1 ADHD Outpatient Program, Adult Division, Department of Psychiatry, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
2 Department of Genetics, Institute of Biosciences, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2018 Jun;52(6):509-513. doi: 10.1177/0004867418769743. Epub 2018 Apr 26.
We present an ancient Greek description written by the philosopher Theophrastus in his classic book ' Characters' comparable with modern attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. The arguments are based in one chapter of this book-The Obtuse Man-presenting features of a character closely resembling the modern description of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. In a free comparative exercise, we compared Theophrastus descriptions with modern Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.; DSM-5) attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder symptoms. The sentences describing The Obtuse Man written by Theophrastus are similar to several symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and he would probably be currently diagnosed with this disorder as an adult. To our knowledge, this is the oldest description compatible with the current conception of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in adults in the Western literature. Differently than the moralistic view of ancient Greece regarding those symptoms, the medical attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder conception may be advantageous to patients since it might reduce prejudice and allow individuals to seek treatment.
我们呈现了一段古希腊哲学家泰奥弗拉斯托斯在其经典著作《人物志》中所写的描述，与现代的注意力缺陷多动障碍相媲美。这些论点基于该书中的一章——迟钝人，呈现了一个与现代注意力缺陷多动障碍描述非常相似的性格特征。在一个自由的比较练习中，我们将泰奥弗拉斯托斯的描述与现代精神障碍诊断与统计手册（第 5 版；DSM-5）注意力缺陷多动障碍症状进行了比较。泰奥弗拉斯托斯所写的迟钝人的描述与注意力缺陷多动障碍的几个症状相似，他现在可能会被诊断为这种障碍。据我们所知，这是西方文献中最早与成人注意力缺陷多动障碍现代概念相吻合的描述。与古希腊对这些症状的道德主义观点不同，医学注意力缺陷多动障碍的概念可能对患者有利，因为它可能减少偏见并允许个人寻求治疗。
