What Does 'Normal' Mean?

A review of the Concept of Normality with regards to the diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in the 'Western' World

Olivia de Vanssay

• Publisher: GRIN Verlag
• Year: 2020
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9783346135872
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

Academic Paper from the year 2019 in the subject Sociology - Individual, Groups, Society, grade: 1st, King`s College London, course: Global Health and Social Medicine, language: English, abstract: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is defined by the DSM as a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by inattention and hyperactivity that impairs an individual's daily function. ADHD diagnoses in both children and adults have been drastically increasing in the western world in the past two decades, and subsequently the use of stimulant medications to treat ADHD has also drastically increased. This paper primarily relies on the ideas of french philosopher Georges Canguilhem and Canadian philosopher Ian Hacking to argue that this increased prevalence of ADHD is not due to an actual increase of individuals with ADHD, but rather a result of the social, political, and economic norms and practices of contemporary 'western' society in the 'Global North'. The first section of this essay summarize Canguilhem's ideas on the role of normality and pathology in contemporary biology and medicine and explore his view that life is normative and view the implications of this on ADHD diagnoses. The second section discusses Hackings concept of dynamic nominalism: the notion that we as humans within societies respond to social categorization, we place value on our categorizations and as we behave in response to our social categories we simultaneously modify them as they respond to societal norms. The third section examines the features specific to our neoliberalist contemporary 'western' society, primarily utilitarianism, individualism, consumerism, and secularization, which account for the much higher prevalence of adhd compared to the 'Global South'. In conclusion, medicine, particularly psychology and psychiatry, is not the objective field we think it is, and socio-political and economic norms present in our society are strongly reflected in the practice of these fields. Thus, it is the facets of contemporary 'western' society, and not an actual increase in ADHD cases, that has led to this increase in the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD.