Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) from a psychoanalytic perspective

Abstract

This article assumes that ADHD has a psychological background caused and maintained by a psychological conflict. This is illustrated using theories of well-known psychoanalytic figures from different analytic schools who dealt very early with symptoms underlying ADHD, as well as theories of psychoanalysts who have become prominent in recent years through statements on this disorder. Thus, the focus is not on the symptomatic manifestations of ADHD, but on the internal world of conflict and experience of the child and the parents and their reciprocal relationships.