Sounds intereting. But I have a few question re. the book:
Do you look into how we (society) reached the point of labeling
hyperactivity in children "attention deficit disorder"?
Also, do you provide a analysis of the exponential growth of the
last decade or so of persons (particularly, children) labeled with,
ADD or ADHD?;
And also how the growth of the disease (bio-medical) model of
behaviour has contributed to the above-mentioned process?
I agree that when it comes down to it, decisions need to made. Yet
the decisions -- "what to do", as you say -- are also context
specific with such factors as class, race, gender, and the idelogical
beliefs of the doctor, and thosed of the parent, inevitably playing a
part in the forms of "treatment" taken or even whether the behaviour
will be pathologized in the first place.
I don't think you can detach the behaviour from the label and the
context of the situation.
David
Date sent: Tue, 6 Jul 2004 09:37:48 -0600
Send reply to: Claudia Malacrida <[log in to unmask]>
From: Claudia Malacrida <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: [AutAdvo] Ritalin Nation: Are We Killing Our Children?
To: [log in to unmask]
> While it's quite clear that the convergence of the pressures of high
> modernity, the increasingly competitive model of public education, the
> growth of neo-liberalism, the burgeoning of the psychopharmaceutical
> machine, and the increasing psychiatrization of all of us (including
> children) are factors that contribute to the growth of drugs like Ritalin
> and diagnoses like ADD, the problem of 'what then must be done' remains.
>
> I am a mother of a child (now a young woman) who was diagnosed with ADD, and
> I am also the author of a book stemming from comparative research between
> Canada and the UK on ways of dealing with ADD. I come away from both
> experiences quite disheartened: resistance is, it seems, quite difficult (if
> not futile), and these polemeical medicalization-versus-anti-psychiatry
> debates don't actually clairfy much when it comes time to decide what to do
> to help a child get through the school years without too much damage, one
> way or another.
>
> I don't have solutions, only questions to offer, but those who are
> interested might want to have a look at the book, which was published last
> November through the University of Toronto Press in Canada. It is, I
> believe, available in the UK as well, and can be ordered through Amazon,
> Barnes & Noble, WHSmith and Chapters. Here is the University of Toronto link
> for ordering, and the book details:
>
> http://www.utppublishing.com/detail.asp?TitleID=2727
>
> Cold Comfort: Mothers, Professionals, and Attention Deficit (Hyperactivity)
> Disorder
> Claudia Malacrida
>
> University of Toronto Press © 2003.
> 6x9 / 288 pp /
> World Rights
>
> ISBN Binding Price UK Price Availability Pub Date
> 080208558X Paper $27.95 £18.00 ACT 11/8/2003
> 0802087523 Cloth $55.00 £35.00 ACT 11/15/2003
>
> Availability: Active/Available.
> ---------------------------------------------------------
>
> Abstract:
> Mothers of children with Attention Deficit Disorder must inevitably make
> decisions regarding their children's diagnosis within a context of competing
> discourses about the nature of the disorder and the legitimacy of its
> treatment. They also make these decisions within an overriding climate of
> mother-blame. Claudia Malacrida's Cold Comfort provides a contextualized
> study of how mothers negotiate with/against the 'helping professions' over
> assessment and treatment for their AD(H)D children.
>
> Malacrida counters current conceptions about mothers of AD(H)D children
> (namely that mothers irresponsibly push for Ritalin to manage their
> children's behaviour) as well as professional assumptions of maternal
> pathology. This thought-provoking examination documents Malacrida's
> extensive interviews with mothers of affected children in both Canada and
> the United Kingdom, and details the way in which these women speak of their
> experiences. Malacrida compares their narratives to national discourses and
> practices, placing the complex mother-child and mother-professional
> relations at the centre of her critical inquiry.
>
> Drawing on both poststructural discourse analysis and feminist standpoint
> theory, Malacrida makes a critical contribution to qualitative methodologies
> by developing a feminist discursive ethnography of the construction of
> AD(H)D in two divergent cultures. On a more personal level, she offers
> readers a moving, nuanced, and satisfying examination of real women and
> children facing both public and private challenges linked to AD(H)D.
>
> Praise for Cold Comfort:
>
> 'Cold Comfort offers a moving, comprehensible, and credible picture of the
> worlds of children and mothers grappling with ADD/ADHD. Claudia Malacrida
> has written a book that is bound to provide a great deal of challenging
> insight to various sorts of readers. I expect that mothers, fathers, and
> children in families touched by the diagnosis or the possible diagnosis of
> ADD/ADHD would garner a great deal of support for their struggles from this
> book. It should also be of great interest to medical and educational
> professionals, researchers and scholars, as well as sociologists,
> psychologists, psychiatrists, and social work researchers and scholars. This
> well written book is nuanced, personal, and intellectually satisfying, and
> makes a significant contribution to research.'
> - Juanne Clarke, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Wilfrid Laurier
> University.
>
>
> Best regards,
> Claudia Malacrida
> Assistant Professor, Sociology
> University of Lethbridge
> 4401 University Drive
> Lethbridge, Alberta
> T1K 3M4
>
> Tel: (403) 329-2738
> Fax: (403) 329-2085
>
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