ADHD - An Illustrated historical overview

„Possibly the most striking change in behaviour during the week of benzedrine therapy occurred in the school activities of many of these patients […] …a great increase of interest in school material was noted immediately. There appeared a definite “ drive” to accomplish as much as possible during the school period, and often to spend extra time completing additional work […] The improvement was noted in all school subjects. It appeared promptly the first day benzedrine was given and disappeared on the first day it was discontinued.“ Charles Bradley, 1937, p. 578. School performance O ne year after the opening of the Emma Pendleton Bradley Home , the grandnephew of George Bradley, Charles Bradley (1902–1979), joined the staff and soon became medical director. Bradley treated children with post-pneumoencephalography head- aches (supposedly due to spinal fluid loss) with benzedrine that he received from Smith, Kline and French Laborato- ries in Philadelphia. He presumed that a stimulant drug would stimulate the choroid plexus to produce spinal fluid. While the drug did not do much for the headaches, teachers noted that some of these children performed markedly better at school, obviously due to the benefical effects of benzedrine. Brad- ley pursued this serendipitous discov- ery in a controlled trial and reported in his landmark article of 1937 that 14 of 30 children with behaviour problems showed a spectacular change in be- haviour and improved school perfor- mance during one week of treatment with benzedrine. Bradley’s observations were important discoveries, and follow-up studies es- tablished the benefit of psychostimu- lants in the treatment of ADHD. Well aware that most of the psychological afflictions of children had no effective treatment, Bradley felt that more peo- ple needed to be educated and trained in child psychiatry, and moved in 1948 to the University of Oregon Medical School to found and direct a depart- ment of child psychiatry. Photo of Charles Bradley courtesy of Emma Pendleton Bradley Hospital, East Providence, Rhode Island, USA.