How French media have portrayed ADHD to the lay public and to social workers

Abstract

Two models of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) coexist: the biomedical and the psychosocial. We identified in nine French newspapers 159 articles giving facts and opinions about ADHD from 1995 to 2015. We classified them according to the model they mainly supported and on the basis of what argument. Two thirds (104/159) mainly supported the biomedical model. The others either defended the psychodynamic understanding of ADHD or voiced both models. Neurological dysfunctions and genetic risk factors were mentioned in support of the biomedical model in only 26 and eight articles, respectively. These biological arguments were less frequent in the most recent years. There were fewer articles mentioning medication other than asserting that medication must be combined with psychosocial interventions (14 versus 57 articles). Only 11/159 articles claimed that medication protects from school failure. These results were compared to those of our two previous studies. Thus, both French newspapers and the specialized press read by social workers mainly defended either the psychodynamic understanding of ADHD or a nuanced version of the biomedical model. In contrast, most French TV programmes described ADHD as an inherited neurological disease whose consequences on school failure can be counteracted by a very effective medication.

What children and young people learn about ADHD from youth information books: A text analysis of nine books on ADHD available in Dutch

“…Hence, biomedical information predominates in youth information books on ADHD available in Dutch, relative to psychosocial information. This conclusion matches the established dominance of biomedical information on ADHD in for example newspapers (7), on websites (8), and on television (9).…”

“…Although the authors of youth information books on ADHD might project an integrated nature/nurture picture of ADHD for example by covering both biomedical and psychosocial risk factors, such books are perhaps as likely to reflect the kind of biogenetic bias that has been reported for other public sources (7)(8)(9). Before investigating the presence and relative co-occurrence of biomedical and psychosocial views in youth information books, we will first describe these two perspectives in their most expressly stated form, including reasonable disagreements that apply between them.…”

Liberating parents from guilt: a grounded theory study of parents’ internet communities for the recognition of ADHD

“…Although ADHD is a universal disorder and has been aggressively promoted by psychiatrists and pharmaceutical companies the picture varies; some countries embrace the ADHD disorder but there are also countries that have rejected the diagnosis (Smith, 2018). In general terms, surprisingly little criticism has been directed towards the biomedical explanation to children's misbehavior either by health institutional, professional guidance or by media (Erlandsson, Lundin, & Punzi, 2016;Ponnou & Gonon, 2017). Moreover, it is somewhat astonishing that both researchers and practitioners so easily seem to accept the biomedical model of ADHD and perceive pharmacological solutions as appropriate .…”

Messaging in Biological Psychiatry: Misrepresentations, Their Causes, and Potential Consequences

“… 10 , 76 , 77 Many newspapers also elaborate on psychological factors, but social factors (e.g., socioeconomic status, children born to teenage mothers, preterm birth) 9 are almost never mentioned by mass media. 77 – 79 Some psychiatrists cited by mass media have a role in generating this biased coverage; 10 when communicating with journalists about their findings, biomedical scientists tend to go beyond the implications stated in their publications. 50 , 80 , 81 …”