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Article: Cries unheard: the diagnosis of children with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, and their treatment with prescription drugs, reflects a social trend in thrall to the philosophy of the quick fix.
- Article from:
- Arena Magazine
- Article date:
- April 1, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Arena Printing and Publications Pty. Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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When I was young, a turbulent social movement centring on the possibilities of human flourishing open to women was in full swing. One of the issues feminism raised was the treatment of `suburban neurosis'--the depression that isolated and frustrated housewives experienced--by the routine popping of analgesics and tranquillisers. So commonplace was the taking of such medications that they gained a popular name: `mother's little helper'. The women's movement, rather than accept the `normality' of such medication, framed the whole question of women's dependence on tranquillisers very differently.
Such behaviour, they argued, had meaning. Women's stories--their ...