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Media Representations of ADHD

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Book cover The Discourse of ADHD

Part of the book series: The Language of Mental Health ((TLMH))

Abstract

In this chapter, Mary Horton-Salway reviews the role of media discourse in representing ADHD as a controversy and maps out some relevant research on ADHD in the media. The chapter discusses how the media frame the ADHD debate as a polemic, how representations of ADHD are produced and how they are gendered to produce stereotypes. The public engage with this material as both consumers and through feedback loops as producers of discourse on ADHD. Of particular interest is the increase in public consumption of science knowledge and healthcare information via print, audio-visual and digital media. From this mass of information, how can the public tell what is accurate? This is discussed in relation to the ‘newsworthiness’ of stories, the reporting of ‘breakthrough science’ and the decline in the authority of science and medicine.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Independent Academic Consultant, Derbyshire, UK

    Dr. Mary Horton-Salway

  2. Independent Academic Consultant, Hertfordshire, UK

    Dr. Alison Davies

Authors
  1. Dr. Mary Horton-Salway
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  2. Dr. Alison Davies
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Correspondence to Mary Horton-Salway .

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Horton-Salway, M., Davies, A. (2018). Media Representations of ADHD. In: The Discourse of ADHD. The Language of Mental Health. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76026-1_3

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