Could Fidgety Philipp be proof that ADHD is not a modern phenomenon?

doi:10.1136/bmj.329.7467.643-c

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Roger Dobson

Abergavenny

According to a new study Zappel-Philipp, a character in the 1846 children's book Struwwelpeter, is probably the first written mention of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) by a psychiatrist.

Fidgety Philipp upsets his chair in an illustration from the 1846 children's book Struwwelpeter

The book, written for his son by Dr Heinrich Hoffmann, founder of the first mental hospital in Frankfurt, contains a series of short stories about a boy called Zappel-Philipp, which translates as Fidgety Philipp.

In a study in European Psychiatry …