Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: Normalising childhood in contemporary biopolitical societies


Published: Jan 31, 2024
Keywords:
biopolitical societies childhood normalisation ADHD psychiatrization
Vasia Lekka
https://orcid.org/0009-0009-4111-4913
Abstract

This article examines the persistent and continuously increasing diagnosis of ADHD in children within Western societies and the attempt to normalise childhood. Having as a point of departure the Foucauldian theory and the tools of the new sociology of childhood, our target is to delineate the consequences of this diagnosis regarding the notion of the “child” per se and what is constituted as “normal” and “pathological” childhood and, consequently, regarding the construction of children’s new identities and new subjectivities within biopolitical societies at the beginning of the 21st century.


 

Article Details
  • Section
  • Articles
Downloads
Download data is not yet available.
Author Biography
Vasia Lekka, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

Assistant Professor, Department of Early Childhood Education, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens

References
Αθανασίου, Α. (2012). Η κρίση ως «κατάσταση έκτακτης ανάγκης». Κριτικές και αντιστάσεις. Σαββάλας.
Jenks, C. (2020). Παιδική ηλικία (μτφρ.: Μ. Γκαντώνα). Gutenberg.
Κανγκιλέμ, Ζ. (2007). Το κανονικό και το παθολογικό (μτφρ.: Γ. Φουρτούνης). Νήσος.
Κριτσωτάκη, Δ. και Λέκκα, Β. (2022). Μεταξύ «κανονικού» και «παθολογικού»: Κατασκευάζοντας την παιδική ηλικία και νεότητα στο Αιγινήτειο Νοσοκομείο (1915-1939). Μία ιστορική και κοινωνιολογική προσέγγιση. Ψηφίδες.
Λέκκα, Β. (2012). Ιστορία και θεωρία της ψυχιατρικής. Από τον Ιπποκράτη μέχρι το κίνημα της αντιψυχιατρικής και τον Michel Foucault. futura.
Leader, D. (2020). Τι είναι η τρέλα; (μτφρ.: Χ. Πάλλας). Κέδρος.
Μακρυνιώτη, Δ. (2001). Εισαγωγή. Στο Δ. Μακρυνιώτη (Επιμ.), Παιδική Ηλικία (σελ. 11-43). Νήσος.
Μακρυνιώτη, Δ. (2019). Εισαγωγή. Στο Ο. Διδυμιώτης και Δ. Μακρυνιώτη (Επιμ..), Παιδικές ηλικίες σε κίνηση (σελ. 11-62). Νήσος.
Μπάτλερ, Τζ. (2009). Αναταραχή φύλου. Ο φεμινισμός και η ανατροπή της ταυτότητας (μτφρ.: Γ. Καράμπελας). Αλεξάνδρεια.
Νόμος 3699/2008. «Ειδική Αγωγή και Εκπαίδευση ατόμων με αναπηρία ή με ειδικές εκπαιδευτικές ανάγκες». Ανακτήθηκε στις 14 Δεκεμβρίου 2022 από https://www.e-nomothesia.gr/kat-ekpaideuse/n-3699-2008.html
Pignarre, P. (2007). Πώς η κατάθλιψη έγινε επιδημία (μτφρ.: Χ. Χατζηδημητρίου). University Studio Press.
Φουκώ, Μ. (2002). Για την υπεράσπιση της κοινωνίας (μτφρ.: Τ. Δημητρούλια). Ψυχογιός.
Φουκώ, Μ. (2010). Οι μη κανονικοί. Παραδόσεις στο Κολλέγιο της Γαλλίας, 1974-1975 (μτφρ.: Σ. Σιαμανδούρας). Εστία.
Φρόυντ, Σ. (2021). Ο μικρός Χανς. Η ανάλυση της φοβίας ενός πεντάχρονου παιδιού (μτφρ.: Β. Πατσογιάννης). Πλέθρον.
American Psychiatric Association (2022). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder fifth edition, text revision, DSM-5-TR.
Armstrong, D. (1983). Political anatomy of the body. Medical knowledge in Britain in the 20th century. Cambridge University Press.
Ayano,G. et al. (2020). Epidemiology of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children and adolescents in Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Annals of General Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12991-020-00271-w
Baldwin, S. and Anderson, R. (2000). The cult of methylphenidate: clinical update. Critical Public Health, 10 (1), pp. 81-86. https://doi.org/10.1080/713658225
Bingöl-Kızıltunç, P. et al. (2022). Does methylphenidate treatment affect functional and structural ocular parameters in patients with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder? A prospective, one year follow-up study. Indian Journal of Ophthalmology, 70 (5), pp. 1664-1668. https://doi.org/10.4103/ijo.IJO_2966_21
Bozinovic, K. et al. (2021). U.S. national, regional, and state-specific socioeconomic factors correlate with child and adolescent ADHD diagnoses pre-COVID-19 pandemic. Scientific Reports, 11. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-01233-2
Brauer, R. et al. (2021). Psychotropic medicine consumption in 65 countries and regions, 2008-19: a longitudinal study. The Lancet Psychiatry, 8 (12), pp. 1071-1082. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(21)00292-3.
Brown, P. (1995). Naming and framing: the social construction of diagnosis and illness. Journal of Health and Social Behaviour, 35, pp. 34-52. https://doi.org/10.2307/2626956.
Brumbaugh, S. et al. (2022). Trends in characteristics of the recipients of new prescription stimulants between years 2010 and 2020 in the United States: An observational cohort study. eClinical Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2022.101524
Conrad, P. and Potter, D. (2000). From hyperactive children to ADHD adults: observations on the expansion of medical categories. Social Problems, 47 (4), pp. 559-582. https://doi.org/10.2307/3097135.
Hallowell, E. and Ratey, J. (1994). Driven to distraction. Recognizing and coping with Attention Deficit Disorder from childhood through adulthood. Anchor Books.
Hoffmann, H. (1845). Der Struwwelpeter. Retrieved December 14, 2022 from http://www.gasl.org/refbib/Hoffmann__Struwwelpeter.pdf
Jenks, C. (1982). Introduction: Constituting the child. In C. Jenks (Ed.), The sociology of childhood. Essential readings (pp. 9-24). Batsford Academic and Educational Ltd.
Jutel, A. (2009). Sociology of diagnosis: a preliminary review. Sociology of Health & Illness, 31(2), pp. 278-299. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9566.2008.01152.x
Kirk, S.A., Gomory, T. and Cohen, D. (2013). Mad science. The disorders of American psychiatry. Transaction Publishers.
Lauritzen, S.O. and Sachs, L. (2001). Normality, risk and the future: implicit communication of threat in health surveillance. Sociology of Health & Illness, 23 (4), pp. 497-516. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9566.00262
LeFrançois, B.A. and Diamond, S. (2014). Queering the sociology of diagnosis: children and the constituting of ‘mentally ill’ subjects. CAOS: The Journal of Critical Anti-Oppressive Social Inquiry, 1, pp. 39-61.
Littlewood, R. (1990). From categories to contexts: a decade of the ‘‘New Cross-Cultural Psychiatry’’. British Journal of Psychiatry, 156, pp. 308-327. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.156.3.308.
Mayes, R. and Rafalovich, A. (2007). Suffer the restless children: the evolution of ADHD and paediatric stimulant use, 1900-80. History of Psychiatry, 18 (4), pp. 435-457. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957154X06075782
Moncrieff, J. (2013). The bitterest pills. The troubling story of antipsychotic drugs. Palgrave Macmillan.
Moncrieff, J. and Timimi, S. (2011). Critical analysis of the concept of adult attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. The Psychiatrist, 35, pp. 334-338. https://doi.org/10.1192/pb.bp.110.033423
Moon, S.Y. (2011). Cultural perspectives on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: A comparison between Korea and the U.S. Journal of International Business and Cultural Studies, pp. 1-11.
Morgan, P.L. , Woods, A.D. and Wang, Y. (2022). Sociodemographic disparities in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder overdiagnosis and overtreatment during elementary school. Journal of Learning Disabilities, pp. 1-37. https://doi.org/10.1177/00222194221099675.
Ong, A. (2006). Neoliberalism as exception. Mutations in citizenship and sovereignty. Duke University Press.
Petersen, Α. and Wilkinson, Ι. (2008). Health, risk and vulnerability. An introduction. In A. Petersen and I. Wilkinson (Eds.), Health, risk and vulnerability (pp. 1-15). Routledge.
Ponnou, S. and Thomé, B. (2022). ADHD diagnosis and methylphenidate consumption in children and adolescents: A systematic analysis of health databases in France over the period 2010-2019. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.957242
Polanczyk, G. et al. (2007). The worldwide prevalence of ADHD: a systematic review and metaregression analysis. American Journal of Psychiatry, 164(4), pp. 942-948. https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.2007.164.6.942
Rafalovich, A. (2001). The conceptual history of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: idiocy, imbecility, encephalitis and the child deviant, 1877-1929. Deviant Behavior: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 22, pp. 93-115. https://doi.org/10.1080/016396201750065009
Rose, N. (1999). Governing the soul. The shaping of the private self. Free Association Books.
Rose, N. (2007). The politics of life itself. Biomedicine, power, and subjectivity in the twenty-first century. Princeton University Press.
Rowe, A. (2016). No regrets. In J. White et al. (Eds.), Critical suicidology. Transforming suicide research and prevention for the 21st century (pp. 154-165). UBC Press.
Rucklidge, J. (2008). Gender differences in ADHD: implications for psychosocial treatments. Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics, 8(4), pp. 643-655. https://doi.org/10.1586/14737175.8.4.643
Salari, N., et al. (2023). The global prevalence of ADHD in children and adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Italian Journal of Pediatrics, 49 (1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13052-023-01456-1
Scott, S., et al. (2005). Repositioning the patient: the implications of being ‘at risk’. Social Science & Medicine, 60, pp. 1869-1879. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2004.08.020
Skogli, E.W. et al. (2013). ADHD in girls and boys – gender differences in co-existing symptoms and executive function measures. BMC Psychiatry, 13, pp. 298-310. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-244X-13-298
Skolbekken, J.-A. (2008). Unlimited medicalization? Risk and the pathologization of normality. In A. Petersen and I. Wilkinson (Eds.), Health, risk and vulnerability (pp. 16-29). Routledge.
Skounti, M. et al. (2010). Prevalence of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in schoolchildren in Athens, Greece. Association of ADHD subtypes with social and academic impairment. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, 2, pp. 127-132. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12402-010-0029-8
Smith, M. (2012). Hyperactive. The controversial history of ADHD. Reaktion Books.
Smith, M. (2017). Hyperactive around the world? The history of ADHD in global perspective. Social History of Medicine, 30(4), pp. 767-787. https://doi.org/10.1093/shm/hkw127
Song, P. et al. (2021). The prevalence of adult attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: A global systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Global Health, 11. https://doi.org/10.7189/jogh.11.04009
The Lancet (2008, October 4). Editorial. The Lancet, 372, p. 1194. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(08)61496-8.
Thomaidis, L. et al. (2017). Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) symptoms and cognitive skills of preschool children. Psychiatriki, 28, pp. 28-36. https://doi.org/10.22365/jpsych.2017.281.28
Time (1974, July 18). Retrieved November 16, 2022 from https://time.com/vault/issue/1994-07-18/page/1/
Timini, S. and Radcliffe, N. (2005). The rise and rise of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Journal of Public Mental Health, 4 (2), pp. 9-13. https://doi.org/10.1108/17465729200500013
Xu, G. et al. (2018). Twenty-year trends in diagnosed Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder among US children and adolescents, 1997-2016. JAMA Netw Open, 1 (4). https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2018.1471