Perpetuating a Reductionist Medical Worldview: The Absence of Environmental Medicine in the American ADHD Clinical Practice Guidelines
Ecological Health: Society, Ecology and Health
ISBN: 978-1-78190-323-0
Publication date: 1 October 2013
Abstract
Purpose
Since the beginning of the 20th century environmental health researchers have known about the association between toxicant exposure and disease. However, that knoweldge has not been well integrated into mainstream medicine. Shedding light on why is the focus of this chapter.
Methodology/approach
To shed light on this issue I analyze the 2011 American Academy of Pediatrics’ clinical practice guidelines for Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), focusing specifically on the omission of environmental health research pertaining to ADHD symptoms and exposures, such as lead and mercury.
Findings
I found that while environmental researchers have been documenting the link between lead and ADHD for over forty years, the American Academy of Pediatrics has completely omitted this research from its 2012 clinical practice guidelines. Moreover, I argue this omission can be traced to competitive pressures to protect medical jurisdiction, and a reductionist worldview that emphasizes treatment over prevention.
Originality/value of paper
This is the first attempt to analyze the way clinical practice guidelines help reinforce and perpetuate dominant medical perspectives. Moreover, to shed explanatory light, this chapter offers a synthetic explanation that combines materialist and ideological factors.
Research implications
Beyond the specific case of ADHD, this chapter has implications for understanding how and why environmental health research is omitted from other materials produced by mainstream medicine, such as materials found in the medical school curriculum, continuing medical education, medical journals, and on the medical association web sites.
Keywords
Citation
Vallée, M. (2013), "Perpetuating a Reductionist Medical Worldview: The Absence of Environmental Medicine in the American ADHD Clinical Practice Guidelines", Ecological Health: Society, Ecology and Health (Advances in Medical Sociology, Vol. 15), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 241-264. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1057-6290(2013)0000015015
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2013 Emerald Group Publishing Limited