In a time more and more people start to question if we don’t have too many diagnoses, this one seems indeed a bit over the top?

“Consider the case of a possible new developmental disorder called sluggish cognitive tempo, identified by US researchers and discussed at length in a recent New York Times article.

The disorder is characterised by behavioural symptoms such as drowsiness, daydreaming, mental confusion, physical lethargy and apathy, and appears to be an offshoot of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Whereas some children may have attentional deficits because of hyperactivity (the child who is “bouncing off the walls”), sluggish cognitive tempo is used to describe kids whose attentional deficits are due to low levels of mental energy.

The case for sluggish cognitive tempo representing a new disorder has been gathering pace over the past five years, so much so that the Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology dedicated most of its January issue to research related to the subject.” (Source)

Wait, look at these symptoms? Doesn’t that sound like a lot of kids in the afternoon? Or even many adults? Or is sluggish cognitive tempo just ‘pathologising’ normal variation in childhood behavior? Prof. Andrew Whitehouse concludes when looking at the evidence if this is really a disorder that:

“At this stage, sluggish cognitive tempo is not even close to reaching these standards.”

And he isn’t alone.

But I bet there are already organisations trying to bring help into families with kids with this syndrom. Yes, they do. And there is also already an online test.