The rise and rise of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
Abstract
The rise in the diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and the use of stimulant medication such as Ritalin to treat it raises important questions about how childhood is conceptualised in contemporary western society today. By focusing on within‐child explanations for behaviour, the diagnosis of ADHD divorces a child from their context; real life experiences, including traumatic ones, are marginalised or excluded from clinical consideration. This paper1 explores how ADHD manages to occupy and hold on to such a dominant position despite the lack of evidence supporting its supposed medical origins, and explores what the ADHD diagnosis reveals about cultural expectations of childhood and power hierarchies in the UK and North America.
Citation
Timimi, S. and Radcliffe, N. (2005), "The rise and rise of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder", Journal of Public Mental Health, Vol. 4 No. 2, pp. 9-13. https://doi.org/10.1108/17465729200500013
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2005, Emerald Group Publishing Limited