Carmen Keith Conners (March 20, 1933 – July 5, 2017) was an American psychologist, best known for establishing the first standards for the diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Conners was born on March 20, 1933, in Bingham Canyon, Utah, one of three children of Michael Conners, a machinist, and Merle Conners, who worked in a department store. He earned degrees from the University of Chicago (BA), University of Oxford (MA), and Harvard University (PhD).[1]

Conners is credited by many as putting ADHD on the map in the USA. In later years, he raised concerns about the high rates of diagnosis of ADHD in the United States as compared to Europe, and suggested that ADHD may be diagnosed too frequently in the US [2] He believed the true rates of childhood ADHD were 2-3%.[3]

Conners died on July 5, 2017, in Durham, North Carolina, aged 84.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b BENEDICT CAREY (July 13, 2017). "Keith Conners, Psychologist Who Set Standard for Diagnosing A.D.H.D., Dies at 84 - The New York Times". The New York Times. Retrieved July 17, 2017.
  2. ^ Frances, Allen (March 28, 2016). "Keith Conners, Father of ADHD, Regrets Its Current Misuse". HuffPost.
  3. ^ Emmerson, Jeff (July 8, 2017). "A founding father of the ADHD diagnosis wrote his own obituary to warn against current…". Archived from the original on June 27, 2018. Retrieved September 9, 2018.


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