Article ID: CBB000930679

Psychiatry Limited: Hyperactivity and the Evolution of American Psychiatry, 1957--1980 (2008)

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Smith, Matthew (Author)


Social History of Medicine
Volume: 21
Pages: 541--559


Publication Date: 2008
Edition Details: Roy Porter Student Essay Prize Winner
Language: English

Hyperactivity is the most commonly diagnosed childhood psychiatric disorder in north America. Most physicians believe that the disorder is a neurological dysfunction which is best treated with stimulants, such as ritalin. Accounts of the history of hyperactivity written by physicians, psychologists and even historians suggest that the disorder was always conceived as such. This paper argues that, on the contrary, the notion that hyperactivity was a neurological condition only emerged after vigorous debate during the 1960s between three competing fields within American psychiatry: specifically psychoanalysis, social psychiatry and biological psychiatry. Biological psychiatry won the debate, not because its approach to hyperactivity was more scientifically valid, but rather because its explanations and methods fit the prevailing social context more readily than that of its rivals. American psychiatry's refusal to draw pluralistic conclusions about hyperactivity undermined the development of a deeper understanding of the disorder. The history of hyperactivity provides an ideal lens through which to view the evolution of psychiatry from a field dominated by Freudian psychoanalysis to one rooted in the neurosciences. Keywords: history of psychiatry; United States; childhood; hyperactivity; psychoanalysis; social psychiatry; biological psychiatry; ADHD; mental health

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Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB000930679/

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Authors & Contributors
Zorzanelli, Rafaela Teixeira
Faschi, Viviana
Allen Frances
Polaris Koi
Cahalan, Susannah
Rector, Claudia A.
Concepts
Mental disorders and diseases
Psychiatry
Clinical psychology
Diagnosis
Psychoanalysis
Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)
Time Periods
20th century, late
19th century
21st century
20th century, early
20th century
18th century
Places
United States
Europe
Brazil
Edinburgh
Argentina
France
Institutions
United States. Food and Drug Administration (USFDA)
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