The Impact of Culture on How the Media Portray ADHD to the Lay Public

The biomedical model sees disorders and diseases as deviations from the norm and medical approaches as the only possible treatment (via) ignoring psychological and social variables that are "unquestionably important" (via). According to various analyses of newspapers, in the UK, the psychosocial model of ADHD is dominant while in the US, the biomedical model is stressed. In France, there is a rather psychodynamic understanding of the disorder and whenever biomedical aspects prevail, they are presented or discussed in a more nuanced way (Ponnou & Gonnon, 2017). This, again, has an impact on how ADHD is seen and approached.



- Ponnou, S. & Gonnon, F. (2017). How French media have portrayed ADHD to the lay public and to social workers. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Health and Well-being, link
- photograph by Henri Cartier Bresson via