Identifying Hyperactive Children: The Medicalization of Deviant Behavior Expanded Edition

This is a new and expanded edition of a classic case-study in the medicalization of ADHD, originally published in 1976. The book centres on an empirical study of the process of identifying hyperactive children, providing a perceptive and accessible introduction to the concepts and issues involved. In this revised edition, Peter Conrad sets the original study in context, demonstrating the continuing relevance of his research. He highlights the issues at stake, outlining recent changes in our understanding of ADHD and reviewing recent sociological research. In addition to a substantial new introduction, the revised edition includes an entirely new final chapter tracing the shift from hyperactivity to ADHD, and the changing prognosis to ADHD as a lifelong disorder. Identifying Hyperactive Children remains the only sociological book on ADHD, and will be of interest to medical sociologists and psychologists as well as health professionals.

Peter Conrad is Harry Coplan Professor of Social Sciences at Brandeis University, USA.