Affective disorder among the relatives of hyperactive children.

Abstract

SUMMARYWe determined the incidence of bipolar and unipolar affective, disorder among the natural relatives of 59 hyperactive children, the “legal” relatives of 35 adopted hyperactive children, and the relatives of 41 control children. There were no significant differences in incidence of the two conditions between the groups of relatives, except for a greater incidence of unipolar affective disorder in the combined second degree blood relatives of hyperactive children than in the relatives of controls. Moreover, the incidence of bipolar affective disorder in the natural parents of hyperactive children was much lower than figures reported for the parents of patients with this type of affective disorder. Our data do not support the idea that hyperactivity is a childhood form of manic‐depressive psychosis.