Media Release
May 15 2006
ADHD: no more "drugging and shrugging"
At different times through human history, the behaviour we now call ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) would not have presented the problems it does today, according to University of South Australia researcher Dr Brenton Prosser.
“In an era when work meant burning up physical energy on a farm or in a workshop, rather than sitting at workstation using your head, you wonder if hyperactivity would have made any headlines at all,” says Dr Prosser, author of a new book, ADHD: who’s failing who? to be launched by Senator Natasha Stott Despoja on Wednesday.
Challenging the emphasis on medication as the primary treatment for ADHD – which has seen the prescription of Ritalin alone sky-rocket in Australia by 620 per cent over seven years – Dr Prosser argues for the inclusion of a sociological approach to solving the problems experienced by ADHD sufferers, their carers and teachers.
“If we ask only medical questions about ADHD, we will get only medical answers and more drug treatment,” Dr Prosser says. “It seems to me that what we now call a disorder could be blamed at least partly on a mismatch between the natural diversity of human behaviours and a world in which these behaviours no longer fit.”
ADHD: who’s failing who? is the most comprehensive guide to ADHD written in Australia. It dispels many of the myths surrounding the condition, looks at its evolution and treatment, and features interviews with ADHD sufferers.
It also includes 100 helpful hints for teachers.
“Young people with ADHD have difficult lives at school. Through no fault of their own they struggle to meet the expectations of modern work and life and yet there persists a belief among many professionals, policymakers and popular opinion setters that somehow these children are the troublemakers,” Dr Prosser says. “If teachers are to help students with ADHD they need behavioural strategies to create the time, and learning strategies to make the space for big-picture progress.”
ADHD: who’s failing who? is published by Finch Publishing.
Media are invited to attend the official book launch at 4.45pm, Wednesday May 17 at AEU, 163 Greenhill Road, Parkside.
Contact for interviews
- Dr Brenton Prosser office (08) 8302 4224 email brenton.prosser@unisa.edu.au
Media contact
- Vincent Ciccarello, Coordinator News and Media office (08) 8302 0578 mobile 0434 603 457 email vincent.ciccarello@unisa.edu.au