Hyperactive: The Controversial History of ADHD - Softcover

Aung-Thwin, Maitrii; Aung-Thwin, Michael

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1780230311 ISBN 13: 9781780230313

Publisher: Reaktion Books, 2012

Synopsis

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, is one of the most common developmental disorders, with an average of 9 per cent of US children between the ages of five and seventeen diagnosed each year. 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. Why and how were children first diagnosed with this disorder? Hyperactive provides the first history of ADHD, explaining why biological explanations became predominant; how powerful drugs became the preferred treatment; why diagnosis rates and treatments vary so widely around the world; and why alternative explanations have failed to achieve any legitimacy. Contending that hyperactive children are also a product of their social, cultural and educational environment, Matthew Smith demonstrates how knowledge about the rise of ADHD can lead to better choices about its diagnosis and treatment. A revealing and accessible study of this hugely controversial subject, Hyperactive is an essential book for psychologists, teachers, policymakers and parents.

About this title

About the Authors

Maitrii Aung-Thwinis Associate Professor of Southeast Asian and Burmese History at the National University of Singapore. He is author of The Return of the Galon King: History, Law, and Rebellion in Colonial Burma (2011) and co-author of A New History of Southeast Asia (2010).

Michael Aung-Thwin is Chair and Professor of the Asian Studies Program at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa. He is the author of The Mists of Ramanna: The Legend that was Lower Burma (2005) and co-editor of New Perspectives on the History and Historiography of Southeast Asia: Continuing Explorations (2011).

Edition details

• Publisher: Reaktion Books
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1780230311
• ISBN 13: 9781780230313
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 248