(Un)becoming dysfunctional: ADHD and how matter comes to matter

ABSTRACT

Various neuropsychiatric disorders are a common feature today, not least in educational contexts where Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a common diagnosis. The dominant perspective regarding ADHD is biomedical. This perspective has been questioned and challenged in various ways. The aim of this article is to think ADHD through quantum physicist and philosopher Karen Barad’s [Barad, K. 2007. Meeting the Universe Halfway: Quantum Physics and the Entanglement of Matter and Meaning. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.] theory of agential realism. According to Barad, what we perceive as singular entities do not exist in advance. Barad pays attention to the world’s entanglements, and what we perceive as singular objects and subjects are effects of specific and various material-discursive practices acting as agential cuts. The theory of agential realism assigns performativity to matter, which highlights that ADHD is something that continuously comes into being together with human and non-human bodies. The material dimension has not previously been emphasised as a causal factor in studies on ADHD. In this article, the focus is on the agency of the book. As a conclusion, the importance of taking responsibility for every material-discursive practice with which we are always entangled is emphasised.

KEYWORDS:

• ADHD
• agential realism
• education
• Karen Barad
• psychiatrisation
• reductionism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributor

Mattias Nilsson Sjöberg's research focuses primarily on educational philosophy and ethical relations with a specific interest in social inclusion and diversity.

Notes

1. In the following brief history, I make no claim to fully cover the history where the symptoms of attention deficit and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity have been reframed from being perceived as moral deviations among children to primarily being described as a mental disorder, nowadays also in adults (see Lange et al. 2010; Rafalovich 2001; Wedge 2015). Overall, these studies highlights that phenomena are always perceived differently depending on the historical and cultural context.

2. For international statistics regarding ADHD and drug treatment, see UN (2015). For Swedish statistics, see Socialstyrelsen (2015).

3. A research team in a recent scientific article summarised the current (biomedical) knowledge on what causes ADHD: ‘Like other complex disorders, ADHD is not explained by any risk factor alone and not all those who are exposed to a given risk show disorder’ (Thapar et al. 2013, 11). Thus, in spite of the great deal of money and time invested, medical research has found that genes and the environment cannot be separated and that no single risk factor can explain ADHD.

4. Zonia is also diagnosed with dyslexia, which means that she according to the prevailing logic suffers from a specific learning disability that is neurological in origin. Dyslexia and ADHD are frequently diagnosed in the same person (Tarver, Daley, and Sayal 2014). Similar to the debate surrounding ADHD, Elliot and Grigorenko (2014) have summarised the debate surrounding dyslexia. The authors argue that studies that have challenged and questioned a primarily biomedical approach or the validity of the diagnosis and its function when it comes to learning and teaching practices are frequently said to be overly simplifying and not taking individual difficulties reading and writing seriously: ‘Thus the key question – Is dyslexia a scientifical rigorous construct that has meaningful value for research and educational/clinical practice? – has too often been transmogrified into the unhelpful and misleading “Does dyslexia exist?”’ (Elliot and Grigorenko 2014, x).

5. For more information on Anders, see Nilsson Sjöberg (2015).