Treatment-relevant diagnostics of ADHD

Abstract

The ADHD syndrome divides the professional community into two “camps”: While one “camp” is convinced of a biological etiology, the other prefers psychodynamic explanatory models. Our study may offer a conciliatory solution: these are different subtypes with clinically identical core symptoms, as our study was able to distinguish three subtypes among children affected by ADHD. Two clusters are characterized by a specific profile of partial deficits in information processing, i.e. by neuropsychological parameters. The third cluster consists of emotionally conspicuous children with attachment-disordered and aggressive features. The clinical impression would have suggested that the two clusters with information-processing deficits could also be differentiated on the basis of neurological soft signs. However, statistical analysis of our data revealed no significant associations.