Mateu Servera

Mateu Servera is Doctor in Psychology and Psychologist Specialist in Clinical Psychology. He is a Professor at the University of the Balearic Islands since 1993, and researcher at the Research Institute in Health Sciences (IUNICS) since 2002. His main research focuses on Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Sluggish Cognitive Tempo. He has been principal investigator or researcher in 12 competitive research projects, 4 research contracts and has authored or coauthored more than 30 articles in scientific journals, more than 25 participations in books, book chapters, monographs and scientific papers, and over 70 participations in conferences or scientific meetings.

Our research team has been working on the "Sluggish Cognitive Tempo" (SCT) dimension over five years. Currently, the interest and research publications on this topic have increased exponentially from multiple perspectives. One of the strongest results we have been able to contribute to is the definition of the dimension and its evaluation. Today, the SCT characterizes by a person who daydreams excessively, he/she always seems somewhat confused and whose behavior and thinking are clearly slow. Moreover, although they may vary depending on the evaluator (parents, teachers, clinical or themselves) and the country or culture, there is a set of items, around 10, which are grouped around two factors, one of alert/attentional, and other related to motor slowing, which are derivatives from powerful factorial cross-sectional and longitudinal studies, and they compose the main rating scales of this dimension. However, despite these advances, there are obviously many issues to be resolved. One of the most controversial is the way in which SCT should be considered: a "disorder" included in the current DSM or ICD? A subtype of ADHD, given the high correlation between the component of alert and items related to inattention of this disorder? Or, on the contrary, does it a "dimension"? In this symposium we will bring own data to analyze the influence of clinical SCT with the basic idea that, at least, it is too early to be considered as a “disorder” in the DSM; therefore, the dimension can be accommodated in other proposals, for example the Project Research Domain Criteria from NIMH in the United States.