Literature on ADHD Diagnosis“Illegitimacy-Legitimacy” And Transcending Questions of Validity

Overview of Presentationbrief discussion of ADHD in clinical literature

discussion of ADHD in social theory/ sociological literature

ADD/ADHD in Clinical (Epidemiological) Literature

“There is converging evidence that adult ADHD is a not rare, valid clinical diagnosis... Studies suggest that adult and child patients with ADHD may share a similar treatment-responsive, underlying neurobiological substrate.”

Spencer et al. 1998 “Adults with ADHD: A controversial diagnosis”

ADD/ADHD in Social Theory/Sociological Literature

social constructionismsociology of medicine

hegemonymedicalization

disabilities studiesdiscourse theory

ADD/ADHD in Social Theory/Sociological Literature

social constructionismsociology of medicine

hegemonymedicalization

disabilities studiesdiscourse theory

ADHD according to Sociology of Medicine

Conrad as a seminal author on ADHD1975 “The Discovery of Hyperkinesis: Notes on the

Medicalization of Deviant Behavior”1992 “Medicalization and Social Control”

rise of social arguments against ADHD (“sick society” arguments) - Horton-Salway 2011, Broer and Heerings 2013

Limitations of Medicalization TheoryRafalovich 2002:“Sociological accounts of mental illness... portray the meaning of such illnesses as unified and that this unification results from the collusion of special interests... Though such agents are certainly influential in shaping public conceptions of ADHD, this thesis demonstrates that ADHD is interpreted in various ways.”

Application of Discourse Theory on ADHDRafalovich 2002 “Framing the ADHD child: History, discourse and everyday

experience”Singh 2004 “Doing their jobs: Mothering with Ritalin in a culture of mother-

blame”Bennet 2007 “(Dis)ordering Motherhood: Mothering a Child with ADHD”Blum 2007 “Mother-blame in the Prozac Nation: Raising Kids with Invisible

Disabilities”Frigerio et al. 2013 “ADHD Blame Game: A study on the positioning of

professionals, teachers and parents”Singh 2013 “Brain talk: power and negotiation in children’s discourse about

self, brain and behavior”Brunton et al. 2014 “Negotiating Parental Accountability in the Face of

Uncertainty for ADHD”

ADHD as a discursive site for power relations

“Mothers of ADHD children... found it difficult to identify with normalized accounts of mothering. Hannah ‘felt like an alien’ and Eleanor ‘felt isolated and inadequate.’... ADHD brings to the fore the inequalities of already established gender positions.”

Bennet 2007

Application of Discourse Theory on ADHDRafalovich 2002 “Framing the ADHD child: History, discourse and everyday

experience”Singh 2004 “Doing their jobs: Mothering with Ritalin in a culture of mother-

blame”Bennet 2007 “(Dis)ordering Motherhood: Mothering a Child with ADHD”Blum 2007 “Mother-blame in the Prozac Nation: Raising Kids with Invisible

Disabilities”Frigerio et al. 2013 “ADHD Blame Game: A study on the positioning of

professionals, teachers and parents”Singh 2013 “Brain talk: power and negotiation in children’s discourse about

self, brain and behavior”Brunton et al. 2014 “Negotiating Parental Accountability in the Face of

Uncertainty for ADHD”

Grounded Theory Ethnography on ADHD

Olney and Kim 2001 “Beyond Adjustment: Integration of Cognitive Disability into Identity”

Conway 2008 “ADHD and college students: Experiencing an illness career”

Westwater 2012 “Making meaning: the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD”

Directions for further researchethnographic research on the diagnosed individual; multi-

level analysishow is subjectivity not only articulated through ADHD, but

impacted by ADHD diagnosis?is ADHD only a site for power relations to manifest

themselves?do individuals make their own meaning or contend with

larger discourses on ADHD?