Abstract
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is an inclusive category defined by the fifth edition of Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) as a mental health disorder affecting children and adults (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). There is a history of scepticism about ADHD, and as Singh (2008) suggested, the controversy focuses on validity of its existence, diagnosis, causes, and the ethics of medicating children. Variation in prevalence rates, both between countries and within countries, suggests that ADHD is as much a cultural construction as a medical one (Davies, 2014). Nonetheless, much of the research into ADHD has focused on cognitive, neurobiological, and genetic explanations (Cooper, 2008), and much less attention has been given to the cultural constructions that define ADHD or the experience of families who are constrained by them (Davies, 2014).
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Recommended reading
• Gray, C. A. (2008). Lay and professional constructions of childhood ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder): A discourse analysis (Unpublished PhD thesis). Edinburgh: Queen Margaret University.
• Horton-Salway, M. (2011). Repertoires of ADHD in UK newspaper media. Health (London), 15(5), 533–549.
• O’Reilly, M. (2008). ‘I didn’t violent punch him’: Parental accounts of punishing children with mental health problems. Journal of Family Therapy, 30(3), 272–295.
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© 2015 Mary Horton-Salway and Alison Davies
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Horton-Salway, M., Davies, A. (2015). Moral Evaluations in Repertoires of ADHD. In: O’Reilly, M., Lester, J.N. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Child Mental Health. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137428318_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137428318_9
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