Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Voices of Experience: Narrative Lives and Selves

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
The Discourse of ADHD

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

Abstract

This chapter begins from the standpoint that voices of personal experience are important for our understanding of mental health issues. Mary Horton-Salway examines a range of qualitative research on children, adolescents and adults with ADHD. The theme of gendering is central to this chapter because it has important consequences for children and adults in recognition and diagnosis of ADHD and this shapes how they experience and interpret their lives, how others see them and how they see themselves. Horton-Salway examines the idea of narrative as a situated context for troubles-telling, positive talk and the transformation of selves. The chapter examines forms of resistance to pathologised versions of lives and spoiled identities and how accounts of personal experience are produced in response to the micro-politics of social interaction, the context of troubles-telling and the wider context of ADHD discourse.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 119.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • American Psychiatric Association. (1980). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders III (3rd ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

    Google Scholar 

  • American Psychiatric Association. (1987). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders III (3rd ed., revised). Washington, DC: Author.

    Google Scholar 

  • American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

    Google Scholar 

  • American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder. Available at http://www.dsm5.org/documents/adhd%20fact%20sheet.pdf (Accessed 15 May 2016).

  • Asherton, P., Timimi, S., & Moncrieff, J. (2010). Is ADHD a valid diagnosis in adults. British Medical Journal, 340, 736–737.

    Google Scholar 

  • Borrill, J. (2000). All About ADHD. Mental Health Foundation. Available at http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk.

  • Boschner, A. (2000). Criteria against ourselves. Qualitative Inquiry, 6(2), 266–272.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Connolly, M. (2010). ADHD women and girls: Late diagnosis, little treatment. ADDitude Magazine.

    Google Scholar 

  • Conrad, P., & Potter, D. (2000). From hyperactive children to ADHD adults: Observations on the expansion of medical categories. Social Problems, 47(4), 559–582.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cromby, J., Harper, D., & Reavy, P. (2013). Psychology, Mental Health and Distress. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Crossley, M. (2000). Introducing Narrative Psychology: Self, Trauma and the Construction of Meaning. Buckingham: Open University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davidson, M. A. (2008). Literature review: ADHD in adults: A Review of the literature. Journal of Attention Disorders, 11(6), 628.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Davies, A. (2014). It’s a problem with the brain: A discursive analysis of parents’ constructions of ADHD (Unpublished Ph.D. thesis). The Open University, Milton Keynes.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davies, A., & Horton-Salway, M. (2016). The construction of adult ADHD: Anna’s story. In M. O’Reilly & J. N. Lester (Eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of Adult Mental Health (pp. 117–133). Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Denzin, N. K. (1987a). The Alcoholic Self. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Denzin, N. K. (1987b). The Recovering Alcoholic. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Department of Education. (2014). Special Educational Needs and Disability, Code of Practice: 0–25. London: The Stationery Office (TSO).

    Google Scholar 

  • Dunne, L., & Moore, A. (2011). From boy to man: A personal story of ADHD. Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties, 16(4), 351–364.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fedele, D. A., Lefler, E. K., Hartung, C. M., & Canu, W. H. (2012). Sex differences in the manifestation of ADHD in emerging adults. Journal of Attention Disorders, 16, 109–117. https://doi.org/10.1177/1087054710374596.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fleischmann, A., & Miller, E. C. (2013). Online narratives by adults with ADHD who were diagnosed in adulthood. Learning Disability Quarterly, 36(1), 47–60.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Foucault, M. (1970). The Order of Things. London: Tavistock.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gergen, K. J. (2001). Self-narration in social life. In M. Wetherell, S. Taylor, & S. Yates (Eds.), Discourse Theory and Practice (pp. 247–260). London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gergen, K. J., & Gergen, M. M. (1986). Narrative form and the construction of psychological science. In T. R. Sarbin (Ed.), Narrative Psychology (pp. 22–44). New York: Praeger.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gergen, K., & Ness, O. (2016). Therapeutic practice as social construction. In M. O’Reilly & J. N. Lester (Eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of Adult Mental Health (pp. 502–519). Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goffman, E. (1963). Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gonon, F., Bezard, E., & Boraud, T. (2011). Misrepresentation of neuroscience data might give rise misleading conclusions in the media: The case of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. PLoS ONE, 6(1), e14618. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0014618.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Goodley, D., & Rapley, M. (2001). How do you understand “learning difficulties”? Towards a social theory of impairment. Mental Retardation, 39(3), 229–232.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gray, D. E. (2001). Accommodation, resistance and transcendence: Three narratives of autism. Social Science and Medicine, 53, 1247–1257.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Groenewald, C., Emond, A., & Sayal, K. (2009). Recognition and referral of girls with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: Case vignette study. Child: Care, Health and Development, 35(6), 767–772. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2214.2009.00984.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gubrium, J. F., & Holstein, J. A. (Eds.). (2001). Introduction in Institutional Selves: Troubled Identities in a Postmodern World (pp. 8–9). New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hannas, B. M. (2015). Youths’ and adults’ stories related to the background for ADHD assessment. Sage. Published 10 April 2015. Available at http://sgo.sagepub.com/content/5/2/2158244015579725.

  • Harwood, V., Jones, S., Bonney, A., & McMahon, S. (2017). Heroic struggles, criminals and scientific breakthroughs: ADHD and the medicalization of child behaviour in Australian newsprint media 1999–2009. International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-being, 12, 1298262. https://doi.org/10.1080/17482631.2017.1298262.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Henry, E., & Jones, S. H. (2011). Experiences of older adult women diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Journal of Women and Aging, 23(3), 246–262.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Honkasilta, J., Vehmas, S., & Vehkakoski, T. (2015). Self-pathologizing, self-condemning, self-liberating: Youths’ accounts of their ADHD-related behavior. Social Science and Medicine, 150, 248–255.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Horton-Salway, M. (1998). Mind and body in the discursive construction of ME: A struggle for authorship of an illness (Doctoral thesis, Loughborough University).

    Google Scholar 

  • Horton-Salway, M. (2001). Narrative identities and the management of personal accountability in talk about M.E.: A discursive approach to illness narrative. Journal of Health Psychology, 6(2), 261–273.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Horton-Salway, M. (2011). Repertoires of ADHD in UK newspaper media. Health (London), 15(5), 533–549.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Horton-Salway, M. (2012). Gendering attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: A discursive analysis of UK newspaper stories. Journal of Health Psychology, 18(8), 1085–1099. Published online before print 1 October 2012. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105312456326.

  • Jefferson, G. (1988). On the sequential organization of troubles-talk in ordinary conversation. Social Problems, 35(4), 418–437.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnston, C., Mash, E. J., Miller, N., & Ninowski, J. E. (2012). Parenting in adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Clinical Psychology Review, 32(4), 215–228.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Kelley, S. D. M., English, W., Schwallie-Giddis, P., & Jones, L. M. (2007). Exemplary counseling strategies for developmental transitions of young women with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Journal of Counseling and Development, 85, 173–181.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kenny, O. (2016). How do young people diagnosed with ADHD perceive their condition?: An interpretative phenomenological analysis (Doctoral thesis, University of East London).

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirschner, S. (2013). Diagnosis and its discontents: Critical perspectives on psychiatric nosology in the DSM. Feminism and Psychology, 23(1), 10–28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Latour, B. (1987). Science in Action: How to Follow Scientists and Engineers Through Society. Milton Keynes: Open University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Latour, B. (1989). Cloaking the naked truth. In H. Lawson & L. Appignanesi (Eds.), Dismantling Truth: Reality in the Post-modern World (pp. 101–126). London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Latour, B. (1993). We Have Never Been Modern. Hemel Hempstead: Harvester Wheatsheaf.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lomas, T. (2016). Positive psychology—The second wave. The Psychologist, 29(7), 536.

    Google Scholar 

  • Magnusson, E., & Maracek, J. (2012). Gender and Culture in Psychology: Theories and Practices. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Mishler, E. G. (2005). Patient stories, narratives of resistance and the ethics of humane care: A la recherche du temps perdu. Health: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health, Illness and Medicine, 9(4), 431–451.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mueller, A. K., Fuermaier, A. B. M., & Tucha, L. (2012). Stigma in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, 4(3), 101–114. Published online 8 July 2012. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12402-012-0085-3.

  • Murphy, K. (1995). Out of the Fog: Treatment Options and Coping Strategies for Adult Attention Deficit Disorder. New York: Hyperion.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nadeau, K. G., & Quinn, P. O. (Eds.). (2002). Understanding Women with ADHD. Silver Spring, MD: Advantage Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • National Institute of Clinical Excellence. (2009). Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Diagnosis and Management of ADHD in Children, Young People and Adults. London: National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. Available at http://www.nice.org.uk/Guidance/CG72 (Accessed 14 September 2017).

  • Nielsen, M. (2016). Experiences of ADHD in adults: Morality, temporality and neurobiology. Aalborg Universitetsforlag (Ph.d.-serien for Det Humanistiske Fakultet, Aalborg Universitet). https://doi.org/10.5278/vbn.phd.hum.00054.

  • Nussbaum, N. L. (2012). ADHD and female specific concerns: A review of the literature and clinical implications. Journal of Attention Disorders, 16(2), 87–100.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • O’Dell, L., & Brownlow, C. (2015). Normative development and the autistic child. In M. O’Reilly & J. N. Lester (Eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of Child Mental Health (pp. 296–309). Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Dell, L., Stenner, P., Horton-Salway, M., & Davies, A. (2016). Narratives of ADHD: A qualitative study of women’s narrative accounts of living with ADHD. Unpublished research report submitted to the British Academy.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Reilly, M., & Lester, N. (Eds.). (2016). The Palgrave Handbook of Adult Mental Health. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ponnou, S., & Gonon, F. (2017). How French media have portrayed ADHD to the lay public and to social workers. International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-being, 12(Suppl. 1), 1298244. https://doi.org/10.1080/17482631.2017.1298244.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Quinn, P. O. (2005). Treating adolescent girls and women with ADHD: Gender-specific issues. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 61(5), 579–587.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rafalovich, A. (2001). Disciplining domesticity: Framing the ADHD parent and child. The Sociological Quarterly, 42(3), 373–393.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Riessman, C. K. (1990). Strategic uses of narrative in the presentation of self and illness: A research note. Social Science and Medicine, 30(11), 1195–1200.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Riessman, C. K. (1993). Narrative Analysis. Newbury Park, CA and London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rose, N. (1998). Inventing Our Selves: Psychology, Power, and Personhood. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schrevel, S. J. C. (2015). Surrounded by controversy: Perspectives of adults with ADHD and health professionals on mental healthcare. Doctoral thesis, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schrevel, S. J. C., Dedding, C., Aken, J. A., & Broerse, J. E. W. (2016). ‘Do I need to become someone else?’ A qualitative exploratory study into the experiences and needs of adults with ADHD. Health Expectations, 19(1), 39–48.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schubert, S. J., Hansen, S., Dyer, K. R., & Rapley, M. (2009). Categories in drug dependence services ‘ADHD patient’ or ‘illicit drug user’? Managing medico-moral membership. Discourse Society, 20(4), 499–516.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shattell, M., Bartlett, R., & Rowe, T. (2008). “I have always felt different”: The experience of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in childhood. Journal of Pediatric Nursing, 23(1), 49–57.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sim, M. G., Hulse, G., & Khong, E. (2004). When the child with ADHD grows up. Australian Family Physician, 33, 615–618.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Simon, V., Czobor, P., Balint, S., & Meszaros, A. (2009). Prevalence and correlates of adult attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: Meta-analysis. British Journal of Psychiatry, 194, 205–211.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Singh, I. (2002). Bad boys, good mothers, and the miracle of Ritalin. Science in Context, 15(4), 577–603.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Singh, I. (2004). Doing their jobs: Mothering with Ritalin in a culture of mother-blame. Social Science and Medicine, 59(6), 1193–1205.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Singh, I. et al. (2012). VOICES Study: Final Report. London, UK.

    Google Scholar 

  • Solden, S. (1995). Women with Attention Deficit Disorder: Embracing Disorganization at Home and in the Workplace. Grass Valley, CA: Underwood.

    Google Scholar 

  • Timimi, S. (2005). Naughty Boys: Anti-social Behaviour, ADHD and the Role of Culture. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • United Nations. (1990). Convention on the Rights of the Child. London: UNICEF UK.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ussher, J. M. (1991). Women’s Madness: Misogyny or Mental Illness? Hemel Hampstead: Harvester Wheatsheaf.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ussher, J. (2010). Are we medicalizing women’s misery? A critical review of women’s higher rates of reported depression. Feminism and Psychology, 20, 9–35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Waite, R. (2010). Women with ADHD: It is an explanation, not the excuse du jour. Perspectives in Psychiatric Care, 46, 182–196.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wender, P. H. (1987). The Hyperactive Child, Adolescent, and Adult. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wender, P. H. (1995). Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Adults. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wender, P. H. (1998). Pharmacotherapy of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in adults. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 59(7), 76–79.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wender, P. H. (2000). Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Children and Adults. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wiita, M. D., & Parish, T. G. (2008). ADHD in young adults. Clinician Reviews, 8(9), 30–32.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilkinson, S., & Kitzinger, C. (2000). Thinking differently about thinking positive: A discursive approach to cancer patients’ talk. Social Science and Medicine, 50(6), 797–811.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Winter, H., Moncrieff, J., & Speed, E. (2015). “Because you’re worth it”: A discourse analysis of the gendered rhetoric of the ADHD woman. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 12(4), 415–434.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wynne, L. C., Sheilds, C. G., & Sirkin, M. I. (1992). Illness, family theory, and family therapy: I. Conceptual issues. Family Process, 31, 3–18. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1545-5300.1992.00003.x.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Young, S., Bramham, J., Gray, K., & Rose, E. (2008). The experience of receiving a diagnosis and treatment of ADHD in adulthood: A qualitative study of clinically referred patients using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Journal of Attention Disorders, 11(4), 493–503.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Young, S., Toone, B., & Tyson, C. (2003). Comorbidity and psychosocial profile of adults with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Personality and Individual Differences, 35(4), 743–755.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

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
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Dr. Alison Davies
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mary Horton-Salway .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Horton-Salway, M., Davies, A. (2018). Voices of Experience: Narrative Lives and Selves. In: The Discourse of ADHD. The Language of Mental Health. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76026-1_6

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation