Overview

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, is one of the most common developmental disorders. It is also one of the most controversial. Since the 1950s, when hyperactivity in children was first diagnosed, psychiatrists, educators, parents and politicians have debated the causes, treatment and implications of the disorder. Hyperactive: The Controversial History of ADHD is the first history of the disorder. Matthew Smith highlights the limitations of regarding ADHD as simply neurological, and contends that hyperactive children are also a product of their social, cultural, political and educational environment. Instead of simply accepting conventional understandings of ADHD, this book addresses the questions central to the emergence of the disorder: Why were children first diagnosed with the disorder? Why did biological explanations become predominant? Why did powerful drugs become the preferred treatment? And why have alternative explanations failed to achieve legitimacy?

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9781780230313

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Reviews

'Matthew Smith persuasively demonstrates the historical contingency of our ideas about hyperactivity. Well written, complex yet sharply argued, this book is a sorely needed corrective to today's therapeutic common sense and the ocean of pharmaceuticals it sanctions.' - -- David Herzberg, Associate Professor author of Happy Pills in America: From Miltown to Prozac 'As Matthew Smith demonstrates in this excellent study, there is arguably no more contentious childhood condition than hyperactivity or ADHD. Since the term was first introduced in the decades following the Second World War, hyperactivity has been variably explained in terms of genetic constitution, faulty parenting, an inability to cope with the pace and pressure of modern life, and increased sensitivity to food additives. Hyperactive explores debates about the biological, social and cultural contours of a condition that continues to puzzle doctors, frustrate teachers, and destroy families. It will surely be of value not only to historians of medicine, but also to the parents, teachers, psychiatrists and policy-makers involved in the daily struggle to cope with hyperactive children.' - -- Mark Jackson, Professor of the History of Medicine at the University of Exeter

"'Matthew Smith persuasively demonstrates the historical contingency of our ideas about hyperactivity. Well written, complex yet sharply argued, this book is a sorely needed corrective to today's therapeutic ""common sense"" and the ocean of pharmaceuticals it sanctions.' - -- David Herzberg, Associate Professor author of Happy Pills in America: From Miltown to Prozac 'As Matthew Smith demonstrates in this excellent study, there is arguably no more contentious childhood condition than hyperactivity or ADHD. Since the term was first introduced in the decades following the Second World War, hyperactivity has been variably explained in terms of genetic constitution, faulty parenting, an inability to cope with the pace and pressure of modern life, and increased sensitivity to food additives. Hyperactive explores debates about the biological, social and cultural contours of a condition that continues to puzzle doctors, frustrate teachers, and destroy families. It will surely be of value not only to historians of medicine, but also to the parents, teachers, psychiatrists and policy-makers involved in the daily struggle to cope with hyperactive children.' - -- Mark Jackson, Professor of the History of Medicine at the University of Exeter"

Author Information

Matthew Smith is a Lecturer and Wellcome Trust Research Fellow at the University of Strathclyde. He is a past winner of the Roy Porter Prize and the Pressman-Burroughs Wellcome Award.

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