The British Journal of Psychiatry 144: 16-24 (1984)
© 1984 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

Hyperkinetic syndrome of childhood: clinical characteristics

G Thorley

The diagnosis of hyperkinetic syndrome is rarely used in the UK, in marked contrast to its counterpart in the USA. Most of the work on hyperkinesis is concerned with the North American concept and relatively little attention has been paid to the British approach. The present paper reviews the development of the UK concept and diagnosis, describes the characteristics of 73 hyperkinetic syndrome children seen at the Bethlem and Maudsley Hospitals over 13 years and compares them to matched psychiatric controls diagnosed as conduct disordered. Results indicate that the two groups are differentiated by a number of symptomatic and clinical features, with the conduct disorder group showing a greater frequency of aggressive, antisocial, emotional and psychosocial disturbance which contrasts with higher frequencies of motor disturbance, inattentive and articulatory disturbance in the hyperkinetic group. No differences were found between the groups in brain pathology or sensory handicap. The findings provide support, at least in terms of symptoms and clinical features, for the concept and diagnosis of hyperkinetic syndrome (ICD 9).

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