Our writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:
CDC. Timeline of ADHD prevalence, medications, and diagnostic criteria from 1990s to current
Associate professor of history at Columbia-Greene Community College. Nikki Childrose
World journal of psychiatry. Who says this is a modern disorder? The early history of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
Neuropsychiatry. Changes in the Definition of ADHD in DSM-5: Subtle but Important
World journal of psychiatry. Who says this is a modern disorder? The early history of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology. ADHD Prevalence Among U.S. Children and Adolescents in 2022: Diagnosis, Severity, Co-Occurring Disorders, and Treatment
National Institute of Environmental Science. Endocrine Disruptors
An assistant professor at the College of Nursing at Kent State University. Meghan Edmondson
