Hyperkinetic impulse disorder in children's behavior problems. Psychosomatic Medicine

1.T HAS long been recognized and accepted that a persistent disturbance of behavior of a characteristic kind may be noted after severe head injury, epidemic encephalitis and com-municable disease encephalopathies, such as measles, in children. It has often been ob-served that a behavior pattern of a similar na-ture may be found in children who present no clear-cut history of any of the classical causes mentioned. This pattern will henceforth be referred to as hyperkinetic impulse disorder. In brief sum-mary, hyperactivity is the most striking item. This may be noted from early infancy on or not become prominent until five or six years of age. There are also a short attention span and poor powers of concentration, which are particularly noticeable under school condi-tions. Variability also is frequent, with the child being described as quite unpredictabl