Attention deficit without hyperactivity in a child psychiatry clinic

Attention deficits in the absence of hyperactivity characterized 17% of 297 patients seen in a Child Psychiatry service. Eighty percent of this group had other identifiable psychiatric disorders, mostly undersocialized conduct disorder, aggressive type. The children with no psychiatric disorders tended either to have learning disabilities, or to be amotivated. The data suggested that attention deficit disorder without hyperactivity, as defined in DSM III, is not an independent syndrome.