The Beginnings of Attention Deficit in a Dutch 18th Century Medical Treatise

OBJECTIVE: An early description, possibly the earliest, of attention deficit disorder in a 1753 Dutch medical book by Cornelius Kloekhof is presented.

METHOD: The author of this text is briefly introduced and contextualized. The text is translated from Latin and afterwards, its impact on later scientific literature is discussed.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Kloekhofs description of attention deficit was one of the first and thoroughly inspired the subsequent literature, such as Adam Weikard, making this text an important moment in the rich history of ADHD.