ABSTRACT
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has become the most commonly diagnosed psychiatric condition of childhood worldwide (Timimi, 2005b). In this book I offer a sociological perspective on ADHD, and its place in the life of the school and family. The prevalent professional viewpoint on ADHD in the UK is that it is a biologically based disorder, with causal factors in genetics and neurochemistry (Kutcher et al., 2004). This perspective goes on to claim that impairing symptoms of impulsiveness, hyperactivity and attention deficit will present in sufferers from an early age and will continue in some form into adulthood. One of the most controversial claims of this argument is the need for pharmacological intervention, and the trend whereby more and more young people are being placed on some form of psychoactive drug has attracted much contestation (Miller and Leger, 2003). This contestation has fuelled a politically charged and polarised debate about ADHD, circling around the somewhat intellectually stale question of its existence. ADHD also has an increasingly successful life in popular images; Bart Simpson has it, popular films and songs reference it, a new magazine in Liverpool, UK, adopts it as a name and mission statement: ‘ADHD — Attention Deficit in High Definition — magazine is a free arts and culture publication, with few words, where you can let your mind wander free’ (King, 2012).
